Literature Essay Examples and Topics. Page 37

8,819 samples

Paul Bunyan’s Contribution to American Folklore

The history of Paul Bunyan is therefore attributable to the oral traditions of many loggers in Pennsylvania. The character of Bunyan was eventually popularized by William Laughead towards the end of the 19th century.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 562

Eileen Chang’s Literary Works and Their Influences

Some believe that the literature of the ordinary man should comprise of an unadorned and pure story of the life of the common people as opposed to that of the nobility.
  • Subjects: American Novels Influences
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1417

John Donne’s and Edmund Spenser’s Works Comparison

Although the theme of female body is disclosed differently in two poems, both authors resort to a variety of devices to make the idea clear and to engage the readers in the perception of it.
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1250

“Suburban Warriors” by Lisa McGirr

2 The researcher makes numerous observations about the US and the Republican Party in the 1960s and 1970s, although most of the arguments that the author applies county-wide are based on Orange County.
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 950

Fables of Anansi and the Jamaican People

Since these tales were adopted by many other groups of people that came from Africa and now live in different parts of the world, there are numerous versions of both the stories themselves and the [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 844

“Murambi, the Book of Bones” by Boubacar Boris Diop

Notably, the fragments encompass all the phases of the genocide, which are planning and political propaganda, the butchery, and the aftermath of the oppression leading to fragmented communities.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1229

“Le Morte d’Arthur” by Thomas Malory

It is imperative to consider Merriam-Webster's definition of a knight: "a man who is given special honor and the title of Sir by the king or queen of England", to understand the first component of [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 844

Protagonist in Hamid’s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”

Although Changez appreciates the opportunities that the United States have opened in front of him, as time passes, he starts experiencing love-hate emotions toward the country and its culture due to the social pressure, the [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1948

“The Day of the Locust” and “Play It as It Lays”

This paper aims to explore the themes relating to the American dream and its associated emptiness and un-attainability as depicted in the two novels, The Day of the Locust and Play it as it Lays.
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1654

“To Build a Fire” a Story by Jack London

Another of the details that support the postulation that the main idea of the story is that assumptions can kill is the inability of the main character to recognize his limitations.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 848

John Hale’s Image in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller

The book is concerned with the topic of witch trials taking place in the city of Salem, the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 1692-1693; it features a number of characters, some of whom depict the real [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 663

The Novel “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

Speaking more precisely, the renovation of the soul and the renovation of nature go together in stressing the significance of the change. Mallard's life and the story in general.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1143

Lynching in “A Party Down at the Square” by Ellison

The practice of lynching could be considered one of the worst acts committed by the citizens of the United States. This date would place the events at the end of the period of extreme racism [...]
  • Subjects: Themes in American Novels
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1998

“The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough

The purpose of this critical analysis is to explore the author's description of the targeted characters in the book. The emphasis of the book is that the brothers were always determined, focused, and intelligent.
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 853

“Bartleby, The Scrivener” by Herman Melville

Right from the start, the Lawyer admits that "Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources", yet he is also the character who is central to the [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 888

Themes and Culture in Li Bai’s Poetry

This is likely intentional as the tower, and the neighboring lake is a very famous location in China and holds great significance outside the context of the poem.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 852

Positivism in “The Birth-Mark” by N. Hawthorne

In the novel, the conflict between nature and Positivism showcased by juxtaposing Aylmer, an aspiring Positivism scientist, and his wife Georgiana is rendered with the help of the third-person view, which sets the tone for [...]
  • Subjects: Concepts in American Novels
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1376

ZZ Packer’ Stories Comparison

Dina's experiences in Japan depicted in Geese contribute to the depiction of her life at Yale from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, offering valuable insights into the development of her character and search for personal and national [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 570

“Stones and Switches” by Lorne Simon

The main hero of the novel, a young man, named Megwadesk, is plagued by misfortune following him around, and struggles against it as his perceptions of right and wrong are shifting between Christianity, spiritualism, and [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 681

“Year Zero: A History of 1945” by Ian Buruma

Through numerous examples of events happening in many countries after the end of the war, Ian explains to us that the changes in socio-political systems were made by the people who tried to make the [...]
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 824

“The Giver” a Novel by Lois Lowry

Before the Sameness, the world of the book was much like ours. Finally, the central box lists the emotions and sensations, probably the cause most responsible for the occurrence of the Sameness.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 538

“When My Brother Was an Aztec” Poems by Natalie Diaz

However, the most common and visible theme is the issue of the native American identity and the difficulties these people had to face on their way of struggling to take over a place in the [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1103

Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” Poem

With Eliot's description of Prufrock's thoughts and consciousness, the reader observes that Prufrock's personality and character are a representation of what most people experience as they advance towards old age.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 610

Ibsen’s A Doll House and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex

Of course, the most suggestive similarity of the two plays is that recognition and reversal occur simultaneously for protagonists as they learn an important thing about themselves and this knowledge changes their life completely forcing [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 627

“American Negro Slave Revolts” by Herbert Aptheker

According to Marcum and Skarbek, the slavery period in the United States occurred from the 16th to the 19th century. In reference to Aptheker, the majority of the slaves lived in poor and inaccessible areas.
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2744

“Girl” Story by Jamaica Kincaid

This vision is somewhat old-fashioned, but the meaning behind this is much bigger, as the word "lady" in the context of this short story implicitly represents the depiction of the superlative human personality traits, not [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 573

Henri Bergson’s Idea of the “Laughter”

In the essay, " Laughter", Henri Bergson argues that comedy is the involuntary element which lacks of elasticity, through absentmindedness and a kind of physical obstinacy, as a result, in fact, of rigidity or of [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 1164

Characterization’s Importance in Literature

This statement by the narrator is a significant tool of characterization because it reveals that the main character is insane. The narrator is also important in revealing the character of the old man.
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1135

Joseph Conrad’s Novel “Heart of Darkness”

In the Congo, he is clearly not in favor of the Africans but as a portrayal of how Africans needed the whites to salvage them from the darkness they were living in.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1675

“A Small Place” a Story by Jamaica Kincaid

It is the work devoted to the description of a small country Antigua and analysis of the influence of its colonial past on the modern life of a state.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 840

‘Burger Boy’ by Jerry Newman

The policy of the management to make the current workers in charge of assignments that were usually not their responsibility had led to the dissatisfaction with the service not only of the clients but of [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1146

“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

“True Grit”: Book and Films Comparison

A notable distinction this particular rendition of the book to film/s is that, for the most part, the films stick closely to the book.
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1103

Literature as a Protest: The Lottery and The Crucible

Thus, in the case of "the lottery" it can be seen that it is a form of protest against the practice of blindly following "tradition" without taking into consideration the full logic of the actions [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 570

Robert Frost and Walt Whitman: Poems Comparison

Walk Whitman was born in the first half of the 1800s and Robert Frost in the second. The use of figurative speech in poetry gives the poems a capacity to reach out to the hearts [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 600

“The Tyger” a Poem by William Blake

Thesis: whilst the poem may be apprehended in many ways, essentially the framework of a speaker questioning the beast symbolically reflects the beginning of the appreciation of the strength of own soul.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 550

The Woman Warrior, Ode of Mulan and The Mulan Film

Although each of the narrations are linked to each other with a single theme of Chinese women emancipation and the introduction of feminism into the Chinese society, the time periods, in which the specified pieces [...]
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1122

The “Ragtime” Novel by E. L. Doctorow

The novel, Ragtime, underscores the theme of change through the main characters by being accurate about the history of the period.
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1684

“The Pearl That Broke Its Shell” by Nadia Hashimi

Shekiba is the victim of a society where women are judged almost exclusively on their worth as wives and mothers of sons and she was discriminated alongside her crippled father."The clan did not want to [...]
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 693

Childhood Memories in Doyle’s, Griffin’s, Foer’s Works

It should be pointed out that the issues concerning functioning and improvement of the memory, effects of the childhood experience and background on the personality, and the significance of having the heart not only as [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1429

Themis Goddess and Her Archetype

She was the daughter of Gaia, considered to be the first prophet and represents the earth, and Uranus. She was married to Zeus, Father of the Great Achilles and was the mother of the Titan.
  • 2
  • Subjects: Mythology
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 634

Realism in American and British Literature

The concept is interested in looking at the daily lives of individuals from both the lower and middle classes, whose character is determined by social factors. The movement covered the whole country since it was [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 561

“Pieces”: the Poem Explication

Moreover, the reader can understand the attitude with references to the changes in the poem's tone which is melancholic in the first lines and rather optimistic in the ending lines in order to represent my [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 594

“Factory Work” a Poem by Deborah Boe

In the first stanza, the poem gives a detailed description of the monotonous nature of the job that the main character does and how it has changed some of her physical aspects.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 595

“It Takes Two” a Book by Cynthia Enloe

In the article, Enloe explains the construction and reconstruction of masculinity by the local military and the US military to maintain the high morale among their soldiers.
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 574

“New Atlantis” an Utopia by Francis Bacon

Therefore, it is possible to state that Francis Bacon's New Atlantis is aimed at criticizing the use of reason as the central principle for creating an intellectual utopia as the practice shows that the possession [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 587

Gendered Space in Susan Glaspell’s Play “Trifles”

The setting is significant to the meaning of the work of writing as it influences its outcomes, the characters, viewpoint, and plot since it is connected to the principles, ideals, and feelings of characters.
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 840

“Eveline” a Book by James Joyce

Moreover, contrary to the opinion that women cannot provide for the family, it is seen that Eveline uses all her income in the house while the men of the house only give part of what [...]
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1115

“The Brothers Karamazov” a Novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Thus, Ivan's seemingly revered attitude towards religion is rather explainable he believed that, while being closely affiliated with a religion, people would be innately encouraged to refrain from committing crimes, out of their fear of [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1700

American Culture in the Novel “The Great Gatsby”

In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald documents these changes through an in-depth exploration of cultural changes such as the rise in consumerism, materialism, greed for wealth, and the culture of loosening morals in the 1920s [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2215

Varying Moral Worlds in The Odyssey and Aeneid

Some of the issues that differ between the two societies, as highlighted in the two poems, include marital love, representation of the underworld, the idea of fate, and pride/hubris. It is believed that the intention [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1761

“Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen

Moreover, the actions of Colonel Brandon have to be evaluated, as he remains one of the main characters in the Sense and Sensibility.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1391

Relationships in “A Mercy” by Toni Morrison

The women portrayed in the story are Rebekka, the wife of the farm owner Jacob Vaark, Florens, a black slave sold to the farmer, Lina, the Indigenous servant, and Sorrow, the woman with an unknown [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 850

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes Literature Analysis

In addition to his limited understanding ability, her aunt's inadequate explanation of salvation also significantly contributed to Hughes's literal thoughts of the salvation process.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 573

Charles Baudelaire’ Vision on the Satan

The specifics of the concept of the devilish which has been spoken in Baudelaire's poem The Litanies of Satan and in his narrative story called The Generous Gambler provides a deep insight on his idea [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1461

“The Brothers Karamazov” and “The Stranger”

In the novel, the author illustrates that the value of human life is perceived with respect to mortality. He claims that Ivan always yearned for the death of his father.
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1641

Sappho’s Poetry Specific Features

The poem is written in the form of appeal to Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. The poem can be considered exploring homoerotic friendship, as the object of the speaker's love [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 557

“The Story of an Hour” and “The Birthmark”

The "punishment" of the character, however, does not necessarily testify to the narrator's support of the expected behavior standards pointing out a conflict between the author and the society in regards to ethical, moral, and [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1384

Sea Oak’ by George Saunders

The reason for this is that, despite the unconventional sounding of the story's plot line, it appears innately consistent with what happened to be the socially suppressed unconscious anxieties, on the part of readers.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2541

Events in the 1984 by George Orwell

This paper explores the similarities and dissimilarities between the book's events and the occurrences of contemporary society in 2014. Orwell's accounts in the book 1984 strike many similarities with the events happening in contemporary society.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 579

Rise from Gold by Victor Villaseñor

Family plays a pivotal role in shaping the structure and the plot of the novel. The main aim of the paper is to understand how family is portrayed in the novel.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1466