Newest Literature Essays

Martin Amis’ London Fields depicts a non-traditional murder story which Samson Young, the narrator, seeks to transcribe. On a quest to find her murderer as part of a suicidal death wish, Nicola Six forms relationships with Keith Talent and Guy...

Herman Melville uses the concept of identity to highlight certain features of the characters in his short story Bartelby the Scrivener. The character of Bartelby illuminates the narrator’s unexplained feelings of innate compassion and pity through...

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe leaves home to see the world, only to find himself in a shipwreck, leaving him stranded on a deserted island for years, while Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko is a royal prince turned slave who meets his ultimate demise in the...

The decision to become a female author in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a daunting task in itself, never mind choosing to narrate your work from a female, personal perspective. Such was the case of two famous texts that are read...

The bulk of the drama in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is based in murder. Throughout the play, much of the dialogue and action have to do with plotting a homicide, carrying out the terrible deed, or being haunted by the guilt of taking another...

In William Shakespeare’s Richard III, the protagonist and the central villain are one and the same, a power-hungry individual whose unrelenting ambition and lack of morality pose a lethal combination to anyone who stands between the tyrant and his...

In the many plays of William Shakespeare there are certain themes woven within the plotlines that are consistently considered, ruminated upon, and revisited. These highly debated subjects focus on the nature of humans and must have been issues...

In virtually all of Shakespeare’s plays, members of both high and low society are represented, and often the interplay between these two classes offers some kind of moral commentary on an issue. This common set up is found in Shakespeare’s Measure...

The Christian will not find comfort in William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Imbued with the ideals of divine justice and good prevailing over evil, the Christian will be appalled as he delves into the tragedy to find pure-hearted gentlemen reduced to...

In The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton attempts to recapture the essence of Old New York, a moment in late 19th century American history when social interaction was dictated by rigid standards of propriety and style. As Wharton explores this...

It is often observed that William Shakespeare’s comedies feature some uncomfortable scenes that leave audiences unsure as to whether characters are participating in harmless, theatrical farce or a meaner brand of mockery that borders on the cruel....

Since even before its publication in 2000, Zadie Smith’s debut novel White Teeth has been surrounded by intense hype and media publicity. Smith’s status as a young black female writer who received a quarter million pounds advance on a first book...

Ender’s Game, a novel by Orson Scott Card, is a form of anti-homosexual propaganda. The essay “Kill the Bugger: Ender’s Game and the Question of Heteronormativity” by James Campbell goes in depth regarding the ways in which Orson Scott Card’s...

What can the fall of the Round Table tell us about Malory’s view of English society and politics in the 15th century? Malory views the nature of the knight’s loyalties as destructive forces in themselves. Malory’s version of the King Arthur legend...

The Conference of the Birds is a love story about a man who chooses to change his lifestyle and religion in order to obtain the love of a woman. Sam'an, a Muslim sheikh, is in love with a Christian woman. During this time period, it was very...

Plato’s Concept of the Forms stems from his dialogue ‘The Republic’, written in 380 BC. In this he discusses his use of ‘a priori’ knowledge - truth gained through logical and tangible thought. Instead of observing the world at face value, Plato...

Superficially, Newfoundland is merely the setting of E. Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News. More fundamentally, however, Newfoundland is instrumental to the action, characters and ideas of the novel. Newfoundland’s ruggedness generates the unique...

Some authors experiment with various styles and techniques throughout their literary career, with distinct differences between various works. This is not true in the case of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne displays striking similarities in style...

In Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Paloma grows up in a highly chaotic and disconnected world and feels pain and disoriented. She needs another world to support and protect her. Day after day, Paloma “pace[s] up and down [her] life...

Ransom Riggs, an American filmmaker and writer, first got his idea for a novel with pictures when he randomly ran across some sinister-looking vintage photos. Ransom recalls, “[the photos] suggest stories even though you don't know who the people...

John Boyne’s most famous novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is an intricate story about two boys that meet at a concentration camp during the Second World War. In this novel, several themes are made evident, such as the innocence of childhood,...

"The Beautiful Ambiguity of Blankets: Comics Representation and Religious Art", written by the University of Florida's Benjamin Stevens, provides a great deal of insight into Craig Thompson's 2003 autobiographical graphic novel Blankets. Stevens'...

In Black No More, by George Schuyler, the main character, Max Disher, experiences a scientific procedure that changes his skin from black to white. Originally very proud of his African-American descent, he finds himself transitioning from wishing...

Humankind has the potential to undergo significant change, and instances of crisis often act as catalysts for such transformations. The once meek and complacent Anna Frith becomes a women of exceptional bravery and compassion in Geraldine Brooks’...