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” He would come back some day; they couldnt make him pay forever. But he wanted his child, and nothing was much good now, beside that fact. He wasnt young any more, with a lot of nice thoughts and dreams to have by himself. He was absolutely sure Helen wouldnt have wanted him to be … Read more
Every American is familiar with the concept of the American Dream. It is the social myth at the very core of the nation’s identity. Unlike other countries, the United States is not rooted in a shared ancestry, history, or language. Instead, Americans find their unity in a common aspiration—the hope of a better future for … Read more
Is the real beast the patriarchy? From a story where beauty becomes a beast, underlying issues of femininity, identity, and society are questioned, years before Disney upheld traditional notions of a female’s role through their portrayal of Beauty and the Beast. The Tiger’s Bride by Angela Carter is a feminist revision of the traditional fairytale, … Read more
After years of abuse, Mariam, the protagonist of A Thousand Splendid Suns, looks back and examines herself: “What harmful thing had she willfully done to this man to warrant his malice, his continual assaults, the relish with which he tormented her?” (Hosseini 346). During the time period of both this novel and the film Osama, … Read more
All human beings are made up of certain strengths and weaknesses, and in the short stories The Masque of The Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, The Rocking-Horse Winner by D.H. Lawerence and The Painted Door by Sinclair Ross, each author treats the subject of human weaknesses and flaws as contributing to the downfall of … Read more
Evolution of Attitude in Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” T. S. Eliot’s notoriously opaque “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” can be interpreted only by acknowledging that the speaker’s thought process is not consistent throughout but an ongoing process. On first reading, the poems stanzas seem to belong to separate plots … Read more
The role of death, both physically and mentally, has a heavy effect on characters in Toni Morrison’s Sula. Shadrack survives as a soldier during World War I, dealing directly with death that he sees all around. Like Shadrack, Plum returns home emotionally distraught from the war and is killed by his mother out of love. … Read more
Among the numerous themes and ideas that author Herman Melville expresses in Moby Dick, one of the less examined is the superiority of the primitive man to the modern man. As an undertone running through the entire book, one can see in Moby Dick the same admiration of the “noble savage” that is so prevalent … Read more
Aravind Adiga adopts an epistolary form in The White Tiger, depicting the plight of a low caste servant, trying to escape the physical and mental chains that forge his destiny. Adiga initially presents a protagonist in Balram, who is engaging, despite confessing to horrific crimes. His language, thoughts, and deeds convey his originally good nature. … Read more
Catcher in the Rye, Holden feels isolated partly because he lives in such a confined circle. All his schoolmates are rich, privileged kids with narrow worldviews, but, ironically, he’s also too rich and privileged to connect with anyone who isn’t like him. Holden’s recurring quality is that he is isolating himself from society as a … Read more
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Jane’s skewed perceptions of her surroundings, caretakers, and mental state reflect her refusal to confront the reality of her confinement to a mental institution. Supposed husband and physician, John believes “a colonial mansion, a hereditary estate” or in other words a mental asylum, seems like the perfect environment … Read more
Throughout history, art has played a major role in portraying the structure of society and the different roles people play in it. In Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, art seems to dictate the life of young Dorian Gray to the point of moral insanity, and eventually death. In the preface of the … Read more
“[H]e would sit on his big rocking horse, charging madly into space, with a frenzy that made the little girls peer at him uneasily.” This passage, from D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” describes the “mad little journey” of Paul as he searches for the luck his mother desires, yet lost since she “married an unlucky … Read more
Kipling’s “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Essay One of the most famous story in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling is the “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, has also been published as a short book. Many people read it as the story of a heroic mongoose. But we can also interpret “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” from the angle of post colonialism, which the British family is … Read more
“ The Alchemist is the story of a young man “”Santiago”” who finds a treasure. He is shepherd. He wants to be free to roam with his sheep, to have some wine in his wineskin and a book in his bag. Early into his journey, he meets an old king named Melchizedek or the king … Read more
In ‘Daisy’, Alice Oswald uses the evolving imagery of a narrator considering her actions towards a daisy to symbolise the meekness and conformity socially linked to womanhood- and the poem’s progressively aggressive tone mirrors her desire to reject these feminine ideals. Nonetheless, the constant focus on the image of a flower is able to portray … Read more
The South African Igbo tribe of Umuofia, as depicted in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart,” (1958) encompasses layer upon complex layer of social order. From birth to death, every aspect of Umuofian culture is defined by an intricate balance of ritual, which is transmitted through oral tradition. Protaganist Okonkwo, appears to uphold the ways of … Read more
Specifically from a literary perspective, the Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement, is often treated as one of the most artistically prolific, localized movements in Western literature, which has produced such writers as Gwendolyn Bennett, Nella Larsen, Esther Popel, and Jean Toomer. No Harlem Renaissance writer has received as much recognition and … Read more
When T. S. Eliot wrote The Waste Land in 1922 he was a self-proclaimed atheist. Some six years later, he described himself as an adherent to anglo-catholic Christianity and thus wrote the Four Quartets. As is possible to postulate, some scholars believe that there is an innate Christian-ness in The Waste Land and have hence … Read more
A Real Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge? Sometimes reality is not as true as originally thought. Dreams, imaginings and illusions can look quite real. They are not always real though, and can be deceiving. The short story named “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce is a familiar example of an illusion. The … Read more
‘Determinism is perfectly compatible with the idea that we are essentially free’. How far does Orwell present individual actions as preordained by social factors in ‘1984’? Determinism is the belief that ‘all events are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will’[1]. In Orwell’s ‘1984’, the protagonist’s actions are clearly influenced by social … Read more
In James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain, religion functions not only as form of worship but also as a covert site of sexual expression. In the novel’s opening chapters, Baldwin often characterizes religious worship in language that borders on the erotic. This undermines the popular conception of sexuality as detached from and even … Read more
Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) ~ “Song of Myself” He praises nature. He hails civilization. He upholds silence. He calls for unchecked and unformed sound. All of these tendencies are found in Walt Whitman’s collection of highly descriptive poems. Superficially, Walt Whitman may seem … Read more
As a modern reader approaching the epics, one inevitably brings certain expectations and standards formed throughout the course of our experiences; one’s literary appetite is accustomed to a certain kind of satisfaction, and one of the most valuable rewards in reading these ancient works is having to examine and adapt one’s demands in order to … Read more
In James Joyce’s short story “Clay,” fate forces Maria into a nun-like existence and keeps her from realizing her dream of marriage. She seems content with her position on the exterior, but several clues suggest this is not the case. Joyce makes this clear as he sets up the first half of the story in … Read more
The Triwizard Tournament Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published in 2000, and is the fourth and middle book of the Harry Potter series. It is considered the turning point in the series, as the reader finds a more grown up Harry and much more serious tone in the book. The Goblet of … Read more
The Experience of Innocence In William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence,” he refers to the Lamb through numerous fashions, and even writes a song specifically, called “The Lamb.” In “The Lamb,” the child speaker reveals a hymn-like, soft tone through the simplistic diction and rhyme scheme. The speaker also displays closeness to God through its innocence, … Read more
Love and hate require intimacy and heart-knowledge. Both emotions leave the individual subservient to the emotion and become compulsory for survival. If an emotion develops into a discernible obsession, it may eventually abandon the zealous lover or no less zealous hater disheartened and dejected once he no longer obtains the object of affection. Excessive emotion … Read more
In her 1987 staging of “Othello” at the Market Theatre in South Africa, Janet Suzman aimed to make a pertinent artistic and cultural statement about both the political system of Apartheid and its deep racial underpinnings. Recorded on video for dissemination abroad, Suzman’s production is unique both in its depiction of sexuality and in its … Read more
Coleridge’s Poetry in “Conversation” Nothing about Samuel Coleridge’s “conversation” poems is conventionally conversational. These poems do not create a dialogue between two characters, but instead focus on an internal dialogue that Coleridge’s personas have with themselves. For Coleridge, conversation is a personal, individual action. In “Sonnet to the River Otter” and “Frost at Midnight” the … Read more
To His Coy Virgins The concept of carpe diem or “seize the day” is a popular poetic credo. Seventeenth century poets Andrew Marvell and Robert Herrick address carpe diem by admonishing young virgins against coyness and procrastination. Despite differences in device, motive, and narrative voice, Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and Herrick’s “To the Virgins, … Read more
Humans inflict suffering on other humans and when events are forgotten, they are repeated. In the poem “Shooting Stars,” Carol Ann Duffy tells a shocking story of a female prisoner held by Nazis in a concentration camp around the time of the Holocaust. This is a poem in which human suffering is being actively portrayed. … Read more
In the Franklin’s Tale, Dorigen’s hasty (and unserious) promise precipitates a crisis when Aurelius completes a task that Dorigen felt certain was impossible. Aurelius faces a similar problem when, consumed by his inordinate passion, he unthinkingly promises to pay a staggering sum to a magician in exchange for completion of Dorigen’s task. The power of … Read more
To understand Hamlet’s insecurities, we must understand Ophelia’s point of view. It is she who makes him most uncomfortable over the course of the play, and it is her rejection of him that drives Hamlet closer to insanity. Her reasons for this rejection are as important to Shakespeare’s greatest masterpiece as Hamlet’s own reasons for … Read more
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents an exciting exploration of the vast ethnic and geographical depths of Africa and the Congo River. The novella is a tale of immense conquest of new ground and culture, but under the primary level of the plot, it reveals one’s journey to self-discovery on a distorted road, intertwined with … Read more
‘Oh London…. Thou hast all things in thee to make thee fairest, and all things in thee to make thee foulest: for thou art attir’de like a Bride, drawing all that looke upon thee, to be in love with thee but there is much harlot in thine eyes.’ (Dekker). The plays produced during the early … Read more
In Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman,” Willy Loman is an individual who strives to achieve the “American Dream” in the 1940’s. This era was characterized by America’s climb out of the Great Depression in addition to its recognition as a world superpower following World War II. A now prosperous nation seething with opportunity, … Read more
Both John Keats’s ‘On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer’ and Christina Rossetti’s ‘In An Artist’s Studio’ both tackle similar themes; adoration for art be it one’s own in Rossetti’s poem, or the art of another in Keats’s, with Keats admiring the translation of Homer by George Chapman. But there’s a marked difference in tone, the … Read more
Across Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and ‘For My Lover, Returning to His Wife’ by Anne Sexton, jealousy is presented as both resulting in self-deprecation and anger. Whereas in ‘After the Lunch’ by Wendy Cope a form of love that does not contain jealousy, but does present love in a similar way to the form … Read more
‘Out, out’ is a poem written by Robert Frost who tells the story of a boy that had his life taken from him in an extremely upsetting circumstance. In comparison to this, “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen portrays a young man that has left part of himself behind in the war. Both poems assert ideas that … Read more
The Waste Land is apparently a poem about World War I and its aftereffects on every aspect of life at the time – the title refers to Europe itself after the end of the war and the struggle to rebuild.. T.S Eliot himself seems to be critical of war and calls for peace with the … Read more
In Sophocles’ Antigone, Creon makes reference to an “alliance of spears” as a metaphor pertaining to the necessary allegiance a society has to its ruler. Initially he feels his authority must be proven as absolute and in an act of hubris he attempts to prohibit the appropriate burial of an enemy. In so doing Creon … Read more
The name Iago comes from Latin, “Iacobus,” meaning “one who trips up another and takes his place.” This name also belongs to the most important character in Shakespeare’s Othello and one of the most wonderfully evil characters of all time. The character Iago is more than worthy of his name, for in the process of … Read more
Cleopatra, “Egypt’s Queen,” is arguably Shakespeare’s most resilient and enchanting female protagonist. She is personified as the embodiment of her country, ‘the soul of Egypt’, and defies the reductive Jacobean “most monster-like” perspective of women. The Renaissance stereotype of the subordinate and inferior female is in total juxtaposition to the possessive and shrewd characteristics that … Read more
The Iliad: Book and Film Comparison The Iliad became adapted into a film during 2004 called Troy, in which the story was both dramatically and subtly changed in its adaptation. A major difference in the film was that there were no intervening or actions of the gods whatsoever, whereas in the book, the gods were … Read more
Globalization implications in Friedman’s “Flat World” In Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat 3.0,” the author discusses the changing in global society from a disunited world to one which is more interconnected. Through careful analysis on the top global issues, Friedman has distilled the most potent “flatteners” that cause our world to connect on a … Read more
In literary history, authors often mirrored the social situation of its time through their works. For this reason, many of the greatest works were seen as representations of some social affairs, wars, political movements and other occurrences of the period of time during which the literary work was written. When it comes to more contemporary … Read more
Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography “The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano: or Gustavus Vassa, the African,” presents a created identity of the “enlightened slave,” as a means of appealing to the pathos of the British and American people regarding the trans-Atlantic slave trade. By establishing that he desires to be perceived positively as a Judeo-Christian, Equiano is … Read more
Introduction King Lear was authored by Shakespeare around 1605. It is usually ranked as one of the greatest plays of Shakespeare. The setting of the play, King Lear, is like the setting of any of his other plays, dramatizing events from the eighteenth century. The play demonstrates how vulnerable noblemen and parents are to the … Read more
Writing towards the end of the twentieth century, German literary scholar Hans Wagener reflects on the deep resonance of war literature, stating: “When we think about certain periods of history, epoch-making books come to mind that capture the spirit of those times most vividly”. Indeed, literary expressions of the Great War have performed a crucial … Read more
