Essays on Literary Genres

2965

Rewriting The Tragic Mulatto

3 pages / 1638 words

Colson Whitehead’s novel Sag Harbor (2009) and Barack Obama’s memoirs Dreams From My Father (1995) both tell a portion of the complicated story of race and race relations in America. The main characters in both of these novels have experiences of being the “tragic mulatto”...

Novel

2966

Review of Boyer and Nissenbaum's "Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft"

2 pages / 1192 words

The Salem witch trials of 1692 continue to captivate audiences, often through dramatized retellings in literature, film, or theater. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible remains one of the most well-known portrayals, but its compelling storyline and character drama sometimes blur historical accuracy. In Salem Possessed: The...

Book Review Literature Review Science Fiction

2967

Samson as a Heroic Figure

2 pages / 1149 words

In Milton’s drama, Samson Agonistes, the reader is shown the Biblical figure of Samson portrayed as a martyr of sorts. In the beginning of his life, though he was a great warrior, who fought not only against his enemies but those of God, he was...

Drama

2968

Blindness in Samson Agonistes

3 pages / 1366 words

In John Milton’s play Samson Agonistes, eyesight is a recurring motif and blindness used frequently as a metaphor to define the status of a character’s journey. Milton uses the presence or lack of clarity in vision, both physically and spiritually, to indicate characters’ direction. Although...

Drama

2969

Comparing Female Figures in Samson Agonistes and The Aeneid

4 pages / 2114 words

In the political hierarchy depicted by Milton and Virgil, power rightly belongs in the hands of a man, not a woman. During the times when men are the sole leaders of the nation, a woman’s possession of power and influence is viewed as unnatural and...

Drama The Aeneid

2970

One's Sense of Belonging in Room and in The Park

1 page / 775 words

Individuals who have experienced an unconventional or life-altering event will inevitably face the judgments of broader society, hence dictating whether such individuals feel a truly valid sense of belonging. This concept of the significance of exterior factors on one’s sense of belonging is portrayed through...

Novel

2971

A False Father Figure: Charlie and Squizzy’s Situation in Runner

2 pages / 1062 words

In the novel Runner by Robert Newton, it becomes highly noticeable that Charlie Feehan had strong faith in Squizzy Taylor as a possible mentor, as Charlie had lost his father at a very young age. However, Charlie promptly came to the realisation that he was...

Novel

2972

The Animal Inside Us: a Close Reading of Running in The Family

2 pages / 1342 words

Throughout the novel Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje, there are many occurrences of humans, mainly men, displaying their animalistic nature over their human nature that sets them apart from other animals, especially with one of the major themes of the whole novel being...

Literary Devices Novel Symbolism

2973

Rumi’s Ghazal and The Mevlevi Sama: a Dynamic Dichotomy of Movement and Stillness

7 pages / 3455 words

The flowing white tennure, the rotating sikke, the twirling spin of the right foot, the turning hands – one pointing towards the heavens, one towards the earth- the revolving mass of the flesh, and the spiral gyrating of the spirit; nothing seems to be still....

Poetry

2974

Sama’ in Rumi’s Poetry

4 pages / 1908 words

The Sufi musical tradition, or Sama’, has been used as a way to connect with the divine for hundreds of years by incorporating poetry, song, and dance to praise God. For many mystics, this blend is the single most powerful link to God, and is...

Poetry

2975

The Imagery of Landscape in The Poetry of The First World War: from Rupert Brooke to Edward Thomas

3 pages / 1711 words

At the turn of the nineteenth century, and the start of the ‘War to end all Wars’, there was a rise in an exclusive kind of poetry, born in the suffering hands of the ‘War poet’. He is often seen in a state of despair,...

Poetry

2976

Literary Realism: Edith Wharton’s "Roman Fever"

2 pages / 936 words

In the short story, “Roman Fever,” Edith Wharton portrays a daily life situation between two wealthy middle-aged women talking in Rome. The morals and struggle of upper-class women to succeed and stand out at that time period are revealed in the story. This story fits...

Short Story

2977

Racism and Perspective in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

2 pages / 1055 words

Mildred Taylor’s novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, depicts the life of a young African American girl, Cassie, and her family living within a racist system. Readers experience the hardships that the Logan family face through the eyes of the only daughter, Cassie. Cassie...

Novel

2978

Narrative Perspective in Emma Donoghue’s ‘room’

2 pages / 1299 words

Telling a story through the eyes of a child is by no means a new literary technique. Fantastical novels such as Rowling’s Harry Potter and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little Cabin in the Big Woods use the younger generation for their central points of view. This...

Emma Novel

2979

Lost in The Rockslide of History: Toward an Understanding of Robert Lowell’s "History"

7 pages / 3310 words

“History” is a title fraught with dilemma. There is, to begin with, the ambiguity inherent the word: there are nine entries listed in the OED, three of which are of primary concern here. “A relation of events” is the first; “A written narrative constituting a...

Poetry

2980

Innovation, Rhyme, and Feel in Robert Pinsky’s Poetry

3 pages / 1451 words

The first U.S. Poet Laureate for three consecutive years (from 1997-2000), Pinsky has succeeded in much more than poetry. In 1984, for example, he was the author of an interactive fiction game called Mindwheel; today, he is the poetry editor for the irreverent online Slate...

Poetry Rhyme

2981

The New Age of Divorce and Social Darwinism in ‘the Other Two’

1 page / 868 words

Published in 1904, Edith Wharton’s “The Other Two” explores the infancy of divorce within New York’s middle-class society by utilizing the concept of the futile struggle to escape social forces that are out of one’s control. In addition to that, the story presents consequences of...

Short Story

2982

Egocentrism Inhibits Camaraderie in "Roman Fever"

3 pages / 1623 words

Throughout Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” Mrs. Alida Slade experiences the consequences of an inflated ego as she fails to fully understand her companion, Mrs. Grace Ansley. She is consumed with egocentric priorities, like superiority, deception, and jealousy. While Slade’s egocentrism can be interpreted as purely...

Short Story

2983

The Notion of Knowledge and Understanding in "Roman Fever"

4 pages / 1965 words

Edith Wharton challenges the notion of knowledge and understanding, even of one’s own personal experience, in her short story “Roman Fever.” The application of Jackie Royster’s scenic analysis to Wharton’s “Roman Fever” perpetuates the idea that an understanding of the reality of human life and...

Short Story