Literary Criticism essays

1291 samples in this category

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3 Pages 1482 Words
The significance of the human decision is beyond what can be described with a mere cause-and-effect structure. All choices ultimately influence any given outcome that an individual happens to experience. Furthermore, provided that an individual has absolute control over what actions they choose to make, what they perceive as right from wrong may differ from another. ‘All American Boys’ by...
DecisionLiterary CriticismThe Other Wes Moore
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2 Pages 728 Words
The more highly people endorse materialistic values, the more they experience unpleasant emotions, depression, and anxiety. The novel ‘The Pearl’, written by John Steinbeck in 1944, follows an allegory that poignantly and succinctly teaches the reader about the negative consequences of materialism. ‘The Pearl’ is about a Mexican Indian pearl diver named Kino who finds a valuable pearl and is...
Literary CriticismMaterialismThe Pearl
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1 Page 661 Words
Most people don’t understand what mental illness does to someone’s mind. Having a mental illness back in the 1960s was even worse. Know one would understand how hard it was not to think about mental illness or thought that if someone doesn’t do anything they will magically get better, however, that has been proven wrong since then. The best medicine...
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3 Pages 1164 Words
Introduction "Tuck Everlasting," a novel penned by Natalie Babbitt, is an enchanting tale that explores the concept of immortality and its implications on human existence. Set in a quaint rural village, the narrative follows the life of ten-year-old Winnie Foster as she encounters the Tuck family, who have drunk from a magical spring granting them eternal life. The story unfolds...
Book ReviewLiterary CriticismReading Books
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4 Pages 1951 Words
There are lots of people who cannot have strong relationships with their parents. Some would call others lucky to be able to have the opportunity to connect with their parents. Thi Bui gives information for us to recognize that not every relationship with a family will always be pure. My family constantly talks about their childhood memories up until their...
Literary CriticismParent-child Relationship
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1 Page 587 Words
‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ – a ballad by John Keats, that’s title translates to the lady without mercy, creates a sense of betrayal from the start. The poem begins from the first-person perspective of the main character, asking himself a question, “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms”, now pointing to the conclusion that this character is a knight, asking...
Literary CriticismPoetry
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2 Pages 823 Words
Could you imagine being forced to make your own meals at the age of three? Well, that is exactly what Jeanette Walls experiences in The Glass Castle, a novel written about her life growing up. Throughout the book, she tells her readers about difficult times in her life that she experienced during her childhood. Rex, the author’s father, displays anger...
DramaLiterary CriticismThe Glass Castle
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3 Pages 1313 Words
The Tempest is a challenging play to categorize because it is considered by most scholars to be Shakespeare's final solo piece. It has been classified as a 'problem plays,' and examination of the work has emphasized the work's straightforward nature. Many have sought to link Prospero to Shakespeare himself, viewing the play as a last act. Part of the problem...
Literary CriticismThe TempestWilliam Shakespeare
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2 Pages 928 Words
“Instead of worrying about what cannot be controlled, an individual must shift their energy into what can be created” (Roy T. Bennett). Jeannette Walls from The Glass Castle and Baby from Lullabies For Little Criminals have been trapped in a state of disillusionment their entire lives. Delusion runs in the Walls family, and the children lack a rational parental influence...
DramaLiterary CriticismThe Glass Castle
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3 Pages 1171 Words
The story of Jeannette Walls is nothing short of what you could describe as nightmarish. From living in houses with caving walls to dealing with a narcissistic, alcoholic father, Walls endured a childhood of horrors. Through Walls’ traumatic childhood, we experience the constant turmoil, dysfunction, and broken promises that she lived with throughout these crucial years of her life. Walls’...
DramaLiterary CriticismThe Glass Castle
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5 Pages 2228 Words
Relationships can often affect our sense of being to the point where we cannot discern the difference in how much we have changed within ourselves. Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, and Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl convey that one can easily lose their identity and self-being which can lead to one becoming easily vulnerable...
6 Pages 2549 Words
Throughout history, women have been constrained by their corresponding society’s beliefs, and nurture that instruct or compel them to be who they are not necessarily meant to be. This issue has been limiting feminine freedom and failed to admire the humanistic approach to consider all individuals to be equally free, fenced with no boundaries. This essay is subjected to outline...
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1 Page 592 Words
The successful reframing of prisons in texts engages an audience to explore the powerful change of perspectives on prisons through the isolation of characters and differing contexts. In the prose fiction ‘Hag-Seed,’ Atwood's appropriation of The Tempest, reframing the metaphorical prisons in Shakespeare's'‘ The Tempest’ to a literal representation has shifted the audience to a modern view of prisons. Thus,...
Literary CriticismThe TempestWilliam Shakespeare
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3 Pages 1451 Words
Textual conversations allow a perfect and personal amalgamation of our own experiences and the moral lessons taught by the texts. Textual conversations expose the benefit of the experience detailed in Literature and how they relate to our life and the human condition. All expectations, thoughts, and experiences are relative to our past experiences, our whole lives are experienced in comparisons...
Literary CriticismThe TempestWilliam Shakespeare
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3 Pages 1548 Words
Feminist literary criticism arose from the work of first-wave feminism but mostly came about from second-wave feminism in the early 1960s. Inspired by the civil rights movement in the US, women of all ages began fighting to secure a more prominent role in society. They strove for equality between men and women in the workforce. Post-colonial readings represent the aftermath...
Literary CriticismThe TempestWilliam Shakespeare
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2 Pages 1030 Words
‘Orange Is the New Black’ is an American comedy-drama series streaming on Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir about her experiences in a minimum-security federal prison. It covers themes such as racism, sexism, and the monetization of human beings. The Black Lives Matter movement is also an extremely important theme of the finale of Season 4, alongside...
Literary Criticism
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2 Pages 1091 Words
Discoveries can provide new insights that transform an individual’s perception of themselves and the world. Both William Shakespeare’s tragicomedy The Tempest (1611) and Laura Palmer’s memoir, Mystery is the Precinct Where I Found Peace (2002) highlight how introspection enables individuals to be emotionally transformed. Furthermore, both texts reveal how by reconsidering prior assumptions, individuals may discover renewed perspectives and future...
Literary CriticismThe TempestWilliam Shakespeare
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1 Page 417 Words
Rather than centralizing on postcolonial critiques of Caliban as the colonized ‘Other’ in The Tempest, Atwood reimagines a humanist critique of the Fletcher Correctional Players in Hag-Seed. Inspired by Canada’s reformative prison literature of the Shakespeare Behind Bar program, Atwood adapts the universality of Shakespeare’s language to allow the inmates to transgress their mundane existence through the rehabilitative power of...
Literary CriticismThe TempestWilliam Shakespeare
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4 Pages 1683 Words
Elizabethan play or theatre, also known as English Renaissance theatre, is referred to as the plays written and performed during the reign of Elizabeth I of England from 1558 to 1603 CE. The actors of the play were generally touring troupes and the plays were written in blank verse. The plays, more often than not, are based on non-religious themes....
Literary CriticismThe TempestWilliam Shakespeare
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3 Pages 1207 Words
Feasting, as defined by Linwood Fredericksen from the Encyclopedia Britannica, is “a day or period of time set aside to commemorate, ritually celebrate or reenact, or anticipate events or seasons—agricultural, religious, or sociocultural—that give meaning and cohesiveness to an individual and to the religious, political, or socioeconomic community”. Holiday feasts were an essential part of the social scene of the...
2 Pages 967 Words
When you think of a cult, what is the first thing you think of? KKK, Manson Family, or Heaven’s Gate? Would you consider the Internet to be a cult? “A system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object” is the definition according to the dictionary. Throughout history, there have been many real-life and fictional interpretations...
Book ReportDystopiaLiterary Criticism
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2 Pages 912 Words
One of the key themes in the novella ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens is the theme of the supernatural because it symbolizes all the aspects and the allegories of the two social problems of life. One aspect of the theme supernatural that the writer focuses on occurs at the beginning of the novel. Stave 1 embodies how the Ghost...
A Christmas CarolLiterary Criticism
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2 Pages 1052 Words
‘Stargirl’ is a novel by the author Jerry Spinelli. Jerry is an American writer that grew up in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and he now lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He decided to become a writer at the age of 16 after a poem he wrote about sports was published in a local newspaper. Jerry went to Gettysburg College and he got his...
Book ReviewLiterary Criticism
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1 Page 451 Words
‘Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!’ by Len Foley is a funny story for children from 4 to 7 years old. A small boy Siegfried is trying to find out what's stinking so bad about the book. Every page of it reveals a new answer to the question: where could the bad smell possibly come from? The book invites us on a journey...
Book ReviewLiterary Criticism
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1 Page 613 Words
Introduction Scott Fitzgerald's novel, "The Great Gatsby," has sparked debates and discussions about the character of Jay Gatsby and whether he truly deserves the title of "great." This essay aims to present a persuasive argument that Gatsby is indeed a great character, highlighting his ambition, resilience, and unwavering pursuit of the American Dream. Extraordinary Ambition One of the defining characteristics...
Jay GatsbyLiterary CriticismThe Great Gatsby
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1 Page 612 Words
Introduction Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat" are two thought-provoking short stories that explore the theme of self-realization. Both stories delve into the lives of women who find themselves in oppressive marriages, yearning for freedom and autonomy. Through a comparative analysis of the protagonists' journeys towards self-discovery, this essay will examine the similarities and...
Literary CriticismSweatThe Story of An Hour
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1 Page 554 Words
A personal understanding of one’s own identity begins to develop the moment we are born. Our identity is molded by our surroundings and the values that are present in our homes. Having an identity relates to the sense that we need to feel like we belong. Everyone in the world wants and almost needs to feel accepted and “at home”...
Literary CriticismShort Story
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2 Pages 1099 Words
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A rhetorical device utilizes words in a certain way to convey meaning/convince and is a strategy that stirs emotions within the reader or audience. In many popular speeches, the speaker uses this strategy to cause the audience to agree with their claims or to create a feeling of fervor and intensity throughout the crowd. In the play “Julius Caesar,” Brutus...
2 Pages 945 Words
The United States of America is a country with a lot of history and culture. Different decades have especially marked this nation and the 30s were no exception. Many transcendental events took place, for example on February 18, the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered the planet Pluto Moreover, on May 1, 1931, the construction of the Empire State Building in...
Langston HughesLiterary Criticism
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