Essays and Research Papers on (All) Literature

A 5 page paper examining how Jonathan Swift satirizes both the rarified Houyhnhnms and the brutish Yahoos in Book IV of Gulliver's Travels. The writer concludes that just as man was not created to be bestial, he was not created to be completely rationalistic, either. To be caught in either trap robs man of the ...

A 5 page paper that considers a comparison between the societal and political structures of 18th century England with the satirical representation of the Land of the Houyhnhnms. No additional sources cited.

a 5 page paper looking at Swift's essay 'A Digression Concerning the Original, the Use, and Improvement of Madness in a Commonwealth', from A Tale of a Tub. The paper shows how Swift satirically distinguishes madness from sanity, determines the cause of madness, and finds a function for it in a healthy society. Bibliography lists ...

A 20 page paper looking at the various types of irony in the Western literary tradition. Surveying the use of irony by over a dozen writers, the paper determines that irony developed in two major strains: the humanistic and the fatalistic, with Swift embodying the first type and Conrad the second. Bibliography lists 16 sources.

A 4 page essay on themes in Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse Five.' The writer describes this work as one aimed at exploring war and how human beings cope with it. A number of insightful observations are made to illustrate relevant points. No additional sources cited.

A 12 page paper examining the importance of the ability to recognize evil in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, specifically The Prioress' Tale and The Pardoner's Tale. The paper argues first that anti-Semitism is a significant issue in the Prioress' Tale, and that her anti-Semitism is just as dangerous as the amoral avarice of the Pardoner because ...

A 5 page paper showing how Chaucer illustrates the themes of spiritual order and disorder in the first section of the Canterbury Tales. The paper concludes that this tension between human disorder and spiritual order resolves itself in the recognition that God's plan is worked out in each human being. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 5 page essay which analyzes the description of the Prioresse given by Geoffrey Chaucer in the General Prologue to his historic work The Canterbury Tales. The writer argues that the Prioresse is hypocritical about her love of earthly pleasures while the Wife of Bath is open and honest.

A 5 page paper examining the fabliau genre as it is developed in Chaucer's 'Miller's Tale.' The paper gives special attention to the question of what makes the tale funny, and whether these effects are still funny today. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

('A Sociopolitical Analysis of Satire's Timeless Consistency'). 6 page analysis of Lord Byron's play/satire 'Don Juan' and its thematic timelessness. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page paper looking at Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and Lord Byron's 'Prometheus' in terms of their treatment of the motif of the victim. The paper observes that while Byron's Prometheus's punishment is unjust but willingly accepted, the punishment of Coleridge's Mariner is deserved and he learns from it. ...

A 7 page paper analyzing characters & themes in Agatha Christie's classic book. No additional sources cited.

15 pages in length. It can be argued that Kurt Vonnegut's 'Cat's Cradle' is one of the most obscurely interpreted and unusually developed of all the author's works. About the effects of government, science, religion and the off-beat connection between life and death, Vonnegut's book created quite a stir within his throng of ...

A 15 page paper providing a sociological examination of this novel by twentieth-century novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The paper shows that scientists must assume an ethical stance in regard to technological development, or the survival of society on the planet is at risk. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

If Billy Pilgrim could come unstuck in time enough to travel outside of his lifespan and somehow travel to Atlanta to meet Scarlet O'Hara - what could they talk about? This is a 4 page paper that compares Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind in terms of the authors' ...

A 20 page paper discussing New Atlantis in relationship to its time as well as contrasting it to other versions of ideal societies or utopias. Bibliography lists 10 sources.

A 7 page research paper on Utopia and The New Atlantis. The writer details the place of each in utopian literature and compares them for style and content. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

This 15 page paper provides an overview of the major achievements of Sir Francis Bacon, with a focus on his methods and contributions to Western science. Bacon proposed the 'Great Renewal,' defining a method for a complete new start in science through a process of acquiring knowledge defined as the inductive method. This ...

A 3 page essay in which the writer critiques More's 'Utopia'-- pointing out several atrocities including the treatment of lawyers and animals in his fictitious society. The writer does also find, however, that the book was intended to be satirical and therefore to only criticize it would be to overlook its 'chariacture-like' value. No other ...

A 3 page essay criticizing More's Utopia in an historical context. The writer feels that a 'perfect' society is not possible when it has war, prisoners or war, and slavery. Examples from other Utopian ideologies are presented to illustrate points made. No other sources cited.

In this insightful 3 page essay, the writer argues that in Utopian societies, the creator is always theoretically 'playing God,' and establishing whatever social order (s)he sees fit for the achievement of societal perfection. It is argued that there exists no viable connection between the Utopia presented in Thomas More's book and true democracy. ...

A 5 page paper analyzing the ways in which Thomas More's idealized society, described in his book Utopia, could be said to be Communist. The paper concludes that the actual aims of Karl Marx and More were different; Marx was calling for a social revolution, and More was calling for a moral one. Bibliography lists ...

In this 5 page essay, the writer essentially discusses the life and works of Tolkein,-- focusing specifically upon the imaginary worlds he managed to create in "The Hobbit" and "Lord Of The Rings" and his love for language (philology). Throughout the essay, examples of words and names created by Tolkein are provided as are their ...

A 5 page paper on E. M. Forster's novel A Passage to India. It specifically looks at the last and final section, 'Temple', and the comparisons of the Hindu feast to Christmas, noting that Forster's indictment of British intolerance can be read in its lines. Bibliography lists five sources.

A 4 page research paper looking at critical opinions of both the E.M. Forster novel and the movie. The writer details the themes of the novel and how they were changed for the movie. Bibliography lists 6 sources.