Essays and Research Papers on (All) Literature

A 5 page paper which discusses various aspects of the book 'Jude the Obscure' written by Thomas Hardy. The story is summarized briefly, followed by a brief illustration of Hardy's life and its involvement with the story. This is followed by a critical analysis of the story which discusses the character of Jude and its relationship to Hardy. Bibliography ...

A five page paper showing how Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story is structured to provide suspense and a strong sense of foreboding, which contribute to the reader's readiness for the shocking climax. No additional sources.

10 pages in length. Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God,' Nella Larsen's 'Passing' and Ann Petry's 'The Street' all address the issue of marriage in very different ways. While all three stories speak about the bonds of matrimony in one way or another, it is not actually the marriage, in and ...

A 5 page book review on the book "Shane" by Jack Schaefer. This book is considered by many to be an incredible classic that tells of the old west and of brave men. The paper presents an overview of the story and also discusses what it is about this book that makes it such a classic for young ...

A seven page paper looking at this early work by George Orwell. The paper notes that the book is a memoir of an era in Orwell's life when he lived among the poor in these two cities, and scathingly lays the fate of the British street people at the feet of the upper classes of their society, who are ...

3 pages in length. "El Llano En Llamas" by Juan Rulfo's is indicative of the prolific writer's inherent ability to pursue even the most complex of concepts. Not unlike myriad other works of this genre, Rulfo appeals to the innermost recesses of the reader's soul by reaching out and inviting his audience to ...

This 5 page report discusses Henry James’ “The Mirror of Consciousness” and the idea that characters are only as interesting as their reactions to the situations in which they find themselves. Two examples are presented by James Joyce’s story “Araby” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Bibliography lists 4 sources.

3 pages in length. The obvious importance of Rodolfo Usigli's "El Gesticulador Y Otras Obras De Teatro" is the author's quest to reconstruct Mexican history as it has been documented throughout the past. In assessing the particular importance of Usigli's motivation behind re-writing the revolutionary past is its seemingly unrelated association to contemporary ...

In 6 pages, the author discusses Emerson's speech on 'The American Scholar' and shows how Walt Whitman answered this call using Whitman's 'Song of Myself.' Emerson's call was for intellectual, cultural, and spiritual independence, which are important to transcendentalism. No other sources are cited.

A 7 page overview of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story. Written in 1892 the story traces the treatment of a woman who descends from depression to madness in the male-imposed psychiatric confinement of her room. She finds solitude in the pattern of the wallpaper and eventually is able to recover. Emphasizes the ...

A 5 page paper which discusses the story "Great Falls" by Richard Ford. The discussion involves illustrating what the narrator's involvement is, in relationship to establishing the focus of the story. While the story involves a couple who are in a dying relationship, a fairly common story line, the narrator's presence illustrates a particular attitude towards ...

This 5 page report discusses Dante Alighieri's classic that tells of the poet’s journey into hell. The report focuses on the structure of hell and then examines the character of Francesca da Rimini who is in hell because of her adulterous affair. Her story gains the sympathy of both Dante and the reader but ...

A 6 page paper which analyzes Ernest Hemingway's short story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," in terms of narrative technique, narrative voice characterization, imagery, symbolism, and use of dialogue and descriptive details. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

The newspapers are forever mentioning the word, 'tragedy'. It usually means that there has been a death or deaths associated with a catastrophic event. Surprisingly, this is in keeping with the use of tragedy as described by Aristotle: that it should evoke the emotions of pity and fear in the presence of an action of a certain magnitude. ...

This 6 page paper looks at the works and comments of Scottish poet Iain Crichton Smith. He had often criticised peers as lacking feeling in their writing, yet it is a criticism which can also be levelled at some of his work. Conversely, he also has may works which convey a string sense of emotion ...

In 3 pages, based on the story "The Boarding House," from James Joyce's "Dubliners," the author argues that Mrs. Mooney is a good mother trying to do what is best for her daughter. Several examples are given to support this theory. No other sources are cited.

This 5 page paper considers the characters of both Oedipus and Gilgamesh, both of whom were great kings but flawed men. This paper considers whether their experience of loss and suffering was valuable, and why each character, in their attempt to maintain their throne, actually lose everything that is important. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

An 8 page paper which discusses how, with the use of characterization, symbolism, and the narrator, Ernest Hemmingway illustrates how people are searching for new values in their lives. They are searching for new values in their lives because many of the old ones were destroyed along with the war. Bibliography lists 6 additional sources.

A 5 page paper which examines post-colonialism in Michael Ondaatje's "The English Patient" and Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" in terms of the enemy, both real and allegorical; the confusion over who is the enemy in each; and the reasons for this confusion, from a post-colonial perspective. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 6 page paper which examines how the heroic code is interpreted in the epic poem, "Beowulf," particularly in terms of the search for earthly glory, and the expression of the heroic ideal within the actions and the words of the characters. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

5 pages in length. Jane Austen's insightful glance into the inner workings of society, relationships and one's own personal existence is what has endeared her to her many readers. Tackling all these social elements and more is "Sense and Sensibility," her tale of money, manners and marriage, women's role in society, the idea ...

A 7 page research paper that examines three of Flannery O'Connor's short stories--"A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "Everything That Rises Must Converge," and "Good Country People." The writer argues that the underlying message for much of O'Connor's fiction is that while one may endeavor to avoid self-examination and the "deeper questions" of life, these ...

A Jury Of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell is written from the perspective of the women who make up an 'informal' jury of the wives of the prominent men of the town who accompany their husbands to the farm where a murder has taken place. The wife of the victim is in jail, being held for suspicion of ...

A 5 page comparison between Jane Austen's Emma and in Anthony Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? The writer argues that each novel illustrates the expertise that Austen and Trollope possessed over their craft. In each case, the author's command of dialogue and exposition serve to expertly shape the reader's judgement of the characters and situations that ...

5 pages in length. Assessing the prejudicial differences that exist between Anne Radcliffe's 'The Castles Of Athlin And Dunbayne' and Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' is to address the issue of social class. The reality of Scottish white privilege as it is bestowed upon Radcliffe's Mary is entirely separate and apart from the ravages of Morrison's ...