Essays and Research Papers on (All) Literature

This 6 page paper explores the metaphorical representation of children's play in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 5 page paper discussing Tobias Wolff's memories of his time in Vietnam in the time of the Tet offensive. One of the themes evident throughout the book is the death of illusion. Wolff joined the Army for the wrong reasons, and he is disillusioned when he hears veterans fearing their return to Vietnam. He ...

A 10 page paper which analyzes the story "Sula" by Toni Morrison, and then discusses it in context of her novel "The Bluest Eye." Bibliography lists 8 additional sources.

8 pages in length. The short story Everything That Rises Must Converge focuses on the relationship between Julian, who is a young man who has recently graduated from college, and his mother. The two main characters, Julian and his mother, are such well-rounded and full bodied characters within the text of the plot that one can almost focus on ...

A 6 page paper discussing Willy Loman's wife Linda. She is not a bad person, but she decidedly is a controlling one who seems to use her control of others as a means of controlling herself. With Willy's death and Biff's plans to leave, she is rapidly losing targets for that control, bringing her ever closer ...

This 5 page report discusses several short stories that address issues associated with the separation that takes place between an individual and his or her place of birth. The narrators of “exile literature” address the many details of the past that have defined the person they have become. And yet that same sense of “exile” also exists in ...

This 5 page thesis paper presents the idea that this well known work of literature is consistent with the just war hypothesis. Quotes from the work are included. No additional sources cited.

This 6 page paper posits that Hemingway presents the character of Harold Kreb in Soldier's Home as a man in conflict. He is torn between what he feels is right and what he believes others either expect of him or how they perceive his actions. This internal and external opposition makes for the central theme of the story and ...

6 pages in length. Would Aristophanes have turned over in his grave if he had seen the following feminist production of his play The Birds? Indeed, one could readily argue that he would not be the least bit appalled at what the female director had done to transform his historical work into one ...

This 5 page paper argues that The Divine Comedy is an assertion that the principles of the Christian faith are in keeping with a strong foundation of logic, reason and faith as portrayed in the ancient philosophies as well as being developed by Dante as he presents the poetic narrative. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 9 page summation and analysis of Garcia's novel Dreaming in Cuban, which explores the lives of three generations of women within a Cuban family, and how politics and political exile shaped their relationships and perspective. No additional sources cited.

A five page paper looking at this play by Bertolt Brecht, in terms of its meaning and significance in the twentieth century theater. Topics discussed include modernism, expressionism, the anti-hero, and Epic Theater. Bibliography lists seven sources.

5 pages in length. Each of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales harbors its own personality that comes through loud and clear via the teller's character. How is it that one can readily see the teller's personality through the mere words of the tale? The task is rather simple when one dissects it into smaller, ...

An eight page paper which looks in detail at the argument between Eve and Satan in Book 9, and considers its importance in relation to the themes of Paradise Lost. The writer considers the character of Eve and the ways in which Satan uses reason and logic in order to tempt her to disobedience. Bibliography lists ...

(3 pp) ' Zeferino drove down Folsom Street wondering why he had never noticed Raphael's Silver Cloud Cafe and Bar. He had driven down Folsom Street, down Seventeenth, and even down Shotwell on hundreds of occasions, investigating scores of cases. He conjured up a mental picture of the area as he waited at a ...

A 5 page paper which examines how the concepts of culture, stratification, norms, values, mores, folkways, socialization, role and status, deviancy, primary and secondary groups, significant others, and stereotypes are represented in the novel. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 6 page paper which compares and contrasts the horror genre, as represented in novel and cinematic form. An overview of each is provided, along with critical reviews and an evaluation of their respective strengths and weaknesses. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A five page paper looking at three female characters -- Ursula, Pilar, and Fernanda -- in Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novel. The paper shows that these characters epitomize the way human beings either battle solitude and reach out to others, or draw their worlds in around them. No additional sources.

This 6 page report discusses the Symbolism in Zora Neal Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" (1937). Hurston’s remarkable sense of imagery and symbolism that she purposefully uses supports the overall theme of the book and adds to the unique points-of-view it represents. In fact, it is her use of symbols that serves to best represent the multiplicity ...

(5 pp) In this discussion we will examine Charlotte Bronte's major character, Jane Eyre. As the novel is arranged and Jane progresses, each new environment or setting teaches her something new; the vivid picture-form descriptions of the weather throughout the novel give us clues to what we might anticipate in each of five settings ...

This 5 page paper considers the book and its contents, paying specific attention to a single character, that of Win Hancock. The paper looks to use a single word to describe him, and settles on victim, he is a victim of fatter, a victim or reputation and of circumstances and discusses this characterisation of him. ...

This 5 page paper looks at three of Shepard's plays (Curse of the Starving, True West, and Buried Child) and evaluates how he views the American family. The idea of normalcy is challenged. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

This 7 page paper consider the first part of Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. It looks to the symbolism in the first two cantos of inferno, interrupting and explaining their presentations and meanings. These include the aspects of the landscape, of light and dark, personalities, the appearance of Virgil and the first appearance of Beatrice. The MLA ...

A 5 page discussion of the societal restrictions which resulted in the underlying desire for freedom in both of these nineteenth century books. Notes that while these societal restrictions are, perhaps, most obvious in the issues of slavery, they are present as well in "The Scarlet Letter". Described as "a penetrating dramatization of ...

A 7 page paper which examines why Mary Shelley has been widely regarded as a Gothic author, citing examples from her novel "Frankenstein" and her short stories "The Mortal Immortal" and "Transformation." Bibliography lists 9 sources.