Today's Date:
July 04, 2025
Symbols and Symbolism in The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
The statue of the stone angel symbolizes the legacy of pride in Hagar’s family. Her father bought it “in pride to mark the bones and proclaim his dynasty, as he fancied, forever and a day” (3). From the very beginning →
The Stone Angel and Death of a Salesman Compared on Theme of Tragedy
As this comparison between The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller explores, in literature, tragedy usually follows the progression or digression of a character with at least some redeeming traits who, for whatever reason, (often because of →
Character Analysis of Dilsey in “The Sound of the Fury” by William Faulkner
Throughout Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury“, the only character who manages to survive the hard times and come out relatively unscathed at the end is Dilsey. Because of her strength and status as the only member of the Compton household →
The Song of Roland : An Analysis of Medieval Lord and Vassal Relationships
The theme of lord and vassal relationships is prominent in “The Song of Roland” (Anonymous, translated by Robert Harrison). This aspect of the medieval epic tale, “Song of Roland” is important because it signifies ways of understanding the hierarchy of the →
“Sister Carrie” by Theodore Dreiser: Naturalism, Capitalism and the Urban Sea
Theodore Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie is an example of a naturalist text because it integrates the ideas behind the American literary realism movement, particularly in terms of precise descriptions and rational observations, yet also contains elements that make the reader understand →
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Effects of Sin on the Mind, Body, and Soul
Throughout The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the effects of sin on the mind, body, and soul of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all visible even though there are manifested in different ways for each character. Each of the three are living →
Roman Class Structure in The Satyricon by Petronius
The Satyricon by Petronius offers modern readers the unique opportunity to examine the class structure in this partially real, somewhat imagined Roman society by depicting characters from all levels of society. The harsh and dark streets haunted by the poor →
Comparison of Themes in “A Rose for Emily” “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Sweat”
In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” (click here for a full summary), and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, gender (specifically, femininity) is linked to ideas of love and hate through repression. All the main characters in each of these three short →
Essay on the Representations of Gender in Revolt of the Cockroach People
As this essay on “Revolt of the Cockroach People” by Oscar Zeta Acosta discusses, women figure prominently in Acosta’s, “Revolt of the Cockroach People” although hardly in the sense that one might expect in a semi-autobiographical account of the turbulent Chicano Power →
Realism in American Literature
There have been several ways of examining not only the emergence of American realism in literature, but how it has been sustained throughout the decades. One of the most important first steps to understanding realism is by contemplating how it →
