Essays and Research Papers on (All) Literature

This 4 page paper examines a story by Chitra Divakaruni entitled Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter. The concept of wearing masks to hide emotions is discussed. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 6 page essay that examines several of Ellison’s short stories, as well as his novel Invisible Man, as these works demonstrate that Ellison frequently addressed two literary ideas. The first concerns the motif of initiation, which is a literary device that affords Ellison a means of critiquing society due to the fact that ...

This 5 page paper discusses some of the themes that Mitch Albom and his “old professor” Morrie Schwartz discuss in the book, “Tuesdays with Morrie.” Bibliography lists 1 source.

This 3 page paper argues that in their two essays, Bharati Mukherjee and Amy Tan explore relationships among women, but the label “freak” cannot be applied to any of them. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 4 page discussion of the realities of life in the Appalachian coal mines. This paper compares and contrasts three different perspectives of this life. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 3 page report and review of Two Sides of the Coin by Geraldine McCaughrean and Jan Mark. No additional sources cited.

This 6 page paper considers the changes and the continuities that characterize women’s work in the early 20th century. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 4 page paper which examines Jay Gatsby’s fantasy of reconnecting with Daisy after years of separation in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. No additional sources cited.

In three pages this book report on Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune includes background information on the author, the novel’s historical context, book summary, and writer’s personal recommendation. There are no additional sources listed in the bibliography.

This 3 page paper discusses three of the women in the Vietnam war novel, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 4 page paper which examines the relationship between Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and the song So It Goes by Unearth concerning death. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

This 5 page paper discusses Gore Vidal’s novel “Creation,” a historical fiction about the 5th century B.C. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 5 page research paper which examines the work and messages of Langston Hughes. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 3 page essay that examines Abraham Cahan’s 1896 novel Yekl, which tells the story of a Jake, a new Jewish immigrant to the United States who was originally from a town in northwestern Russia, where he was known as “Yekl or Yekele” (Cahan). Within the course of Jake’s personal narrative, Cahan addresses several thematic ...

A 3 page essay that analyzes the symbolism of Miss Brill's fur in this short story by Catherine Mansfield. No additional sources cited.

This 7 page paper considers the quotation "Willa Cather believes human relationships are the 'tragic necessity' of human life" with regard to her book "O Pioneers!" Bibliography lists 1 source.

3 pages in length. Reading Langston Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" provides a brief but powerful image of a how mother's strength is often the single greatest influence in her young boy's life. A mother's insightfulness comes only with experience, which is precisely the way this mother attempts to redirect her troubled son's ...

A 3 page research paper that first briefly discusses biographical background on author Alice Walker and then discusses the themes and characterization used in her short story “Everyday Use.” Bibliography lists 4 sources.

An 8 page paper which compares conflicts of the characters in Alice Walker’s short story Everyday Use. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 6 page paper which examines marriage, and whether or not it was successfully achieved, in Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, and Henry James’ The Europeans. No additional sources cited.

This 3 page paper discusses Mitch Ablom's book "Tuesdays with Morrie" and how it changes our perceptions of illness and death. Bibliography lists 1 source.

A 3 page essay that analyzes the Hispanic folk tale “Dona Sebastiana.” As pointed out by G.M. Padilla in the introduction to this story, this tale is a “cuentos morales (morality tale),” whose purpose is to “instill a complex religio-social sensibility in young listeners” (Padilla 1501). The purpose of the story is to convey a ...

This 3 page paper discusses what a writer might do to create an additional chapter for the children’s book “Johnny Tremaine.”

A 3 page essay that addresses aspects of this novel. Esther Forbes' classic coming-of-age novel set in the Revolutionary era has as its protagonist a talented, intelligent, but somewhat arrogant fourteen-year-old boy, Johnny Tremain. The writer describes Johnny's maturation process, the novel's themes and other aspects. No additional sources cited.

A 3 page analysis of three stories from Herman Melville’s The Piazza Tales. The stories examined are The Piazza, The Bell Tower, and Benito Cereno. No additional sources cited.