Newest Literature Essays

Sunlight on A Broken Column as a female Bildungsroman

Sunlight on a Broken Column by Attia Hosain is a coming-of-age fiction revolving primarily around the life and journey of the protagonist Laila from her teenage years to the mother of a...

Adversity sets apart individuals who are resilient from those who are not. In The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline resilience is explored physically, emotionally and culturally through the lives of multiple Indigenous characters who face...

Steven Spielberg unabashedly claimed that Francois Truffaut is the man who loves cinema the most than anyone else ever. Which means he himself is included. In many of his interviews, Truffaut explained how the only thing he ever did was either...

In Richard Matheson’s I am Legend, Robert Neville is the last man standing in a world plagued by a vampire virus pandemic. This situation creates an internal conflict for Neville as he grapples with his loneliness as a human and searches for...

Miasma is an outdated medical notion that contagion could move through the air, permeating the atmosphere to find its next victims. Often portrayed as a sinister cloud, people believed that the air could be filled with disease, creeping around...

‘Persimmons’ is an autobiographical reflection upon growing up and adapting to life as a Chinese immigrant in the USA.[1] Lee was potentially destined to struggle with his identity: after his parents left their native China he spent the first few...

At once a superhero action film, a fantasy, and a Shakespearean family drama, 2011’s Thor (dir. Kenneth Branagh) explores the malleability of film genre. While the film’s archetypal narrative, a tale of a young man who must learn to grow up in...

The Equilibria of Humor and Solemnity in Jackie Kay's Pain

Within a predominantly autobiographical collection of works, Jackie Kay could not be less dubious about her references to past and present personal experiences. No matter the conditions...

In the eyes of Jack London, the true creator of identity and worldview is not a singular person or being, but instead experience and environment. London illustrates this idea of surroundings and experiences being the greatest teacher in one of his...

The film Django Unchained follows two bounty hunters, Dr. King Schultz and Django Freeman, as they infiltrate a plantation in Antebellum-era Mississippi, on a mission to save Django’s long-lost wife. In the first act of the film, Dr. Schultz...

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms clearly outlines the period of China during the Three Kingdoms dynasty which spanned the years 220-280. This turbulent era is characterized by political instability, divisions, treachery and bloodshed. The only...

Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier depicts professional soldiers, represented in the character of Captain Edward Ashburnham, as deeply troubled individuals who hide their real struggles beneath a veneer of professionalism and convention. The novel...

Throughout William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, various instances of Prospero’s dialogue go unheard by other characters in the play; these lines are delivered through selectively audible asides, which can only be heard by the audience. Once the...

In Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons (1960), the laws of God lies in contradistinction to the laws of man which generates much controversy and opposition especially regarding matters of marriage, morality, conscience and sovereignty. Surrounding...

Ben Lerner's "10:04" stands as a testament to the author's ability to weave intricate narratives, using language as a medium for exploration and reflection. Within this literary masterpiece, the strategic use of alliteration emerges as a prominent...

"Ten Things I Can See from Here" by Carrie Mac is a poignant exploration of anxiety, love, and self-discovery. Within the narrative, the author employs anthropomorphism as a narrative device, endowing non-human entities with human characteristics...

In Henry Derozio's "My Dream," a poignant ballad composed in the early 19th century, the poet delves into the depths of yearning and melancholic contemplation, exploring the allure and fleeting nature of dreams, particularly those of love and...

Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) has been heralded as one of the most brutally realistic war films to have ever been put on film. Although the film celebrates those who fought during the Second World War – and all wars more generally...

Fate is the development of events beyond a person's control that is determined by a supernatural power. In literature, fate works mysteriously to bring about the rise and fall of characters, love, death, and conflict. This idea is a universal...

Colm Tóibín's "Brooklyn" is a psychological realist novel meaning the author constantly refers to the interior processes and changes of its protagonist Eilis (impacted by the peculiarities of the time period). It is therefore not by chance that he...

Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography presents time in a nebulous, almost abstract manner, following a main character whose life spans an unnatural number of years. The titular Orlando is born as a man during the reign of Elizabeth I, but...

Numerous precedents prevail for the idea that the ‘real world’ is an illusion. Wachowski’s ‘The Matrix’, a twisted, alluring and psychological tale, deeply explores the concept of fake and false realities, debating the real world and society’s...

The eponymous characters of William Godwin’s Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams and Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker serve as protagonists that do not always seem to be at the center of...