Essays and Research Papers on (All) Literature

An 8 page paper which examines what message the 1899 novel has for women of the twenty-first century. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

This 6 page paper looks at setting, plot and characterization in these classic works. The Trojan War is discussed along with the themes of love and war. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 6 page discussion of the societal message which Kurt Vonnegut imparts in "Breakfast of Champions". Outlines key characters and events commenting on the message which rests there. Emphasizes that "Breakfast of Champions" is in many ways a satire on contemporary American society, a society which is largely an empty conceptual category. ...

(5 pp). Digressions in Beowulf serve as "verbal doorways" which link the story and praise of Beowulf, to the larger picture of the Scandinavian world. The role of the scop or keeper of the tales will also be discussed.

This 5 page paper examines the conflict in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic work and how it affects characterization. Syntax and diction are also discussed to support a thesis that the conflict drives the characters. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

(5 pp) The Brothers Grimm realized that the oral tradition of Germany contained the symbolic soul of the nation. They first started their collection as a patriotic move against the oppressive French, but then discovered they were holding on to richer treasure than they ever imagined. Bibliography lists 10 sources.

A 5 page paper which analyzes the many twists and turns of this complex 1947 French Existentialist play. Bibliography lists 1 source.

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, he reflects the nature of human cruelty and does so in a manner that allows the reader to see into the heart and mind of humanity, which, sadly, is often “of darkness”. This 5 page paper argues that the reality of the world Conrad presents is tinted - seen through the prism ...

(5 pp) The House on Mango Street (1989) is a deceptive work. It is a book of short stories-and sometimes not even full stories, but character sketches and vignettes-that add up, as Sandra Cisneros has written, "to tell one big story, each story contributing to the whole-like beads in a necklace." Conversations ...

A 5 page paper which analyzes style as it is developed through imagery and descriptive language, the use of deductive organization, providing both direct and indirect evidence from the story. Bibliography lists 7 sources.

(5 pp). Northanger Abbey was written in 1797-98 under a different title. The manuscript was revised around 1803 and sold to a London publisher, Crosbie & Co., who sold it back in 1816. The Signet Classic text is based on the first edition, published by John Murray, London, in 1818, the year following ...

A 5 page paper which discusses and classifies the women that appear in the Iliad. No additional sources cited.

A 5 page paper which critically examines the "coming of age" story of Magda, a 14-year-old girl whose peaceful, upper-class existence in Uruguay is forever changed by political revolution. No additional sources are used.

A 5 page paper which discusses the use of realism and fantasy in George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House." The paper also discusses other works of Shaw's which present similar images bordering amidst realism and fantasy. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 6 page paper which discusses the importance of the body during the Middle Ages. The focus is upon the General Prologue of Canterbury Tales as it involves the body during this time period. Bibliography lists 2 additional sources.

This 5 page report discusses Ernest Hemingway’s short stories and the ways in which he presents only the “tip of the iceberg” and the impact of the story lies beneath the surface, left to the imagination of the reader. It seems remarkably clear that Hemingway was determined, in virtually all of his writing, to demonstrate an alternative way of thinking ...

5 pages in length. In this comparison of the character of Lucy in Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage and Satan in John Milton's Paradise Lost, we find an interesting contrast between the characters. While Findley's work is more a parody than is that of Milton's, both hint of a juxtaposition of their true character. Bibliography lists ...

A 5 page overview of a 1998 feminist anthology, from a Chicana perspective. No additional sources are used.

A 5 page paper which analyzes both sides, society's and the individual's, of the issue concerning life decisions as they relate to refusing life support systems, as presented in the play "Whose Life Is It Anyway." No additional sources cited.

A 5 page paper which compares male and female vampires from various works, and then argues which is more romantic. The works utilized in the comparison are "Dracula's Guest", "Cabin 33", "Unicorn Tapestry", "The Master of Rampling Gate" and female vampire "Carmilla", "Luella Miller", "Shambleau", "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes." Bibliography lists 2 additional sources.

A 5 page paper comparing two of Walt Whitman's works, discussing a carol appearing within one. There is no joy in either the eulogy to Lincoln or in the sailor's urging his captain to rise from his blood-stained space. The Carol of Death offers a glimmer of hope within "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." ...

This 5 page paper looks at this work by the author of The English Patient, and pays special attention to gender roles. Lalla is discussed in depth. No additional sources cited.

(5 pp) Whenever we think of the word "chivalry," it is either in the context of "being dead"-not a pretty thought, or we think of knights and damsels in distress, waiting to be rescued by said knight. In its most positive sense, the word conjures other times of gentility and good manners. ...

A 5 page comparison of these two exceptionally captivating works of fiction. Contends that John Updike excels in being able to take the works of classic literature and molding it into a more contemporary format and that this is what has occurred with "A & P". Indeed, "A & P" is just a ...

A 5 page explanation specifying that John Milton's "Samson Agonistes" falls into the literary genre of classic tragedy. Contends that the classification of "tragedy", however, is not to be confused with the more common contemporary usage of employing it to describe any type of catastrophe or form of bad luck. Instead, this ...