A Golden Age - Tahmima Anam (2007) - Prose Fiction Essay
Essay - 3 pages - Literature
A golden age refers to an era of achievement and an age of sacrificing honour before peace and happiness are awarded. By naming her book 'A Golden Age' (2007), Tahmima Anam signalled to readers the subject matter of her novel. The novel deals with the liberation of Bangladesh while...
Othello - Shakespeare (1604); Long Day's Journey into Night - Eugene O'Neill (1956) - The use of dramatic techniques
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
In order to hold the audience's attention, playwrights often incorporate many dramatic techniques into their plays. For example, in the Shakespearean tragedy "Othello" and the modern Eugene O'Neill play "Long Day's Journey into Night", conflict, symbolism and religious imagery are...
Dune - Frank Herbert (1965) - Studying a Pivotal Scene
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
In a pivotal scene in Frank Herbert's novel, Dune, the evolvement of Paul Atreides from a noble man of a desert planet into a prophesied Kwisatz Haderach undergoes a turning point. Transfiguration is approaching its critical point, as Paul, along with his mother, is subjected to a horrible...
Untouchability and Dalit women's oppression-Malik (1999); Domestic violence against Dalit women: A critical review- Vinutha (2014); Social Structure and Inequality of Dalits in Dalit Literature: An Overview-Gopinath (2018)- The Pain of Dalit Women
Text commentary - 2 pages - Literature
The narratives of Dalit women, often relegated to the peripheries of mainstream discourse, encapsulate the intersecting layers of oppression based on caste, class, and gender. Bela Malik's presentation of how the Convention against Untouchability and the Oppression of Dalit Women helps to...
Pizza Bomber: The Untold Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery, Chapters 23-30 - Jerry Clark and Ed Palattella (2017) - Justice, Resilience, and the Complexity of Human Behavior
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
The last part of the book additionally marks the resolution phase as the collection of all parts of the rich narrative in the Pizza Bomber case. These last chapters give readers a full general idea of the details and consequences of the case. The following sections, which contain the early...
Village Infernos and Witches' Advocates: Witch-Hunting in Navarre, 1608-1614 - Lu Ann Homza (2022) - A Comprehensive Analysis of Witch Trials in Navarre
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
Village Infernos and Witches' Advocates: Witchcraft and Witch-Hunting in Navarre, 1608-1614, by Lu A. Homza, followed protocol diligently and studied the witch trials held in the Kingdom of Navarre during such a difficult era of cultural, social, religious, and political confusion. Through...
First Poem for You - Kim Addonizio (1994) - Complexities and Contradictions in Intimate Relationships
Text commentary - 2 pages - Literature
Kim Addonizio's "First Poem for You" is a captivating exploration of the complexities and contradictions that often arise in the early stages of intimate relationships. Ultimately, using the inventive structure and words, Addonizio successfully conveys the contradictory needs that the...
Trifles - Susan Glaspell (1916) - Setting
Artwork commentary - 3 pages - Literature
Setting can be an important element in creating a story and developing the themes within a literary work. For instance, a setting may be used to reveal more about a character, or perhaps it is just a backdrop and setting where a character finds him or herself. This paper examines how Glaspell...
Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1 - William Shakespeare (1623) - The Importance of the Gravedigger's Scene to the Whole Play
Artwork commentary - 2 pages - Literature
In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, there is a scene that is often considered one of the most iconic and thought-provoking moments in the entire play—the gravedigger's scene. This scene, which occurs in Act V, Scene I, remains memorable to audiences due to its dark humor and somber...
SAS Survival Handbook - John "Lofty" Wiseman (1986)
Book review - 3 pages - Literature
The book's title clearly states that it covers comprehensive survival knowledge. Authored by John 'Lofty' Wiseman, a former survival teacher for the legendary Special Air Service (SAS), this book is a true beacon of preparedness in a sea of uncertainty. Of course, this is a time of...
A Lesson before dying - Ernest J. Gaines (1993) - Reader's response essay
Text commentary - 4 pages - Literature
'A Lesson Before Dying' is a touching novel created by Ernest J. Gaines, a remarkable African-American writer whose works illustrate the lives of the rural Southerners in the era of segregation. This novel is set in a small Louisiana town in the late 1940s where the topics of racism,...
I heard a fly buzz -when I died - Emily Dickinson (1896); Death Be Not Proud - John Donne (1633); Starry Night - Anne Sexton (1962) - Perspectives on Death in Poetry
Text commentary - 2 pages - Literature
Among all the subjects researched, those of human life are always of the most significant interest, and none rivals the topic of death in terms of a captivating and meaningful theme. Through the lens of poetry, this essay delves into the varied perspectives on death as portrayed in three distinct...
Family Dynamics and Fairy Tales: A Personal Perspective
Creative writing - 2 pages - Literature
With that autobiographical experience in mind, I found many parallels to complex family dynamics in the famous fairy tale "Cinderella" by the Brothers Grimm. At its core, the story deals with the struggles between a folk heroine named Cinderella and her wicked stepmother and stepsisters after her...
The Great Gatsby, Chapter III, Excerpt - Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
In this excerpt from Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick Carraway, offers a reflective account of his life as a young bond salesman during a summer in New York. After having described the dazzling and opulent parties held at Jay Gatsby's mansion, Nick now...
Walden or Life in the Woods, Excerpt - H. D. Thoreau (1854)
Text commentary - 4 pages - Literature
In the intricate labyrinth of literature that delves into the realm of human interaction with the natural world, few works have as much reverence and significance as Henry David Thoreau's "Walden or Life in the Woods." Written in the serene setting of Walden Pond, where Thoreau spent two...
The Bastard - Erskine Caldwell (1929) - What was the writer's purpose with the expression of violence in this novel?
Text commentary - 2 pages - Literature
'Where there is no human connection (...) there is no compassion. The isolated turn cruel in the forms of domestic and civil violence' here is a brief definition from the writer Susan Vreeland which perfectly matches the title character of Erskine Caldwell's crime novel The Bastard....
The Things They Carried, Ambush - Tim O'Brien (1990) - How does the past affect the present in this essay?
Text commentary - 7 pages - Literature
Perhaps more than any other group in society, veterans have a difficult and painful past. Some remember their combat experiences vividly; Some block them entirely. The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien (b. 1946), is a collection of short stories that are interdependent. All of these stories...
Great Expectations, Chapter 41 - Charles Dickens (1861) - Pip's Assessment of a Past Event
Text commentary - 2 pages - Literature
Published in 1861 and written by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations is the perfect illustration of the Victorian period. Through this novel, Dickens portrays different social classes in industrial Britain, and mock the aristocracy. Different styles are blended together (notably gothic and...
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller (1949) - American theater in the 20th century
Book review - 5 pages - Literature
Miller's play is based on a number of assumptions on national, social identity of his audience. He imagined that he would really address a wide-social spectrum and not just Americans impatient with any theatrical enterprise that require education or patience. He addressed a serious audience,...
The Plough and the Stars - Sean O'Casey (1926) - How does the author show his political commitment?
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
As Pagans' character John from Thomas MacDonagh's play quotes 'A man who is a mere author is nothing' in 1915, most of the Irish writers, especially playwriters of the period are not only talented dramatists but also national-convinced activists, politically committed and often...
The sonnet: 20th-21st century - British Poetry
Course material - 3 pages - Literature
Wilfred Owen was 25 when he died. Literary man who was a poet and knew people who published, that is how his poems were published. Monument in British culture. Wilfred knew what the war was about, the dominating powers behind it... When analysing, first impression is the first thing we should...
Runaway, Trespasses, Extract - Alice Munro (2004)
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
'Every man must define his identity against his mother. If he does not, he just falls back into her and is swallowed up' wrote the American polemist Camille Paglia. Everything is also a question of identity in Alice Munro's short story collection Runaway, published in 2004. The...
Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare (1597) ; Snow falling on Cedars - David Guterson (1995) ; Photo by Annie Leibovitz - Forbidden Love
Text commentary - 1 pages - Literature
The topic of forbidden love is approached in each document. The first one is an excerpt from Romeo and Juliet written by the famous Shakespeare, a British poet of the 16th century. Corneille, Racine, Aristotle, and Horace are emblematic figures of this theatrical movement. The second one is a...
The Importance of Being Earnest, Act II - Oscar Wilde (1895)
Text commentary - 3 pages - Literature
'As a man sow, so shall he reap': a biblical saying that Miss Prism, as a good Christian, must have been taught at church. But to feel righteous, it is not enough to utter it as she does when reacting to the tidings of Jack's brother's death, it also takes to apply it personally....
Break It Down, Once A Very Stupid Man - Lydia Davis (1986) - How does the author convey a peculiar writing style and sense to her story?
Text commentary - 1 pages - Literature
As the American writer, Matthew Weiner wrote « Identity is part of drama to me. Who am I? Why am I behaving this way? And am I aware of it? », this quote could genuinely sum up the quintessential quest drawn from Lydia Davis's Break It Down short story, entitled Once A Very Stupid Man and...
The Figure in the Carpet - Henry James (1896) - The meaning of art and literature
Text commentary - 2 pages - Literature
The narrator, a young book reviewer, is asked by Corvik, one of his colleagues, to write a review of a well-known author's (named Vereker) latest book. Having read the review, Vereker seizes the opportunity, when he meets the narrator, to tease him by revealing that he has missed the most...
Personal and Individual Relationships Between Public and Private Spaces - Students in a Classroom
Creative writing - 3 pages - Literature
This document is a piece of creative writing which contains a dialogue between several characters about personal and individual relationships between public and private spaces. Some people claim to be exactly the same in their public and private interactions, with loved ones or at work for...
Westward expansion: spirituality or reality?
Creative writing - 2 pages - Literature
This document is a piece of creative writing which contains a dialogue between two characters on the ramifications of westward expansion.
The Sun Also Rises, Book 3, Chapter 19 - Ernest Hemingway (1926) - How the Nothingness is Conveyed by the Author Throughout the Extract ?
Text commentary - 4 pages - Literature
Focusing on the lost generation, in the aftermath of World War I, The Sun Also Rises is mostly autobiographical. In his very first novel, published in 1926, Hemingway depicts the narrator, Jake Barnes, and his wandering from Paris to Spain. Jake is a journalist in Paris. We are in 1925 and he has...
The Return: A Rhapsody - Tao Yuanming (2019)
Book review - 1 pages - Literature
Tao Yuanming writes The Return: A Rhapsody immediately after retiring from official work. He was one of the few Chinese nationals who held an official position in government during the early civilization period. He is haunted by memories of his past and in his old age, he does not see any change...
