Literature Essay Examples and Topics. Page 18

8,502 samples

“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer

By analyzing the descriptions of the Wife's visual image, as well as her perspectives on the issues of marriage, it is possible to identify why the character challenges the conventional notion of wifehood.
  • 5
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1206

Odysseus’ Personal Qualities and the Epic Hero Image

However, despite the need to win the audience, Odysseus also uses rhetoric to establish his authority; in his storytelling, he is always somewhat distant from the listeners: "Odyssean charisma, in both the personal sense attached [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 11
  • Words: 3042

Racism in Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal”

The main focus of the story is the problem of racism, particularly to African-American people in the United States. In terms of other issues that "Battle Royal" demonstrates and that are further developed in the [...]
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1439

“The Color Purple”: a Novel by Alice Walker

Thus, the recognition of an individual in the society, the respect of the individual rights and freedoms are fundamental in the determination of a person as a part of that society.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1379

“Aurora” by Junot Diaz

Both the dominant role and the level of authority exercised by Yunior's father and his observations of the older boys' attitudes towards the girls share the same set of characteristics and thus can be linked [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1172

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Man in the Crowd” Story

The structure of the tale, its manner of narration, and the minimal number of main characters are only some of the features that make "The Man in the Crowd" one of the most memorable short [...]
  • Subjects: American Novels Writing Style
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1391

“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros

The vignettes presented in The House on Mango Street describe the daily experiences of Esperanza, and they demonstrate the particular features of the Mexican Americans' life in a low-income neighborhood.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 589

Loyalty in “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens

For instance, the author ridicules this blind loyalty to Gradgrind's philosophy and outlines various ways it has affected the lives of his children and people that surround him.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1104

Themes in David Auburn’s Play “Proof”

In particular, she considers her level of mathematical skills at the age of 25 as well as the confusion she endures after the death of her father as a possibility that she inherited her father's [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 606

Autobiography in “Song of Rita” by Rita Joe

Rita uses the poems to outline her main challenges, which are reminiscent of the challenges, which faced aboriginals of her time. Rita uses the book to show her patience in an abusive marriage which she [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 574

Feminism and Roles in “A Raisin in the Sun” Play

These are such questions as: "What does Beneatha's conduct reveal about her intentions?", "How does the character treat female's role in society?", "How does Beneatha regard poor people?", "How does the heroine explain her choice [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 824

The Novella “Billy Budd, Sailor” by Herman Melville

The work was published in 1924, and one of the reasons for its triumph in America and the United Kingdom was the precision, with which the author portrayed the historical and cultural context.
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1420

The Book “Fahrenheit 451” and the Movie “Equilibrium”

The book Fahrenheit 451 and the movie Equilibrium have some similarities and contrasts: Both the book and the movie delve into the topic of the suppression of free thought; in both cases, the concept of [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1127

“Giovanni’s Room” and “Native Speaker”

The theme of being imprisoned in the environment that is seemingly open-minded to a range of cultures, yet promotes a single standard in terms of the identity that one is supposed to have and the [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2296

Edgar Poe’s Annabel Lee: Narrative Text Analysis

As death and mortality along with love make the key themes of the poem, it will be reasonable to suggest that the mood of the latter is quite dark, despite the lyrical tone and the [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 605

Life Conflict: “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy

The problem of non-adherence to the conventional role of a married woman becomes a paradigm for the analysis of the problems that are created in interrelated patterns.
  • Subjects: Dramatical Novel
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2795

“The Language of Blood” by Jane Jeong Trenka

The letter from the mother of the adoptee brings the memory of the girl to life at her ancestral land. The author is extremely critical of the life she was subjected to while in Korea.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 561

American Born Chinese by Gene Yang Literature Analysis

In most screens of the comics a reader can see only the characters and their voice balloons in the forefront, while the rest of the details are not emphasized, some of the lines are blurred, [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1370

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel Marquez

In their imagination, if this man had lived in their village, he would have the house with "the widest doors, the highest ceiling, and the strongest floor" and "his wife would have been the happiest [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 630

Hamlet and King Oedipus Literature Comparison

This essay compares the characters and roles of both Hamlet and King Oedipus as the sons who have to deliver justice to their fathers' killers.
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 587

The Leaves of Grass: Walt Whitman’s Poems

The works of Walt Whitman embody the spirit of the social changes, love of labor and freedom, which reflect the moods of the American society of the XIX century.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 839

American Literature: “The Martyred” by Richard E. Kim

The first eleventh chapters of the story introduce the main character, Captain Lee, and describe his relations with his friend, Park, the ways of how they achieve the current military positions, and the tasks they [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 592

Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron

In the context of the time when no one is eager to struggle with blatant violation of a right to be someone, not a philosophical zombie, the protagonist is an expression of freedom of choice.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1281

The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison

Tony Morrison is the author of the novel titled The Bluest Eye, which presents an overview of an African-American girl's life and the challenges she encountered.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1104

A Christmas Carol by Dickens

It starts with a summary of the plot, then examines the main characters and the themes and concludes with the personal opinion on the novella.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1180

Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

For the heroine, abortion is the collapse of last hope, leading only to the continuation of a meaningless life. Consequently, abortion is a crime against the life of a human person.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1112

“Numbers 2: The Chaos” by Rachel Ward

The corruption of governments, and the teenage problems on the background of the unknown coming tragedy in which the destinies of a lot of people will be involved.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 571

Comparative Mythology. Ugaritic myths of Anat and Baal

Since it was believed that Anat had extra-ordinary powers in matters related to reproduction, war, and harvest, the town of Zoan was expanded and the sanctuary of Anat was renamed as the City of Ramses.
  • Subjects: Mythology
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2525

“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros

Every situation is individual and people and their actions are framed by the conditions and circumstances of their personal lives, as well as those of people in the close circle."The House on Mango Street" by [...]
  • Subjects: American Novels Influences
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1120

Imperialism and Racism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

He lauds "the book's anti-imperialist theme...a stinging indictment of the callous and genocidal treatment of the Africans, and other nationals, at the hands of the British and the European imperial powers," and also details the [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2398

Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary

The author makes it known to the audience that the character is essential to the story, and that arouses a sense of curiosity in the readers.
  • 3
  • Subjects: Dramatical Novel
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 896

Wordsworth’s Vision on Childhood and the Basic Themes

As a result, the poet refers to the representation of the Fall, the metaphor that allows Wordsworth to render the transition between youth and adulthood, reason and emotion, gain and loss, experience and innocence.
  • 5
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2157

Little Briar Rose by the Grimm Brothers

The story was represented at the beginning of the eighteen century, the time when the traditions and societal values were of paramount importance and, therefore, the ideal of a person is the one endowed with [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 568

Novel Analysis: “War Trash” by Ha Jin

The author uses Yu Yuan to narrate the experience of POWs in the camps. However, Yu Yuan is informed by the doctor that he is among the POWs to be transferred to Koje Island where [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 12
  • Words: 3179

Voltaire’s Attitude toward Religion

Hence, Voltaire notes that it is ignorance to die and support wars for the sake of a benevolent god because wars are only dangerous to society and individuals.
  • 1
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 581

Food Motif in Bartleby the Scrivener

The food motif is also manifested in the naming of other characters in the story. The food motif is very prominent in this story.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 565

Odysseus as Husband

Being a good father and an excellent husband, Odysseus did everything he could to return home, however, there were a number of barriers, however, having returned home Odysseus killed all people who wanted evil to [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1895

“Musee des Beaux Arts” by W. H. Auden

Bearing these images in mind this paper seeks to proof that humans have conditioned themselves to disregard the suffering that seems always to surround them as the surface meaning of the poem in relation to [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 853

Evenin’ Air Blues

In this stanza, the words that carry the rhyme are "me", which is repeated three times, "be" repeated two times and "see"."Me" and "be" are used in an altering way to indicate how the speaker's [...]
  • 5
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 825

The Importance of Virgil in the Inferno

In the Inferno, Virgil is a guide and the voice of reason in the poem. He is a mentor and protector in several instances and ensures that Dante sticks to the mission.
  • 5
  • Subjects: Dramatical Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1178

WIT by Margaret Edson

An interpretation of the ending of the play is given with the impact that is felt as a result of the play is brought light.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1083

The Connection between the lives and works of Richler, Cohen and Layton

While he was alive, some critics tried to distinguish Richler the polemicist from Richler the author."The apprenticeship of duddy Kravitz", "Barney's Version" and "Jacob two-two" are considered as some of Richler's best works."Solomon Gursky was [...]
  • Subjects: Historical Fiction Comparison
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1939

Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”: Cynicism or Meliorism?

Miller in "Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown: Cynicism or Meliorism" states that critics have shared the feeling that Hawthorne's story intends to express the move from the relationship between God and man that is brokered through [...]
  • Subjects: American Novels Writing Style
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 546

Time as a Theme in The Great Gatsby

The embodiment of these negative aspects comes in the form of Gatsby and his life, which in the end is seen as hollow and empty, just as the morals and values of the characters seen [...]
  • Subjects: American Novels Writing Style
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 896

The Handmaid’s Tale

In the book, The Handmaid's Tale, the republic of Gilead presents a different environment with different rules from those of the former order before the conflict and establishment of a new order.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1467

Women writing in India

It can be argued that the authors had technically juxtaposed tradition and change thus leaving it to the readers to point out the good and bad element of both the tradition and the change.
  • Subjects: Romantic Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1386

Neil Gaiman’s Works Analysis

In the London below, the speaking rats, the earls, and the monsters in sewers are further instances of mythology alluded to by Gaiman in this novel.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1475

“The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne

Through this, she gained wisdom and proper methods of delivering the message to the world. The reason attributed to this is that one's status is a result of his past thoughts and feelings.
  • 5
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1096

The Unknown Citizen

This is because, even though the name of this poem implies the lack of a factual information about the citizen in question, the poem's actual body contains a detailed description of what kind of a [...]
  • Subjects: Modernist Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 566

The Scarlet Letter

When examining the novel, it becomes clear that the writing style and the way in which the author delves into the Puritan way of life seemingly shows the double standards that existed at the time.
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 611

Thought Response: The Saints and the Roughnecks

The society's view of the Saints and the Roughnecks is quite different. The basis for individual participation in criminal groups and the crime committed is a product of a learning environment.
  • 1
  • Subjects: Aspects of American Novels
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 596

In the Land of the Free

The main idea In the Land of the Free is a reflection of the experience of immigrants and the tough policies by the U.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 662

I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

Quitting the marriage, better known as divorce in the marriage institution, is the best answer for majority of the victims of such a situation.
  • Subjects: Concepts in American Novels
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1235

Susan J. Douglas: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media

The images that are shown by the media have helped to establish gender equality in a broad way. This means that as women have been shaped positively, they have desired to have a say in [...]
  • 5
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1158

To Kill a Mockingbird Main Themes

The main themes of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird cover both adult and children's concerns, including the dignity of human life, the importance of truth, the rights of people to be different, the need [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 635

Gods and Humans in “The Odyssey” by Homer

For instance, the journey of Odysseus back to Ithaca feature him as an important figure to Calypso therefore helping in building up the story as his return remains the center of all agony that begets [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1460

Sammy’s Heroism in “A&P” by John Updike

At the beginning of the story, Sammy seems like a thoughtless sexist who only admires girls because he has nothing to do, but as the story develops the readers is able to see beyond Sammy's [...]
  • 4
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 596

A Shared Theme between Two Works

As the paper unfolds, the theme plays a vital role across the two novels since the authors successfully point out the conflicts that arise because of people's failure to recognize the dignity of others and [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1693

Symbolism and Realism in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The character development in the story is presented through Emma's realization of the imperfection of the world. Although Madame Bovary as a realistic novel is widely recognized, Flaubert's quest of distortions and illusions lead to [...]
  • 3
  • Subjects: Romantic Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 807

Theme of the Poem Harlem

S, seems to suggest that the writer intended to invoke a particular image of a particular group of people whose dreams are often deferred."The dream" is a something that the writer of the poem had [...]
  • 5
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 594

A review of Sojourner Truth the Narrative

However she could not stand the second Sodom and thus left on her pilgrimage to preach top the world about the existence of the spirit of Jesus Christ and espouse the virtues of truth integrity [...]
  • Subjects: Concepts in American Novels
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1912

Literary Analysis

In the poem itself there are actually two voices, that of Soledad and another that asks her who she seeks and tells her to clean her body, as such it can be assumed that this [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2336

Compare and Contrast: The Lottery and The Rocking-Horse Winner

The tone of the work is significant in its terms as well because it creates the fleur of seriousness, light-mindedness, sadness or cheerfulness, introducing the reader to the world of the literary work, and even [...]
  • Subjects: Dramatical Novel
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1127

Harriet Ann Jacobs’ Narrative

The present research is a valuable source for the further analysis of Jacobs' narrative and life since it is based not only on the Jacob's writing but uses many other reliable sources.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 954

Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”

The character in the poem is complex as she struggles from childhood through adulthood to come to terms with the loose of her father at a young age.
  • 3.7
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1487

Critical Analysis of Good Country People by O’Connor

The author uses irony in order to emphasize that when one is sure of the true nature of things from the scientific position of view, the universe is empty and God is a fiction, one [...]
  • 2
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 666

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

The main theme of "The Things They Carried" by O'Brien is the events that were happening during the Vietnam War. It is a compelling short story of the Vietnam War.
  • 5
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 991

Hindu Creation Myth

The story of Hindu creation myths differs from Ancient Greek creation myths in a number of facts, including the beginning of the world, and some elements of the creation of the living creatures.
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 562

Ulysses by James Joyce

The encyclopaedic narrative does not lead to a climax in a story like the way the narrative style does to give a lesson or meaning of the story.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1407