Essays on Literature

The core theme of Matt De La Pena's book, I Will Save You, seems to be love. The topic of love is seen and demonstrated, as is the desire for it by all. The author describes how love is important, how it can save lives, and how love must be...

The essay 'My Land of Dreams' depicts nature's gender biases crushing the dreams of a young promising woman, Tiffany Forte, in baseball games reserved for men. George Orwell's novel 'Shooting an Elephant' portrays the effects of colonization on aboriginal peoples and, as a result, the presence of conflict that flares...

Introduction: Social Expectations and Marriage It is a widely accepted fact that a single man with a good fortune must be in need of a wife. This is how Jane Austen's book "Pride and Prejudice" begins. This first line demonstrates how the speaker presents the perception of social expectations as playing...

Emily Dickinson's poem I Felt a Funeral in My Brain Emily Dickinson's poem I Felt a Funeral in My Brain reflects the death of her mental health. It explains the author's lack of sanity as she feels it, weakening from stanza to stanza and ultimately resulting in madness. The word funeral,...

Miss Emily's Alienation Miss Emily, the lead character of William Faulkner's short story A Rose for Emily, fails to find her place in the world. There is no denying that 'A Rose for Emily' is a tale of mental and physical loneliness. William Faulkner depicts the mechanism by which individuals become...

Miss Emily Grierson Miss Emily Grierson was a town jewel; she had a sense of duty to the town. Emily lived in a massive, square-framed house that had recently been painted white. The building was embellished with cupolas, spires, and scrolled balconies. Her house was on what was once the town's...

Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins As the title suggests, Billy Collins' Introduction to Poetry is a short, concise, and scholarly piece that exposes readers to the art form of poetry. The speaker, who seems to be a poem guru, tries to teach the piece's readers, whom he believes are novices,...

Pico Iyer's "Nowhere Guy" and the Phenomenon of Transit Loungers Pico Iyer writes in his essay 'Nowhere Guy' about a new depersonalized generation he refers to as "transit loungers." Iyer presents himself as an example of this group. He identifies transit loungers as people who spend a large portion of their...

The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie is an intriguing tale told by memories of Tom, a poet who runs a small business to support his family. The plot s most intriguing aspect is the effect of sadness it creates, even in moments of enjoyment. Each member of the household operates within...

Flannery O'Connor wrote the novel 'A Decent Guy is Hard to Find.' When writing prose, O'Connor follows the southern gothic style. Whether or not the narrator has lines or plays an important part in the creation of the novel, the American South becomes the primary character of the majority of...

Stephen Crane's tale The Open Boat Stephen Crane's tale The Open Boat was written in 1897 and published in 1898. It was inspired by the real sinking of the Commodore, a ship on which the author was sailing to Cuba, on January 22, 1897, off the coast of Florida (Eye, Stefanie...

An individual's decisions and behavior can affect the course of his or her life, and even the smallest of those actions can have a significant effect. Sue Monk Kidd's novel "The Invention of Wings" advocates the idea that a person's decisions and behaviors affect the course of his or her...