Study Like a Boss
Comedy, Courtly Love, Drama, Fiction, Novel, Poetry, Protagonist, Tragedy, 1984, A Raisin in The Sun, Animal Farm, Beowulf, Fahrenheit 451, Frankenstein, George Orwell, Hamlet, Into The Wild, Lord of The Flies, Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, A Modest Proposal, All Quiet on The Western Front, Allegory, Antigone, Between The World and Me.
Mark Twain’s, “The Five Boons of Life” is a very interesting short story in which life gifts are offered to a man, describing the effects each choice has on his life and where those choices led the man. I was intrigued by how often the fairy warned the man to choose wisely and the description … Read more
Two people, one name: an inconspicuous, plain woman versus a poised young girl. A line is drawn between imagination and reality, but that line is blurred. In “Miriam” by Truman Capote, symbolism is incorporated to show that Mrs. Miller is living through the past in the present. A mere child is used to represent the … Read more
Edgar Allen Poe is, perhaps, the most popular Gothic author in American history. Many of his stories show the darker side of humanity and provoke a sense of eeriness in the reader. But what exactly makes his stories creepy or uncanny? To answer this question one can look upon Sigmund Freud’s, “The Uncanny”, wherein he … Read more
The genre of the detective story is one of the most remarkable categories of short fiction. The Sherlock Holmes stories are genuine masterpieces created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the usage of the detective stories elements has contributed to their popularity. In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” the author employs the opportunities of … Read more
In the works of Daisy Miller and The Beast in the Jungle, author Henry James provides readers with multiple explanations as to why it is important for one to live a full life. These two novellas share many broad similarities, including central thematic focuses, a flawed main character, and a hamartia that makes the stories … Read more
Ann Beattie’s The Cinderella Waltz is a fascinating short story that explores a divorce between a couple in which one partner has gone off with his homosexual lover and Louise, a nine-year old girl who seems to be more adult than most kids her age. By applying psychoanalytic criticism to this story, The Cinderella Waltz … Read more
How is it that one’s purpose or direction in life always seems to be predetermined? Nowhere is there a check point where it is appropriate to pick what one’s hopes and aspirations are and magically expect them to happen. The only plausible explanation for this is that it simply will not happen. Society has cast … Read more
Through “Paper Pills,” Sherwood Anderson illustrates the importance appearances play in society when measuring success. The opening paragraphs introduce the two main characters, the doctor and his wife, not by name or even personality, but predominantly by appearance. The narrator recalls the physician as “an old man with a white beard and huge nose and … Read more
In Melville’s short story, “The Tartarus of Maids,” Melville creates a foil to the preceding short story, “The Paradise of Bachelors.” Melville juxtaposes these two stories as if in imitation of Blake’s contrasting poems with a theme of balance. One of those themes in the narratives is modernization and mechanization in the two places. The … Read more
What attributes qualify someone, or something, as a monster? Despite the fact that the answer to this subjective query fluctuates immensely among individual persons, for centuries we have attempted to construct a universal definition of the word ‘monster’. The Oxford English Dictionary (1884) illustrates man’s inability to produce such a designation through its inclusion of … Read more
Walker Brothers Cowboy, a short story written by Alice Munro, presents the pivotal (and perhaps formative) experience of a young, unnamed, female narrator. Munroe filters the girl’s visual and olfactory-enriched memories through the present tense thoughts of a markedly matured voice, creating a nostalgic effect which foregrounds the significance of this childhood story to the … Read more
The Scarlet Ibis is a heartbreaking story by James Hurst about two brothers; one brother is physically fit (narrator), while the other is physically disabled (Doodle). The story focuses on the idea that the older brother’s greediness, arrogance, and self-consciousness led to the death of his younger brother. To help us draw and anticipate Doodle’s … Read more
In “She Wasn’t Soft”, T.C. Boyle uses dynamic and static characterization in his portrayal of an unhealthy relationship. Dynamic characters are characters who change throughout a story, the dynamic character in this story being Paula, while static characters do not change, like Jason. Jason and Paula have a relationship that does not contain mutual respect … Read more
Marxist philosophy believes that society views the world through a completely economic lens. Marxism dictates that society is separated into two classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoisie utilizes ideology to suppress the proletariat mainly by manipulating their perceptions of their free agency. One ideology that the upper class perpetuates onto the working class … Read more
The characters whom inhabit Joyce’s world in “Dubliners,” often have, as Harvard Literature Professor Fischer stated in lecture, a “limited way” of thinking about and understanding themselves and the world around them. Such “determinism,” however, operates not on a broad cultural scale, but works in smaller, more local, more interior and more idiosyncratic ways. That … Read more
As wealth inequality reached its zenith at the beginning of the 20th century, Marxist concepts such as social injustice and economic inequality became a major subject of discussion in western literature. With the death of Karl Marx in 1883 and the spread of Communism to Russia in 1914, literature became an important front for socialist … Read more
Born in 19th century Poland, Joseph Conrad experienced a life out of the ordinary as a world traveller. Attracted by reading, maps and the dream of becoming a sailor, Conrad led a multi-skilled life, travelled the world and wrote masterpieces that only a man with such a background could compose. Only once one understands the … Read more
“The necklace”, is a short story by Guy De Maupassant, it revolves around a young woman who had these desires to have things she couldn’t afford. Mathilide the protagonist in this story, was invited to a ball, but she did not have enough money to buy a dress. Her husband spent what little money they … Read more
The tell-tale heart begins on the eighth night as he was peering in at midnight, and perhaps the old man heard it because he startled awake. He wonders if anyone was there. After waiting a long while, he decided to open the lantern and a single ray fell upon the old man’s eye. The beating … Read more
In the abstract of this article, we are made to understand that the idealism of Josiah Royce is informed by the criticism of George Holmes. The free and independent selves are featured in the absolute idealism as reflected by Josiah Royce. His facts and views were presented in a supplementary essay that was found in … Read more
Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain,” tells the story of a disrespectful literary critic who gets shot in the head by a recounts one last memory before his gruesome death. Wolff’s story probes readers to not only challenge but contemplate their thoughts regarding life’s ability to change in one instance, one act. Various readers and … Read more
Mark Twain’s, “The Five Boons of Life” is a very interesting short story in which life gifts are offered to a man, describing the effects each choice has on his life and where those choices led the man. I was intrigued by how often the fairy warned the man to choose wisely and the description … Read more
Edith Wharton published an enticing tale of two older women looking back on their pasts titled “Roman Fever” in 1936, only a year prior to her own death. The short story took place in Rome with both women looking out onto what is called “Memento Mori”, or reminder of human mortality. After years of not … Read more
In the short story “The Blossoming of Bongbong,” the main character, Bongbong, moves to America with big hopes to reshape his life and achieve success. This vague notion of the American dream leads to Bongbong’s desire for the quintessential, yet seemingly paradoxical American life: a movie star career, and a simple, non-contradictory lifestyle— everything he … Read more
“Ligeia”, published in 1838 by Edgar Allan Poe, describes the tale of a narrator who is deeply enthralled by his own imagination and thoughts and is submersed in the act of escaping reality. This cautionary tale warns readers about the dangers of unchecked imagination and the problems that arise from the intertwining between fantasy and … Read more
The opening words of the story “MS. Found in a Bottle” by Edgar Allan Poe are a quote from the French opera Atys, “Qui n’a plus qu’un moment a vivre N’a plus rien a dissimuler” (Poe 1). This translates roughly to the idea that a man who is dying or in the final moments of … Read more
“Good night,” the other said. Turning off the electric light he continued the conversation with himself. It was the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant. You do not want music. Certainly, you do not want music. Nor can you stand before a bar with dignity although that … Read more
Overwhelming obsession and guilt often lead to deadly consequences. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe presents us with two men who each commit brutal murders motivated by overwhelming obsession. The narrators differ in their dispositions but fall victim to the same circumstances. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” takes pride … Read more
In order to rationalize the south’s peculiar institution of slavery, the southern plantation novel surfaced. It idealized the plantation lifestyle by creating and romanticizing characters that otherwise would be viewed upon as evil by blacks—the oppressed. Life was portrayed as easy and carefree by the staple icon, the plantation owner or planter—faithfully called a “Southern … Read more
The short story “Letters from My Father”, written by Robert Olen Butler, and the poem “The Writer”, written by Richard Wilbur, both depict family struggles. “Letters from My Father” is about a Vietnamese girl who grew up without a father because of troubles with immigration and when she is finally reunited with her father she … Read more
Sui Sin Far’s “Its Wavering Image” is a short story depicting a Chinese-American, young woman whom a White journalist beguiles for a story about the American Chinatown in which she lives. His Eurocentric proclivities lead him to impose his social attitude on her, thereby ruining her cohesion of self and fragmenting her identity with the … Read more
Walker Brothers Cowboy, a short story written by Alice Munro, presents the pivotal (and perhaps formative) experience of a young, unnamed, female narrator. Munroe filters the girl’s visual and olfactory-enriched memories through the present tense thoughts of a markedly matured voice, creating a nostalgic effect which foregrounds the significance of this childhood story to the … Read more
James Joyce’s A Mother is a short story based around the life of Mrs. Kearney, a strong-willed woman whose breach of convention results in the destruction of her acclaimed reputation. Joyce’s linguistic use of naturalism, modernism, and feminism, exemplifies the “paralysis”[1] of Dublin’s rigid societal conventions. It further reiterates the gender divisions that existed. The … Read more
The radical notion that one could be without sin be perfect did not originate with John Humphrey Noyes, the leader of the Oneida Community and the perfectionist movement, however, his brand of perfectionism was genuinely new. He claimed that in 70 AD Christ had returned to earth, therefore liberation from sin was an accomplished fact. … Read more
One character in the love triangle described in the novella “The Ballad of the Sad Caf?,” by Carson McCullers, is unworthy of love. Miss Amelia, a businesswoman with manly characteristics and little compassion, gains joy and happiness from Lymon at first and comes to trust him. Unfortunately, it gradually becomes clear that Lymon is actually … Read more
Published in 1904, Edith Wharton’s “The Other Two” explores the infancy of divorce within New York’s middle-class society by utilizing the concept of the futile struggle to escape social forces that are out of one’s control. In addition to that, the story presents consequences of this change in social system in the form of social … Read more
The short story ‘The Bloody Chamber’ by Angela Carter includes an abundance of conventions effective in establishing a Gothic setting. The tale is a tragic one, where the innate curiosity of a young girl inevitably finds her in danger. Published in the late 20th Century, at a time when Gothic writing was less prominent in … Read more
Gina Berriault’s “The Stone Boy” follows the story of a young boy facing the aftermath of a terrible accident and trying to understand his responsibility in the matter. When Arnold does not respond emotionally, the adults’ false assumptions isolate Arnold. In “The Stone Boy”, Berriault uses the motifs of light to represent knowledge and truth … Read more
Never has the world experienced a time period in which the culture is so dramatically altered in such a short amount of time as demonstrated in the 1920’s. This time period is often referred to as the “Roaring Twenties” or F. Scott Fitzgerald’s coined phrase, “The Jazz Age,” and brought society into a new era … Read more
Sometimes, people have a tendency to disguise their anguish with elements of happiness and constantly tell themselves that they are happy when they truly are not. Bertha Young from Katherine Mansfield’s “Bliss” believed that she was truly happy in her life because she seemed to have everything she needed. However, she comes to the horrible … Read more
“Bien Pretty,” as the title implies, is a story that invests in appearance. Throughout the story, prettiness is used as a proxy for authenticity and confidence in one’s identity, while ugliness is a stand-in for performed identity. Flavio’s appearance initially attracts Lupe because he physically calls to mind ancient Aztec imagery. She finds him pretty, … Read more
Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain,” tells the story of a disrespectful literary critic who gets shot in the head by a recounts one last memory before his gruesome death. Wolff’s story probes readers to not only challenge but contemplate their thoughts regarding life’s ability to change in one instance, one act. Various readers and … Read more
In literature, authors set the main characters up for different challenges that they will have to overcome throughout the story. Many of these stories have similar conflicts that can be compared and contrasted to one another. The protagonists in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, “A Worn Path,” by Eudora Welty, “A Rose … Read more
The story of The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss gives valuable lesson of racism and anti-Semitism through vivid metaphor. The main theme of this story is that the race and ethnicity should not be a borderline in the society. Empathy is used very suddenly only at the end, but plays an important role to settle down … Read more
It is very truly said that the ‘Excess of Anything is Bad’. This quote is proved right in the short fiction A Perfect Day For Bananafish through the example given by Seymour about the banana fever to bananafish. This story involves many characters such as Seymour, Sybil, Muriel and Mother. The Muriel is a round … Read more
Societally, most individuals enjoy believing that they are without bias. Whether it be gender, race, disability, or religion, everyone has preconceived notions about select people groups. While this can be difficult to admit, Toni Morrison constructs her short story, Recitatif, in a manner which forces her readers to face their biases and stereotypes. Through the … Read more
Though rather simple in plot and structure, Gogol’s short stories carry deep moral messages, which are urgent beyond time and place. One of these is a theme of a little man, who is a poor person, is not respected by those with higher ranks, and is usually driven to despair by his life conditions. This … Read more
“The Island At Noon” by Julio Cortazar follows main character Marini, who works as a flight attendant flying over the Aegean sea and wishes to travel to an island he observes out the window. However, when he makes it to the island, while he finds it as beautiful as he thought it would be, the … Read more
In his short tale “The Overcoat,” Nikolai Gogol has unfolded tragedies as well as satirical jokes by imagining a wide range of roles an overcoat can fulfill within an oppressive, bureaucratic, and heavily materialistic society. Without loss of humor, he has shown his reader different perceptions of an overcoat as a simple necessity for decent … Read more
Modernism as a literary genre began sometime before the First World War. It was, however, in the fires of this great conflict that the genre was forged and adopted its characteristics of disorientation and disconnection. The development of modernism can be traced in the poetry written during The Great War and the short story of … Read more
