In the poem “The Bean Eaters”, Gwendolyn Brooks illustrates the image of a simple elderly couple, whose lives have become rather mundane and routine. The first two stanzas in the poem serve as the exposition of the story, as Brooks paints a picture of an...
Henry James is considered the master of subtle psychological fiction, and in The Beast in the Jungle he demonstrates the powerful extent in which determinism can reach and bar an individual from any consideration of free will. This situation will be especially probable if such...
“[Wit] means something pithy, penetrating, profound, aptly and forcefully expressed (and by extension, someone who is apt to speak in this way)” (Palmer 136). The female figure of wit was widely unaccepted in 18th and 19th century Britain. It was considered impolite or improper in...
In the works of Daisy Miller and The Beast in the Jungle, author Henry James provides readers with multiple explanations as to why it is important for one to live a full life. These two novellas share many broad similarities, including central thematic focuses, a...
Ever since its emergence, The Big Sleep has been discussed whether a detective-novel be considered serious literature. It is hard to answer this question, mainly because it raises two other questions: is there anything like “non-serious” literature, and if this is the case, who draws...
In The Big Sleep, private investigator Philip Marlowe solves the puzzle created by a multi-layered, interrelated series of heinous crimes for his client, at a fee of twenty-five dollars a day plus expenses. Marlowe strives first and foremost to protects his client’s interests and fulfill...
The Battle of Maldon uses linguistic tools to glorify the military capabilities of the Saxons, who are in reality the losing side, while minimizing the victory of the invading Vikings. Through use of language the poem eternalizes both individual heroes and traitors, while also reasserting...
Over the course of several centuries, grotesque imagery has played a vital role in the arts, literature, and cultures all over the world. Attempting to attribute a clear-cut definition to the word grotesque has proven to be a challenge for historians and literary scholars since...
When reading The Battle of Maldon, I found myself attempting to grade the noble Byrhtnoth using the heroic code as a rubric. Initially, I doled out poor marks, labeling Byrhtnoth as a failure according to the heroic code. However, after reexamining the poem and critiquing...
One character in the love triangle described in the novella “The Ballad of the Sad Caf?,” by Carson McCullers, is unworthy of love. Miss Amelia, a businesswoman with manly characteristics and little compassion, gains joy and happiness from Lymon at first and comes to trust...
One of the most distinctive and immediately impressive things about Ernest Gaines’ novel, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, is the way the author opens his story with an introduction of a collective of speakers, his cast of character/narrators, so to speak. Gaines weaves his...
Distinctive representations of the symbiotic relationship between natural landscapes and people are reinforced through personal and socio-cultural contexts. Such representations can be brought about through travel, often renewing an individual’s relationships between real, imagined and remembered landscapes, also their identity. Alain de Botton’s non-fiction, multi-modal...
The Inevitability of Death as Shown by Early Literature Since the beginning of written literature, death, and the evasion of it, has been a prevalent theme. Furthermore, outside of literature, humans as a species have an instinctual fear of death and the unknown that lies...
Representations of authors’ experiences of particular landscapes hold great significance for their audiences, as they portray the multifaceted relationships between people and landscapes, such as how interactions with landscape shape awareness of identity. This is potently represented in Alain De Botton’s postmodern collection of essays...
Social hierarchy is a civilization’s categorization of people into ranks of political power and social influence based upon factors such as one’s occupation, wealth, and social prestige (Oxford). The Arabian Nights: One Thousand and One Nights is famous for its series of tales primarily narrated...
Trauma survivors often cope by investing their entire energy into silencing and suppressing the harrowing events of the past. One such survivor is Anton Steenwijk, the protagonist of Harry Mulisch’s 1982 novel, The Assault. Especially in the first chapter after the “incident”, set during the...
The 1,001 Nights, also known as Arabian Nights, has frequently and loudly been lauded as the quintessential storytelling experience. Although the actual number of tales varies by edition, there seems to be little doubt that not only are the stories themselves veritable treasures, the consistent...
Feminism in a general sense, is a motion promoting equality for women in all aspects of life. In the Islamic faith, feminism has a slightly different modified meaning. Islamic feminism supports the same attitude, basing it on slightly different beliefs, causing the outcome to be...
The story of Sindbad the Sailor, found in “The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments” and filled with countless economic transactions, can be understood through the application of different economic models to reveal the motives and driving forces of the principal character. By evaluating the actions of Sindbad...