Essays on The Reader

Suicide is a dark subject, usually avoided in every-day conversation and in Youth Literature. This is understandable. Some topics require a developed level of maturity in order to be fully comprehended. However, the darkness of a subject, while understandably deeming it a taboo topic, should...

One of the underlying themes presented in The Reader is the importance of literacy being an essential ingredient to the success of society as well as the well-being of individuals in being able to comprehend the world around them. In The Reader, Hanna is illiterate...

Controversial issues such as incest and murder are tough to discuss and even more difficult to resolve. Literature often employs such realities to leave the reader in a state of thought, rarely offering answers or even stances on the issues. In Hamlet, Prince Hamlet murders...

In modern literature, suspense and tension are almost essential in producing works that are both successful and interesting to the reader. These two aspects of literature are especially important in Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood, which delineates the story of how a mere robbery...

Humans are complex beings, each with individual traits, and an individual set of traits that they value in others. Despite this individuality, cultures are formed, in part, by the values they possess and nurture in their society as a whole. In the Homeric society, two...

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland purposefully highlights the confusion of identity, including the distinction between adults and children, and poses important questions about childhood and growth. As the child reader explores this novel, they also explore the depths of their identity and as the...