Literature Essay Samples Page 285

Bell Hooks explores the intricate connections between classism, racism, white supremacist ideology, and sexism in modern American society in her book “Where We Stand: Class Matters”. She emphasizes the significance of acknowledging this complex interplay by sharing her personal journey from a working-class background to the upper class achieved through academia and prolific writing. Despite…

The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Expectations The culture of narcissism was widely recognised as a socio-cultural critique of American society when published in 1979. Written by Christopher Lasch, the book analyzes a social phenomenon identified by Christopher Lasch as ‘cultural narcissism’, a process by which certain attributes of the pathological…

We all take the lives of others and ours for granted. We never think about how our lives would be different without someone. This is only because we only think of happy endings. We always think it will be alright after a period of time, but it’s not. Imagine waking up in morning and getting…

What are personal desires and how do we choose between them and conforming? The decision between desires and conforming is a challenging one we all face. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the conflict between our desires and conforming is vividly portrayed. Conforming can be tough when we have personal desires. The novel…

“The officer gazed at Daisy as she spoke, in a manner that every young girl desires to be gazed at occasionally…” (75) The Great Gatsby Love, love, love; the subject of every conversation. Every film, every show, every narrative discusses the tale of two individuals falling in love and living happily forevermore. Every story reaches…

Depiction of natives in heart of darkness: Among the most powerful and bizarre images in colonial discourse is that of the black cannibals. In Heart of Darkness the well-known theme is adopted in order to make the setting of the narrative more realistic. The best part of Marrows crew consists of cannibals who help him…

Re-read the poem “Lament” by Gillian Clarke and explore the way in which the author resorts to words and phrases to make this poem effective and memorable. “Lament” by Gillian Clarke is a memorable and effective poem due to the poet’s resorting to specific words and phrases. The poet uses lots of metaphors to achieve…

Offensive or Derogatory Words or Phrases The five poems in this next category contain demeaning and derogatory expressions for Africans and African-Americans, including the offensive word “nigger” in the first two. “De Ole River-Ox” (undated) The racism analysis of this poem includes the use of the “N” word as well as the dialect itself. De…

Beowulf and King Arthur are two entirely separate characters, originating from different cultures and time periods. Beowulf is the oldest known example of English literature, being the most important example of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) epic poetry to date. Beowulf the character was a Scandinavian warrior-prince in what is modern day Denmark, helping the Danish king…

In the dystopian world of Fahrenheit 451, the community of the future faces a strict ban on reading books. Books are considered “illegal” as they have the power to introduce theory and provoke deep thoughts, potentially leading individuals or the entire community into madness. Known as “firemen,” these individuals are assigned to burn any books…