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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Introduction Water, with its myriad forms and dynamic nature, holds immense power within our world. It possesses the capability to nurture life or to extinguish it, serving as the bedrock of our planet and an essential element in human existence. Among the natural wonders of...
Reading a Dostoevsky book doesn’t give us any insight into the mind of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky almost never makes a blanket statement in his books, and, in general, very few opinions voiced by characters in his novels can be traced back to the author himself....
Saul Bellow’s Herzog is a complicated and multifaceted novel. Moses Herzog, the protagonist, has a powerful though meandering intellect which does not seem to discriminate much in its choice of object. These myriad reflections can make the novel appear chaotic and undirected, a patchwork of...
Ha Jin’s In the Pond is a tactful yet an oscillation between subtle and violent upheaval delineation of the decadent post Mao-China in a pro communist setting repleted with shades of corruption. Jin meticulously captures the panoramic view of the unscrupulous China which witnesses the...
Peter Goldsworthy’s Maestro is essentially a Bildungsroman, in that it follows Paul on his journey from child to adult, and from childishness to maturity. As with all stories of growth and development, Maestro’s focus is often upon Paul’s weaknesses, faults and mistakes – his arrogance,...
Hiding truths and replacing them with lies are often very devastating to family members and even more so when a son’s whole life has been built upon these lies. Mark Haddon, in the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, explores the...
In The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector includes a page prior to the story providing alternative titles that she was considering for the book. These titles are significant in the analysis of the novel as several of them originate from references within the text,...
In the emerging technical age the idea of science without ethics has turned into a center stage issue. Throughout Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake, science without ethics is explored through two dystopian worlds engineered by Atwood all from the eyes of the protagonist Jimmy,...
Scottish novelist James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner opens with a narrative by an unknown editor describing the Colwan family and the feud between the Colwan brothers, Robert, later known as Robert Wringhim, and George. The editor’s narrative is followed...
Alexander Crummel once said that “a sense of responsibility which comes with power is the rarest of things” (n.d.). This is a concept which is explored within Heinrich Boll’s 1975 novel The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum as Boll demonstrates the way power has been...
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Hidden away from everything and everyone, one can begin to know little more than the sense of neglect. This situation is seen throughout Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, which brings up the idea of being alone prevents the feelings of being rejected by those...
In society, many problems are often ignored and stigmatized. Among these are suicide and mental health issues. These dilemmas have become more common to talk about in recent years; however, society as a whole still has a long way to go in understanding these complicated...
Don DeLillo’s modern classic, White Noise, examines a so-called normal family in 1980s America to demonstrate the pervasive nature of technology in contemporary society. Technology and media have become a staple in the everyday life of the average American, and its prevalence in peoples’ lives...
Near the conclusion of The Late Mattia Pascal, after Mattia has returned from his two-year absence and reclaimed his name, he wonders what the point of his extraordinary life was. Mattia’s fellow librarian, Don Eligo, contends, “it proves that outside of the law, and without...
Both Caldwell’s Tobacco Road and McCarthy’s Child of God concern themselves with quintessential poor white people. Tobacco Road follows the Lester family, a poor family on the outskirts of town, struggling for food and money during the Great Depression, whereas Child of God follows Lester...
Often times the protagonist of a bildungsroman will undergo a cathartic revelation, shifting their perspective from one of innocence and childhood to one of understanding and adulthood; John Grimes, the protagonist of James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain, experiences said journey of realization...
I believe that, in the book “The Outsiders”, the Socs, socialites or social rich kids from the west, are more of a disgrace and menace to society than the “greasers”, the poorer students from the east. The Socs’ idea of fun is throwing big parties,...
The novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair narrates the life story of Jurgis and the tortures and destruction that he suffers since his arrival to Chicago with his family. Throughout the story, Sinclair describes the cruelties that Jurgis and his family faces in this capitalist...
In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, Edna, the protagonist faces a dilemma of solitude and confusion in which no one can seem to grasp and understand, not even her. Taking place during the 1800’s, in a time filled with strict societal laws, women juxtapose to...
What might one do to be really free; from obligation, destitution, melancholy, enslavement, or from anything that causes you wretchedness, agony or bitterness? Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Story of a Hour” by Kate Chopin are two short stories that...
You know that feeling you get when you read a really good book. The feeling of excitement and eagerness washes over you like an ocean wave. The feeling that you want and need to know what is going to happen next. I got that wonderful...
Introduction Gabriel García Márquez’s short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” focuses on the theme of the complex nature of human behavior when confronted with the extraordinary and the unfamiliar. Through the allegorical portrayal of an old man with wings and a young...
Introduction Imagine a world where everything and everyone is the same, a world where there is no freedom to make your own visions or live your own decisions. This is the cruel reality of Equality. Anthem is a dystopian novel written by Ayn Rand, which...
Loss of life and the grief that follows it are huge parts of Oskar Schell’s life in the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Even as a nine-year-old, Oskar has had to mature die to his dads death on 9/11. He...
Introduction to “Johnny Got His Gun” The novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo explores the life of a young man named Joe Bonham as he navigates through challenging times. From a young age, Joe’s life was a constant struggle. Despite having many friends...
“May your choices represent your hopes, not your fears” (Nelson Mandela). Mandela suggests that each individual’s choices have the potential to reveal his or her hopes or fears, regardless of the situation. Such a notion can be applied to Julie Otsuka, as she narrates a...
Ian McEwan’s Atonement is a romantic war tragedy metafiction published in 2001. The novel follows the lives of the young lovers Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner, the story’s two protagonists whom experience the text’s conflict as they are never able to fulfill their dreams of...
Set in two different continents and spanning over 250 years, Homegoing is a historical fiction novel written by Yaa Gyasi. The novel follows the stories of two families descended from half-sisters, Effia and Essi, who never meet each other. Although the families have immensely different...
One important theme in “The Boy In The Striped Pajamas” is friendship. In the novel, the main character Bruno meets Shmuel when he is exploring along a fence. Even though the fence separates the boys, they start meeting daily and soon become friends. Bruno’s family...
Autobiography has often been a response to moments of historical crisis. Diaries such as those of Anne Frank who wrote about the hardships of living in Nazi Germany as a Jew, the Bronte Sisters who wrote of the era in which they lived, and Nelson...
