Literature Essays

A successful piece of social commentary selects an issue (or feature) of a society and identifies a series of aspects that contribute to that society. By doing this, the author raises the awareness amongst readers and makes them reconsider the accepted state of affairs and challenges a position held on …

The title alone told me that this story had some amount of darkness to it, but the setting of “Greasy Lake” is what eluded me as to what would happen next in the story. The author, T. Coraghessan Boyle, foreshowed each phase in the story by providing the reader with …

Masks have held countless uses and meanings throughout history. Masks have been used in plays, like those of Shakespeare, traditional dances, social gatherings, even as a form of casual or corporal punishment. Although masks have several different uses in different cultural situations, the meaning of the masks is generally the …

The short story ‘This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona,’ has various locations or settings. These include different locations on the reservation, the airplane, the trailer in Phoenix, and the long road through Nevada. Do these settings have any influence on the character actions? To further understand how …

The short stories “Araby” by James Joyce and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both stories about change; however both characters change in very different ways. Organized religion imposes a rebut of prescribed behavior on natural curiosity and growth and in turn causes one to seek it out on …

The Shakespearean Sonnet in “Romeo and Juliet” Shakespeare uses sonnets to express his feelings, expressions, and emotions regarding romance and tragedy, the main themes of his “Romeo and Juliet.” Over the centuries sonnets have been considered as high forms of literature, which have been extensively used by many authors and …

The reign of James I was the time of disillusionment and pessimism. The English expected stability and security from the new king and felt let down when he appeared to be less of a man than his predecessor, Elizabeth I, was. Even though James I despised war he thought himself …

In a literary work, the setting can have major effect on character. It can also play a role as an underlying major conflict of a story. In the novel, “Lord of the Flies”, the setting, being a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, takes effect in influencing character behavior …

Steele had a great experience of the town and he saw the development of the city life. He became aware of the vanity, ignorance and selfishness which reined the town. He had a keen insight into human nature and knew the dangers of false ideals. Which he tried to presents …

Jamaica Kincaid grew up on the dependent island of Antigua. As a result of this, she had a very biased outlook on what England meant. She wrote about how some thought highly of the country, but she had other ideas regarding England. In the opening of the passage, Kincaid uses …