Essays on Literature Review

It is relevant to refer briefly to the previous studies and research in the related areas of the subject to find out and to fill up the research gaps. The following are the some studies conducted by the eminent authors and practitioners on the area...

Not like many other plays you have read or seen before, ‘night Mother written by Marsha Norman is a play which focuses on only two main characters. The entire play is spoken through the thoughts of a mother (Mama) and daughter (Jessie). Most of their...

Beyond the brutalities that all slaves endured, females suffered the additional anguish of sexual exploitation and the deprivation of motherhood. In “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” Harriet Jacobs focuses on racial subjugation but also gives voice to a different kind of captivity...

It is an undeniable fact that, character triats, attitude, upbringing, and education will shape an individual perception and mindset towards life. Lennie, Suyuan and Amir each has their own idea of what The American Dream should entail. Happiness as a concept is as ambiguous as...

Adrienne Rich’s “Song” plays out an uncomfortably intimate melody concerning a woman’s feelings of inescapable loneliness. Adrienne asserts the tortured song of this woman’s soul so beautifully, teasing the reader early on with passivity, and then cunningly slips into prose so lovely that the reader...

It is universally accepted that, at the age of fifty-two, men should be courting women of similar ages. However, David Lurie, the protagonist of J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, does not comply with these standards. He is absolutely infatuated with women in their twenties, his college...

Throughout Harriet Jacobs’ powerful and informative autobiography, Christianity is repeatedly mentioned as a direct and indirect influence on the episodes of her life as an enslaved woman. Jacobs depicts religion amongst the enslaved as an assuaging escape from their suffering and exposes the Christianity of...

Curtis Sittenfield’s award-winning novel, Prep, and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian illustrate the prominent theme of isolation in an upcoming teen’s life. In Prep, the reader is brought through Lee Fiora’s trauma filled journey through a renowned institution known as...

Jealousy and Envy are among the greatest sins out of the seven sins, which led to the downfall of the society. The story by Maupassant “The Necklace” is about a woman who held jealousy and envy throughout the story. Mathilde Loisel, the protagonist, felt that...

Frost is known for his realistic depiction of rural life and his command over American Colloquial Speech. He frequently wrote about settings in Rural life in New England in the early 1900’s and using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes He was copiously...

As William Shakespeare’s only truly Aristotelian tragedy, Othello has no subplot or comic relief, and, when originally performed, had little spectacle in the way of the set or action. The absence of these distractions leave the themes of the play defined and apparent. The story...

The greatest recent event — that “God is dead,” that the belief in the Christian God has ceased to be believable — is… cast[ing] its shadows over Europe. For the few, at lease, whose eyes….are strong and sensitive enough for this spectacle… What must collapse...

Truman Capote’s masterpiece of American literature, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, is a wonderful story about misguided love. The novel is well deserving of a place within any compilation of literature and is epically deserving of a place within a collection of women’s literature, as it presents...

Educating Rita is a play about change and transformation. Susan White, a working class girl, wants to escape the trappings of the class system and become “educated”, thinking that this will allow her to “sing a better song“. By the end of the play, her...

The “Combray” section of Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way is an extended meditation on an idyllic past. The book begins, though, not with recollections of Combray, but with a description of the narrator’s half-asleep state, a state of consciousness where he does not know where, or...

Some stories depend more heavily on their environment to advance their plots and themes than others. Such is the case with Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey. The play follows the plight of a working class family in Ireland during the civil war that...

“The term gender is commonly used to refer to the psychological, cultural, and social characteristics that distinguish the sexes” . From the idea of gender such notions as gender bias and stereotyping have developed. Stereotypes have lead society to believe that a male or female...

In Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee, Luzan asks Henry, “Who, my young friend, have you been all your life?” (205). It is through the narrative form that Luzan is able to see beyond Henry’s words. Luzan urges Henry “to take up story-forms” (206), and as...

In the grace period of Australia’s colonial development, many cultural assumptions and ideas were created in response to the increase of British immigration. Australia was a home away from home, a land of opportunity and adventure that allowed the English populace ‘freedom’ from the almost...

Throughout the course of The Year of the Flood we see how Toby’s character has developed into the level-headed and capable adult surviving after the waterless flood. What is particular to Toby’s character is the presence of these valuable traits before the onset of the...

The composed landmark of Coleridge’s basic work is contained in 24 sections of Biographia Literaria (1815– 17). In this basic disquisition, Coleridge concerns himself with the act of feedback, as well as, with its hypothesis. In his down to earth way to deal with feedback,...

Childhood directly affects adult life as shown by brilliant psychologists such as Piget and his studies on developmental stages. Though childhood is a phase that all adults must go through, some which to stay carefree and young as does the narrator in Maxine Clair’s “Cherry...

Bonnie Jo Campbell’s “Gorilla Girl” tells the twisted coming-of-age story of a budding sociopath in southern Michigan. The narrator, whose name is not revealed in the text, takes the reader through some of the more notable life events in her adolescence, describing actions and emotions...

The Soloist Mental illness does not discriminate. Despite Nathanial Ayers’ talent as a musician, artist, and generally good upbringing, schizophrenia still found a way to enter into his life. Through meeting compassionate journalist Steve Lopez, Nathanial Ayers was able to begin his road to recovery...

In his Essay, “Civil Disobedience”, Henry David Thoreau argues that society functions the most efficiently when it is not ruled by an overpowering monarch, or by a strong central government, but by the people, essentially having self-reliant peoples that do not necessarily need a government,...

This is my book summary of The Lessons of History past by Will and Ariel Durant. My notes are informal and contain my own thoughts. This summary includes key lessons and important passages from the book. History is the most reliable path to understanding the...

Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” is a great drama that challenges political ideas such as democracy. Throughout the play, Ibsen dissects how democracy can be exploited and how dehumanizing it can be. It is amazing how Ibsen tackled it by using Dr. Stockmann...

When novels are adapted to films, often writers and directors make changes, especially if the book was written a significant time ago. They make these changes to draw modern viewers in. Oliver Parker composed the adaption of The Importance of Being Earnest. His adaptation is...

Evening Hawk In his poem “Evening Hawk,” Robert Warren transforms the flight of a hawk during a sunset into a greater tale of the mankind’s history and the relentless cycle of time. Through a comparison of the hawk to a scythe that cuts through “stalks...