Category Essays Samples on Literature

“Optima dies… prima fugit,” (Virgil). Willa Cather chose this powerful, but simple quote to create the theme of expectations in her 1918 book My Antonia. The classic adage is “the worst days are the ones that leave first”. This perfectly …

Emily Dickinson composed a famous poem around 1863 called “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. Dickinson is a famous literary figure who often deals with death themes in her poetry. She wrote this poem after being inspired by a …

Barbara Kingsolver uses vivid flashbacks and graphic imagery to illustrate major cultural changes in The Poisonwood Bible. She shows that culture shocks were inevitable, because the Congolese natives “boil [us] in a pan and eat us” (Kingsolver 1, p. 1). …

Mark Twain, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn explains that freedom comes from breaking away from social norms. Huck is able to escape his father’s abuse. Huck drags the pig in the river after killing it to make people think …

According to Encyclopedia Britannica: A narrator tells a tale. The narrator in a fictional work determines its point of views. What happens when that narrator becomes unreliable, though? Ariell Cacciola describes this: “Untrustworthy narrations are a common theme in literature. …

Northrup Frye characterized Hamlet as an uncathartic play. He described it as being a tragedy that smothers all nobleness and heroism under the ferocious revenge, treachery, spying, and consequences of weakened actions and broken hearts. Aristotle defines catharsis by pity, …

Dylan Thomas examines reality and the idea of a higher force in his poem Don’t Go Gentle into That Good Night. While the poem may appear to reject God and religion, it does not directly mention a higher authority. The …

How many interpretations are possible from a single source? Because of the infinite differences between people, we each perceive an event differently. Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 Hamlet is the only version that combines historical visuals and the original text. Gregory Doran’s …

Love. A simple yet ever so complicated emotion. How can something that brings happiness and joy bring out the worst in our society and cause such a catastrophe? Cat’s Cradle explores love as a complex emotion and the issues that …

War Without A Cause

America won. Humanity lost. The World War II brought America increased prosperity but it also left a deep wound, one that is still bleeding through J.D. The Catcher in the Rye is Salinger’s novel about coming …