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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In Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, the Underground Man proposes a radically different conception of free action from that of Kant. While Kant thinks that an agent is not acting freely unless he acts for some reason, the Underground Man seems to take the opposite stance:...
In her towering box at the fashionable opera house, Mme de Beausant “was scanning the theatre with her opera-glasses, and though apparently taking no notice of Madame de Nucingen, did not miss her slightest move” (112). The vicomtesse, as though an all-knowing omnipresent figure in...
Written in late 1930, just after the fall of military dictator Primo de Rivera, San Manuel Bueno, martir was published at a time of economic downturn and political instability. King Alfonso XIII remained on the throne but shared the popular dislike of Rivera, meanwhile the...
In her essay, “Origins of the Novel”, Marthe Robert characterises the novel as knowing “neither rule nor restraint. Open to every possibility, its boundaries fluctuate in all directions”. Indeed, both Madame de Lafayette’s The Princess de Cleves and Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko are often claimed to...
In the novel The Wave by Morton Rhue (the pen name for Todd Strasser), a history teacher conducts an experiment to understand Nazi Germany’s influence on its people. However, students turn against each other and terrorize those who are not part of The Wave. Robert...
In Zamyatin’s We, the One-State society is structured to eliminate all aspects of life that may contribute to negativity. A totalitarian government controlled by the Benefactor sets up a world in which people – referred to by numbers – do not have to make choices....
Abraham Stoker was born in Clontarf, Ireland, on November 8, 1847. He was a sickly child, bedridden for much of his boyhood until about the age of seven. As a youth, Stoker was intrigued by the stories told him by his mother, Charlotte. Especially influential...
Patricia Highsmith, the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, portrays a protagonist on the precipice of insanity. Mr. Ripley shows many qualities of a person with borderline personality disorder, or more commonly called: a psychopath. A book titled, The Mask of Sanity by Hervey Cleckley,...
Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility depends upon social status and the adherence of characters to these social norms. Edward Ferrars is presented as a man of virtue and quaintness, a perfect companion to the narrator’s beloved character Elinor, who is the embodiment of sense. The...
Year of Wonders, A Novel of the Plague is by the prize winning author Geraldine Brooks. The novel was based off the true story of a village in England, during a plague in the seventeenth century. The residents of Eyam, also known as the Plague...
In the final chapters of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the reader may encounter many different obstacles, all of which lead back to the on-going issue of race and white supremacy in the 1930s. Specifically, in chapter 20, an issue is presented that, fifty years later,...
All throughout our lives, especially today in modern culture we rely ourselves on our identity, because it makes us who we are and will either consciously or subconsciously make decisions for us; who we hang out with, what we eat, what books we read, what...
Guy de Maupassant’s “The Christening” story highlights the perils of alcohol abuse; alcohol abuse brings about the deaths of four characters. To this end, a certain seaman and his son die due to alcohol abuse. Likewise, Kerandec engages in alcohol abuse that causes the death...
Across a Hundred Mountains is a novel written by Reyna Grande. It is based on Grande’s childhood and abandonment fears when her parents left her and her siblings under grandmother in search for work on “the other side”. Although the narration is a partial cover...
I loved the premise of Hello My Love by Evy Journey before I started reading it. True friendship turns into true love. Initially, Greg (our hero) only wanted to add another conquest to his list. He sees Elise (our heroine) on television defending the rights...
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‘Just because you know my name doesn’t mean you know my story,’ (Johnathon Anthony Burkett). This quote seems to be a perfect fit for The Namesake written by Jhumpa Lahiri, which is considered a realistic fiction. It starts at the beginning of the novel, in...
The book ‘Children of Men’ presents the various dystopian tropes through the use of the linguistic techniques in order to question society’s troubles and create a parable to our own reality. Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater...
In the novel Ransom written by David Malouf and the film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, both show worlds and people that are deeply divided. Both Invictus and Ransom explore how historical forces divide people into different, often conflicting groups – whether this be race,...
Despite disabilities, everyone is affected by warfare one way or another. Anthony Doerr touches on this topic in his novel, All The Light We Cannot See. It focuses on Marie-Laure Leblanc, a French girl who loses her eyesight at the age of six. After fleeing...
Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” This is true to Liesel, the main character in The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak, because her body is as if it does not have a soul since she...
How is it possible to advocate nationalism when for the sake of competition and economic independence, certain concessions to western traditions must be made? A colonised Rhodesia, plagued with a reliance on Anglocentric morals, is where Tsitsi Dangarembga sets her novel “Nervous Conditions.” A close...
Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness tells the story of a Mennonite teen, Nomi Nickels, and her response to the rise of conflict and tragedy in her family. This novel, however, explores not simply the life of a fictional coming-of-age young woman, but also of the...
The title of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, All the Pretty Horses, reflects the significance and variance of roles that horses play in this coming-of-age story, as they relate to John Grady. The horse, which was the social foundation of Western American culture until the mid-20th century,...
During war, men and woman are swept by emotions that make it difficult to overlook their experiences in war. Jack Croasdile, a prisoner of war, drew under his captivity in 1941 by the Germans a picture titled Anticipating 1942. Featured in the picture, he and...
What is it about Tatiana Larina? How is it that a young country girl, whose semblance is hardly remarkable and whose intelligence and judgment are suspect, has captivated literary culture and come to be regarded as “the Russians’ Mona Lisa” according to one prominent Russian...
In Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer the theme of illumination is explored by the triple meaning of the word itself. Foer shows how illumination may mean to clarify or explain, to produce actual light, or to embellish something. These multiple meanings of illumination,...
What is the American Dream? It’s the idea that people can come to America with nothing and make something out of nothing; the pulling oneself up by his or her own boot straps. “The Buddha in the Attic”, is a poetic novel written by Julie...
While Moses Herzog sits in the Chicago police station after he has crashed his rental car, the narrator of Saul Bellow’s work exclaims angrily, “See Moses? We don’t know one another” (299). This is the lone moment in the book where the narrator explicitly suggests...
Setting is an important part of Michael Ondaatje’s novel In the Skin of a Lion, symbolically underpinning the novel’s conceptual concerns. This narrative can be understood as a sweeping contemporary myth in which the setting works ironically and movingly, humorously and poignantly, to mirror and...