Newest Literature Essays

Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet (1991) is a fantastical and vivid exploration of the lives of the 20th century ‘Aussie battlers’ whose reputations fabricated the Australian identity present in today’s society. The novel resonates the idea that this...

Every text is a confluence of other texts, containing parallels and fragments that give meaning and timelessness through prevalent themes that transcend generations. An exploration of explicit and implicit connections between a pair of texts...

William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying is a novel about a family that travels to Jefferson, a town in Mississippi, to fulfill the wish of their deceased mother to be buried there. The long journey reveals the true character and motives of each family...

The short story "The Garden Party" was penned by Katherine Mansfield, a burgeoning short story writer from New Zealand; this work of fiction was first published in 1922 in The Garden Party and Other Stories. This short story delves into modernity...

Most of Alice Munro’s major characters are women, whose social and interior lives are portrayed in great detail by their author. All of these women tend to give the reader an overview of what being a woman signifies in a society mostly ruled by...

Director Joseph Mankiewicz’s All About Eve utilizes a circular narrative to conceal the truth of Eve’s story. However, the impact that Eve’s story ultimately has on Margo is more important than Eve’s story itself. This is because fabricated nature...

Nothing can stand the test of time greater than the form of relation or sympathy. But even greater than that is the ability to force that compassion and relation into the reverse perspective... in other words, rather than feeling emotion upon...

In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato asks us to consider that the world we are living is the equivalent of a cave; in order for us to enter into this “sensible realm” of truth and knowledge we must actively pursue these values. In his First...

'You thought I was a native! You dared! You don't know anything about natives! They are not people - they're servants who must salaam to you. You know nothing about India.'

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden (32)

The Secret Garden is one...

Emily Bronte’s literary dexterity heightens both the inhumanity and passion of her lurid tale, in that she does not tell it herself. Rather, it is the act of storytelling from the words of Lockwood and Nelly that serves as the basis of the...

Although humanity survives The War of the Worlds, the ending of H.G. Wells's novel really is not reassuring at all. Though there do seem to be some positive effects such as advances in science, the Martian invasion obviously has its bad effects...

Piety was an important concept in ancient Greek civilization, as it shaped the culture and actions of Greek citizens. What exactly piety means has varied over time, and the definition differs throughout Greek literature. Characters such as...

In Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the main character’s qualities and ideologies tend to align eerily well with how Sigmund Freud depicts human consciousness. Within us all lies an Id, an Ego, and essentially what can be considered a...

In William Godwin’s novel Fleetwood, readers are introduced to a character who is predominantly solitary and is socially inadequate when he is within society. This is due to the fact that he grew up as the only child of a father who was withdrawn...

Throughout the Iliad, conflict commonly arise between characters regardless of whether they are allies, close friends, or enemies; many of these conflicts arise due to issues involving pride, power, glory, and honor. In Book Nine of the Iliad,...

In Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From The Goon Squad, each chapter brings with it a different point of view that adds new dimensions that build upon the story arc. To emphasize characters’ thoughts and feelings and to offer different perspectives of...

Though it was written over two millennia ago, Sophocles’ Antigone features one of the preeminent symbols of female defiance in its title character. The play centers on the exploits of Antigone as she openly goes against the king’s decree in the...

With her signature insight, Jane Austen delves into the depths of the words which comprise of the title of the novel Pride and Prejudice. Each of the characters in the novel displays either pride or prejudice or both, in one way or another....

Rudyard Kipling was regarded by his peers as a fine satirist. Many of the leading wits of his day, including Mark Twain, met him in person and acknowledged him as a peer. One of the things Kipling subtly criticized through his poetry was the...

The Piano, Jane Campion’s evocative narrative of envy and intrigue, is visually stunning, set against the untamed beauty of the New Zealand forests and shoreline. The critically acclaimed film follows Ada McGrath, a 19th century mute Scotswoman...

Every decision, every breath one takes, and every step one ever walks brings one closer to a single goal --- to find the meaning of life. The summation of one’s decisions, steps, and movements through life shapes one’s individual existence and...

The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley follows the narrator John Washington in a deeply introspective exploration of his family history in order to truly find himself and the origin of his existence. Washington reaches a pinnacle of...

Animal Farm is an allegorical novel written by George Orwell based upon the historical events of the 1917 Russian Revolution. The short tale revolves around an overworked group of farm animals that rebel against their owners in an attempt to...

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman actually makes reference to the deaths of two salesmen: protagonist Willy Loman and an admired yet never-seen character named Dave Singleman. It can be argued that the most obvious difference in the deaths of...