The presence of supernatural elements is a defining characteristic of Gothic literature, serving not only to create an atmosphere of fear and suspense but also to explore deeper themes of human psychology, morality, and the unknown. By integrating ghosts, curses, and other unearthly phenomena, Gothic novels delve into the complexities ...Read More
The presence of supernatural elements is a defining characteristic of Gothic literature, serving not only to create an atmosphere of fear and suspense but also to explore deeper themes of human psychology, morality, and the unknown. By integrating ghosts, curses, and other unearthly phenomena, Gothic novels delve into the complexities of the human mind, societal fears, and the thin line between reality and the supernatural.
Analyzing the role of supernatural elements in Gothic literature offers valuable insights into the historical and cultural contexts from which these works emerged. It allows for an exploration of how authors use the supernatural to challenge readers' perceptions and to comment on issues of their time. Furthermore, such an essay can illuminate the enduring appeal of the supernatural in storytelling and its impact on readers' engagement and imagination. Writing on this theme encourages critical thinking about the ways in which the supernatural influences narrative structure, character development, and themes, making it a rich topic for literary analysis.
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These topics are designed to provoke thought and encourage a deeper understanding of various literary genres and themes. They offer a wide range of exploration opportunities for students and scholars alike, providing a platform to analyze novels from multiple perspectives.
At times, a novel can communicate the most with the stories it chooses not to tell, rather than the ones it does. In Sandor Marai’s moody, claustrophobic drama, Embers, such is the case of the Henrik’s wife Krisztina, a woman who is already long dead...
Hawthorne’s science fiction short stories, such as ‘The Birthmark’ and ‘Rappaccini’s Daughter,’ are set in the seventeenth century. His novels, however, The House of the Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance, are set in the nineteenth century, his own era. The progression of science from...
In Funny Boy, we find characters who do not conform, and at the same time have to live their lives with a sense of the impending danger of them transgressing the societal norms. Therefore a brief period of liberation followed by an acute sense of...
One of the tragedies in The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is that Lily Bart is unable to marry Laurence Selden and thereby secure a safe position in society. Their relationship fluctuates from casual intimacy to outright love depending on how and where Selden...
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Nawal el Saadawi, an Egyptian feminist writer, has worked throughout her life to highlight the need for improvement in the lives of the modern Arab woman. Her book, “Memoirs of a Woman Doctor”, written in 1958, takes her own experiences from living in Egypt and...
Who we are is shaped by where we are from. Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts online Get my essay This is a common thread in the human experience; our backgrounds...
Introduction Throughout Karen Desai’s novel, The Inheritance of Loss, the Judge’s westernization and Indian resentment amplify during his studies in England despite confronting both internal and external facets of racism. In postcolonial India, the English were perceived to be highly educated and wealthy which appealed...
In Pamela, Samuel Richardson teaches a religious lesson through Pamela’s pride in virtue, love through purity, and ultimately forgiveness of others. He presents his character as rigorously devoted to God, which often makes her seem vain, manipulative, selfish, and hypocritical. Although she may seem to...
Through war torn villages and billowing sorghum fields, author Mo Yan depicts the subtle joys and harsh realities of the life of a Chinese family during the Second Sino-Japanese War in his novel, Red Sorghum. The intensity of the challenges and hardships that face this...
V.S. Naipaul’s first published novel, The Mystic Masseur, can correctly be described as satirical given the extensive manner in which it employs language in the form of irony, hyperbole, caricature and other techniques to tell the picaresque story of Ganesh Ramsumair, which the frame narrator...
Peter Pan (1911) by J.M. Barrie and The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1988) by Edith Nesbit are Victorian novels that follow the stories of two underprivileged families who entertain themselves and each other with their imagination. In both stories, the eldest female characters Wendy...
Escapism is a method one uses to focus attention on pleasant or enjoyable things, as opposed to the harsh realities of everyday life. Humans face countless struggles, and to overcome these they turn towards their imagination or other means in life to slip away from...
As the narrator of Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland, Clara is unreliable. The fantastic events she recounts are unbelievable and unexplained, leading readers to question the validity of her tale. For example, she introduces the theory of empiricism, which claims that all humans are born with...
Scarlet and Black also titled as The Red and the Black (Le Rouge et le Noir) is a 19th Century French novel by Marie Henri Beyle popularly known as Stendhal, which explores the life of a young man whose ambitious and passionate nature leads to...
In DeLillo’s White Noise the new-found abundance of technology enters into human lives to create constant distractions and background noises. The protagonist, Jack, often refers to the television as the ‘voice’ from the other room. In the supermarket, the loudspeaker drowns out conversations between shoppers....
At one time, when Lydia and her brother, Nathan, were small, meditating on her mother’s failure at her personal goals sparked a decision in Marilyn that left Lydia wondering for a time “how everything had changed in just one day, how someone she loved so...
Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth, by Chris Ware, is about a meek and lonely man in his mid-thirties who meets his father for the first time in a Michigan town over Thanksgiving weekend. Jimmy is an awkward and cheerless character with an overbearing...
The Decameron is a collection of novellas written by Italian author Boccaccio by the 14th century. Gender is one of the main themes notable in The Decameron. It was set during a time when there was a plague in Italy, and many people had fled...
The world changes on a daily basis, with many different aspects, including the people, the cultures, along with different opinions and values. As the years pass, we can see the significant changes that are happening, but sometimes forget to take note of the things that...
The novel entitled Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina is an enlightening historical novel based in Annadel, West Virginia, a town that relies on coal to make a living, while also outlining the events leading up to the Battle of Blair Mountain. Things begin to take...
How do religious people react to feelings when someone suffers from death or are dissatisfied with life? There may be some people who are really depressed and dissatisfied with the life because of the sufferings that always exist from time to time. In this case,...
Gabriel García Márquez was known for the way he would create vast woven plots and tightly knit narratives within his works. His world is mostly that of provincial Colombia, where medieval and modern practices and beliefs clash both comically and tragically. In “A Very Old...
Anthem is a portrayal of Ayn Rand’s view on collectivism and acquaints us with the standards of objectivism and individualism. The hero of the novel, Prometheus, is raised in a society where the word ‘’we” is worshiped and the identity of the individual is crumpled...
You never really know the last time you will see someone. Especially the ones you love most and are close to. You cannot put a date or time on the day someone dies. Who knows when your last goodbye will be. In Extremely Loud &...
Adversity can be a stepping stone for building an individual’s identity. The attitude in which the individual approach these challenges allows them to mature and change. Adversity forces individuals to be brave and to discover themselves and explore the realities around them, thus enabling them...
The biography, ‘There are no children here’ by Alex Kotlowitz, shows the journey of two young boys and the challenges they face with having to grow up in the inner city of Chicago. The River’s family lives in the inner city of Chicago at the...
Language is a powerful tool. It can be used to start wars, win the hearts of a nation, or create deceptive illusions. Throughout the novel, Frankenstein, the author, Mary Shelley, highlights the key role communication and language plays in relationships, in how we perceive things,...
As the transatlantic slave trade began, many Africans were being displaced into the Americas while some of their counterparts remained in Africa. Throughout this process, many of the people were having trouble distinguishing their identities and discovering the place they truly belonged. This was a...
In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the author gives us a main character that goes by the name of Equality 7-2521. This character lives in a Communist country where they have to follow all the rules provided by the Council of Vocations. If any...
