Literature Essay Examples and Topics. Page 29

8,282 samples

“The Conference of Birds” by Peter Sis

The journey, which is depicted in the book, represents people's strong desire to investigate laws of nature that run the world and acquire the wisdom needed to improve life on the planet.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1102

“The Giver” by Lois Lowry Analysis

Given a chance to choose a friend among the characters, I would go for Jonas because of his impressive concern for society.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 362

“The Flowers of Evil” by Charles Baudelaire

In "The Swan" and "To a Passer-By", Baudelaire, the fl neur, shares his memories of the past and the realities of the mundane present to underline the beauty of the transience of life.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1587

The Power of Thoughts in Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare's sonnets 18 and 129 deal with the themes of beauty and human desire that cannot be changed in time and describe the power of a human word regarding the challenges and boundaries set by [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 649

Dragon Combats in Greek Culture

In Greek culture, dragons are always evil and pose a threat, which is why the most familiar motif in Greek myths is that of a dragon combat: there is a dangerous monster, and there is [...]
  • Subjects: Mythology
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1124

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost creates a very vivid and realistic picture of the forest. The first line familiarizes the reader with the fact that the area is known to the person stopping. This could mean that it is either a friend or someone they simply know of. It is […]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 896

Themes of John Passos’s “Manhattan Transfer”

He presents the crimes of American capitalism including the corruption of Blackhead, Dutch Robertson's returning from the prison that does not stop him from stealing money, Gus McNeil's denial of the class that he belonged [...]
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 857

Satire and the Anti-war Movement

In "Slaughterhouse-five", his the most famous and popular work, Vonnegut resorts to the use of the sharpest satire in order to criticize all the sad consequences that war might have for the civilians along with [...]
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 874

Rappaccini’s Daughter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne

One of the examples of the American literary canon is Rappaccini's Daughter, since it is distinguished by its innovativeness, features of the narration, and themes, but has universal values at the same time.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 858

The Tale of Despereaux: Chiaroscuro

The queen died of stress at the sight of a rat on her plate, and the King outlawed all rats in his kingdom and ordered to strictly punish all those who sympathize with him.
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  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 290

History and Social Context of Junot Diaz

Junot Diaz, the author of the much-acclaimed collection of short stories called Drown, published in 1996, was born on the 31st of December 1968 in, Dominican Republic.
  • Subjects: Writers
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 605

The Salient Traits of the Romantic Hero

Lord Byron was the one to create a perfect model of the romantic hero for his contemporaries and next centuries. And though the romantic hero is the caring one, Byron made his character a representation [...]
  • Subjects: American Novels Writing Style
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 554

“Being There” by Jerzy Kosinski

Since the purpose of this paper is to unveil the theme and the thesis Kosinski wanted to convey to the reader I am going to unearth the slightest details of the book's and movie's plot.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1486

Medea’s Justification for Her Crime

Medea felt Jason had betrayed her love for him and due to her desperate situation she was depressed and her normal thinking was affected that she started thinking of how she would revenge the man [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 684

Virginia Woolf and Modernism

The lack of actual historical information is a testament to the treatment accorded to women in the 16th century and this is an element of modernity that Woolf uses; the oppression of women in the [...]
  • Subjects: Modernist Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 694

Bradbury’s The Veldt & Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper

At the beginning of the story we immediately know that something is wrong with the nursery, and we find out about the African Veldt and how it seems to be stuck in a rather wild [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 17
  • Words: 4572

“Empire Rising” Novel by Thomas Kelly

As the story turns out to be, Michael, who is the main character in the story is being brought out as one of those Irish men who had come to America in pursuit of wealth [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2240

Love in a Fallen City

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the strategies that the author uses to depict the characters. According to the author, the conflict between the two characters was a result of the two being [...]
  • Subjects: Romantic Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1151

“Woman at Point Zero” by Saadawi

She commences by describing the barbaric act of clitoridectomy that Firdaus went through and the persistent abuse of her mother by her father. This indicates that she feels bound and stuck to the memories of [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1225

Morality in Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland

The story presents a tale of the Wielands as a precautionary tale that is meant to cushion against taking hard stance in religious matters; Theodore Wieland's over-commitment to religion is presented in this book as [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1423

“Burmese Days” by George Orwell

He competes to the villain of the novel, U Po Kyin, for an entrance card to the Club. He was thinking of the plot in 1928 and the book was printed for the first time [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1389

“Myhtologies” by Roland Barthes

Therefore, I propose to discuss and analyze in this paper, in light of Barthes's book Mythologies, his approach to bourgeois discourse and his understanding of myth as a language-object or meta-language."Myth is a type of [...]
  • Subjects: Mythology
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 638

“The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea” by Y. Mishima

The fact that Japanese people idealize aesthetics explains the particulars of Japan's history and provides us with the insight onto why, after being thoroughly defeated during the course of WW2, Japan was able to quickly [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 12
  • Words: 3323

Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan”

Though the main theme of the poem is derived from the Greek mythology and the plot is clear enough, critics have always been searching for a symbolic and psychological explanation of the poem's images.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1252

Magical Realism in “Tropic of Orange” by K. T. Yamashita

The extension of borders of the tropic, the contraposition between the life in LA and the life in Mexico, the change of events is a typical technique of Magical Realism, namely, hybridity that implies extensive [...]
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 660

Perception of Female Beauty in Literature

The current age has seen an acute upsurge in the value placed on the beauty of women; where the stigmatization, low esteem, and shame associated with being bad looking among women is leading to high [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 683

Two Characters in “Typical American” by Gish Jen

Although this could be a great sense of enthusiasm and optimism in achieving a goal, Ralph goes into this with the aim of getting a lot of money in a short period of time.
  • Subjects: Aspects of American Novels
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1116

Themes of Mortality and Growing Older in Poems

The poems inspire the readers, through the images of life, whether in old age or young, to not accept death as it is, but rather to challenge even in the last time minute.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1116

A Perspective on Philip Roth’s ‘The Human Stain’

Roth uses the "first person voice of the writer Nathan Zuckerman to tell the story of Coleman Silk, a black man who passes for a Jew ", a professor of classics and dean of faculty [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1506

Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” and “Cross”

Both poems are written about the relationships between children and parents; however, Mother to Son poem is written from mother's perspective while Cross is written in form of a monologue of a son. The first [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1229

Protagonist in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

The Protagonist plays a major part to achieve the goals of the story while the antagonist is an adversary who struggles against the efforts of the protagonist.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 827

“Unpardonable Sin” by Hawthorne

The Novel, Unpardonable Sin written by Hawthorne is a detailed criticism of the way of life of the Puritan. The various examples of Jesus in His dealing with those who commit sin is relevant as [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 616

Historical Criticism of Ivanhoe’s Book

Although, certain critics from the nineteenth- and twentieth-century explore the themes of the novel and concur that the lady Rebecca is very fascinating of all the characters in the novel many of the readers also [...]
  • Subjects: Writers
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1485

Willy Loman and the American Dream

As a result of his boasting, a great deal of what his family knows about Willy is based upon the image he feels he must portray of himself in order to bring himself in line [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1737

Dual Consciousness in the Novel Life of Pi

In the novel, Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, the protagonist is found in a state where the realm of self-awareness and human consciousness fails to make the difference between reality and illusion.
  • Subjects: Aspects of American Novels
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1710

The Theme of Love in the Old English Literature

The topic of the poem is preserved from the very beginning till the end of the poem, from the image and observation of the cross to the story by the same cross.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1184

“The Wife of His Youth” Short Story by Chesnutt

This is the case with Charles Chestnutt's short story "The Wife of His Youth" in which the significant disruption of life experienced by the institution of slavery and the Civil War is illustrated through the [...]
  • Subjects: Aspects of American Novels
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 677

The Character of Gertrude in ‘Hamlet’

The character of Ophelia is responsible for projecting an aura of guilt and deception to the role of women in 'Hamlet.' She is not treacherous or complicated, but instead weak and insensibly dependent on the [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1414

Lower-Class Life in Raymond Carver’s Works

As she tells her story, it becomes clear that she is in the lower class of workers because she is a waitress in a small diner and lives with the cook, Rudy.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1457

Themes in “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare

With consideration of critical responses, use of language and structure, and through a close analysis of Hamlet's soliloquies, the role of Shakespeare's characterization of Hamlet in shaping the enduring power of the text is appreciated [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 908

Characterization in The Storm: Calixta and Alcee

The image of storm is used by Kate Chopin as a metaphor to describe the romantic feelings that explode in the hearts of the two people, Alcee and Calixta.
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 825

Machismo in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”

By tracing through Hemingway's life in conjunction with his stories such as "The Snows of Kilimanjaro", one can begin to trace some of the ideas that characterized Hemingway's life and thinking.
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1805

Tragedy and Comedy as Literary Forms

The main differences between tragedy and comedy are in their content and the effect they produce on the audience; Greeks used these literary forms as the embodiment of their faith, history, and culture; they are [...]
  • Subjects: Dramatic Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 835

Coming of Age in “Reunion” by John Cheever

John Cheever's short story "The Reunion" is considered an initiation story because the protagonist of the story shifts from the viewpoint of a child to that of an adult during the action of the story.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 645

Pauletta Hansel’s Poetry: Divining

Paulette Hansel got used to read her poems in public in order to transfer her emotions and the mood of her poems to the people for them to understand the real sense of her art.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 878

Italian Sonnets: The Structure and Thematic Organization

While the Italian sonnet is also called the Petrarchan sonnet about Francis Petrarch - great fourteen-century poet- the sonnet is claimed to have existed a century before him. The stanzaic form of a sonnet is [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1013

“North and South” Novel by Elizabeth Gaskell

This paper is a review of the main character, Margaret Hale and will also look at the social and economical and political transitions/issues that occur in the story.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1863

“The Storm” by Kate Chopin and Critical Article

The article related to this short story, "Looking at setting and Atmosphere" analyses and demonstrates the importance of minor details in a short story. The author of the article is right that the story is [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 565

New Criticism in the English and American Literature

Consequently, any effort to state the meaning of the poem appears to be heretical, as it is an affront to the honesty of the complex arrangement of sense within the literary creation.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 1111

Franz Kafka: His Life and Novels

Kafka's writing was predominantly influenced by two factors the environment of the time and place in which he lived, and the events in his personal life.
  • Subjects: Writers
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1289

A Writer’s Responsibility: Discussion

But ahead of that, he distinguished that, as the first American novelist to got the prize from the end of World War II, he had a particular obligation to accept the modified situation of the [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1694

“Hatchet” the Novel by Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen's works are different from other novels designed to appeal to young adults because of his ability to celebrate the natural terrain and the interactions of the characters with nature. The identification with the [...]
  • Subjects: Aspects of American Novels
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 1636

“And Our Flag Was Still There” by B. Kingsolver

Kingsolver uses everyday examples to unveil importance of the American flag as a symbol of national unity and patriotism. In sum, the flag means much more for American people than a national symbol: it is [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 552

Novels by Conrad and Forster Comparison

The current paper is aimed at comparison of the works through three perspectives: the symbolism of the titles of the two novels, the way colonialism and racism are represented by the authors, and the way [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1479

“Celia, a Slave” by Melton A. McLaurin

In these lines, the author tries to emphasize the idea that this person was a respected member of the community and he seemed to be a man of honor in the eyes of the public.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1097

“On Witchcraft” by Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather however does not forget to mention the fact that devil exists and he works in collaboration with the witches and uses them to achieve his goals and objectives of seeing that the world [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1376

‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell Review

As Ben-Zvi asserts, "the concerns of the women are considered little or silly and insignificant and this is the most important reason for the men's comments about them.
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 934

The Changes in British Literature

Going further, as a whole the literature from the restoration of the monarchy to the rise of the queen in 1702 it was in striking contrast with the ease of the dispositions of court society, [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 628

“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold

Her father attempts to catch Susie's murderer and is crippled in the course of the investigation. The narrator is Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl from a usual family with the general expectations and dreams of [...]
  • Subjects: Concepts in American Novels
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1349

“The Scarlet Letter”: A Darkened End

For both Hester and for the townspeople, the mere presence of this letter appearing this one time on her dress is enough to mark her as something different from the rest of them and secluded.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1297

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

He went to a boarding school where he went through one of the most difficult and unhappy phases of his life. He also contributed a lot in the theory of elections.
  • Subjects: Writers
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1252

“Liberty’s Daughters” by Mary Beth Norton

Only in recent decades have U.S.historians begun seriously to evaluate the mobilization of women and to consider the ways in which relations between men and women changed in the era of the American Revolution.
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1270

“Osama” , The Kite Runner, and Persepolis Links

The cruelty of the revolution and the Taliban regime brought not only a lot of changes and sufferings to people's lives but also provided the literature world with significant masterpieces filled with pain and difficulties [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1189

Willy Loman and Oedipus as Tragic Heroes

Thus, the tragic hero should combine the following characteristics: He should cause emotional attachment; The audience should fear for the fate of the hero; A tragic hero should cause pity in the audience.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1307

Poetry v. Prose: Their Differences and Overlaps

Fiction can possibly include the happenings of everyday life and is reliant on the person that narrates the happenings, the manner of its narration, and its composition.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 903

Contrasting Deception in the Inferno and the Decameron

In the present work, we will analyze this similarity and will seek for possible differences using particular parts of the great epic poem and the collection of novellas, namely, we will explore the fifth story [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1227

A Rose for Emily Literary Analysis

To gain an understanding of the story within a brief analysis, it is necessary to examine the story's plot, characterization, point of view, theme, symbols, and setting.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 598

Underworld in Greek and Roman Mythology

The human personality traits determined the gods and goddesses to be immortalized, hence the actions that were observed in the myths were as a symbol of the actual actions of men.
  • Subjects: Mythology
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1642

Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Shakespeare’s Hamlet

One such device in Hamlet is Shakespeare's placing of the Danish prince in the context of Fortinbras and Laertes as the characters that, like Hamlet, find themselves in the role of having to avenge their [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 998

Gilgamesh’s and Joseph’s Dreams Comparison Review

The functions of dreams in both works are studied by the researcher, their significance is underlined, differences and parallels between the usage of dreams in both works are established, the enduring values that the works [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 599

Francis Weed in “The Country Husband” by John Cheever

The short story "The Country Husband" by John Cheever reveals the darker side of Suburbia, "the side which traps its residents in a web of conformity," and the protagonist of the story Francis Weed, is [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 641

Pablo Neruda, a Great Latin American Poet

In 1920, he had written literary journal "Selva Austral" under the pen name of Pablo Neruda, which he took on in memory of the Czechoslovak poet Jan Neruda.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 958