Free essays on literature refer to the writing pieces that are available to everyone online without any charges. These essays can cover a wide range of literary topics, such as the analysis of a character or a theme in a novel, a review of a poem or a play, or an interpretation of a literary movement. They can be written by students, scholars, or literary enthusiasts, and can offer diverse perspectives and insights into the world of literature. Free essays on literature can be useful for those interested in learning more about a specific literary work or genre or for those seeking inspiration for their own writing.
Grandfather’s Race Speech and Battle Royal Briefcase
The first chapter introduces two motifs that will come up over and over in this book: the narrator's grandfather's particular theory of race relations, and the briefcase that he is given after his big speech. They come together nicely at the end of the chapter in the dream that the narrator describes. Discuss. In this part of the book we learn about the narrator's grandfather who we see is dying after having been a slave who was freed 85 years…...
Battle Royal
An Overview of the Social Inequality in the Novel Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison
In Ralph Ellison's Battle Royal social inequality is present with gruesome results. Ellison writes the story in first person format from the perspective of a young black male, in a time when racism was ever so present. From this perspective Ellison takes, the story is easily seen as being very ruthless. The setting is in a large ballroom full of racist clowns waiting for the humiliation of the negroes. The show consists of the Battle Royal, the collecting of chump…...
Battle Royal
An Analysis of the Story Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison
The story "Battle Royal" portraits how human race can be capable of such sadistic actions against themselves. Indeed, the only reason why this actions are being taken is on the account of someone's the skin color. The "universal truth" as it's stated, is clearly the real definition of the human behavior. By describing the situation, the scenery, and the plot in this story, Ralph Ellison unravels and defines this phrase as the hidden window of a human soul; full of…...
Battle Royal
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Success Formula & Invisible Man Reflection
After IM was thrown out of school, he reflects on what could have been a bright future. IM acknowledges that there was a "path placed before" him and that he "kept unswervingly" to the path, resistant to change or dwelling off of what he thought was the secret formula to success in life. IM did what he was "expected to do" because he thought that would guarantee a successful life when in fact it did not thus IM did not…...
Invisible Man
A Literary Analysis of the Metaphors in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The violent battle royal, a significant obstacle the narrator must overcome before being able to present his speech, in the opening chapter of Invisible Man serves as a visual representation for the racial inequality still existing in America. And though the narrator seemingly triumphs the situation, achieving a victory for himself and for African Americans as a whole, the author Ralph Ellison suggests in the end of the chapter that the progress may merely be an illusion. To begin, the…...
Invisible Man
The Power of Women in the Rings Trilogy, Three Novels by J. R. R. Tolkien
Women have often been the center of debate within Tolkien‘s trilogy, as they appear very sparsely and only for short amounts of time and interaction. However, the women shown so far are not simply the owner of a tavern or a field hand but instead elven ladies and wives of powerful beings in Middle-earth and have been shown to rival the power of their male counterparts in more than one instance. Not all influence the hobbits and their quest permanently,…...
FantasyFictionJ.R.R TolkienThe Hobbit
The Use of Invisibility in the Hobbit, a Novel by J. R. R. Tolkien
Throughout Tolkien’s The Hobbit, there are many instances of liminality the secret entrance to the Mountain is a door made of rock that is a wall until the correct moment the key is inserted. The opening is also part of the outside and inside; it is both above ground and underground. The tunnel the company becomes trapped in is a liminal space because it is both a passage and a cave these instances of liminality are important because Tolkien uses…...
J.R.R TolkienPhilosophyThe HobbitThought
The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
The fully-formed fellows finally begin their journey towards the fires of Mount Doom but must first cross a formidable mountain known as Caradhras. The company believes it can cross without much trouble but Gandalf suggests traveling through it by going through Moria, a series of underground tunnels formerly used as mines. Aragorn adamantly refuses due to the evil reputation that surrounds moria and specifically calls out Gandalf, saying that is too dangerous for him to be in Moria. However, after…...
FictionJ.R.R TolkienLiterature
Corruption of Power in The Fellowship of the Ring
As civilizations of men arose from primitive lifestyles thousands of years ago, so arose the need for structure. a government — a leader. A leader, once he ascends in these civilizations, thus acquired power power is something that all men have craved from the beginning of this advancement into societies of greed and feudalism and has continued to corrupt kings and emperors, and warriors throughout history. History then inspired literature Macbeth, Animal Farm, and The Great Gatsby, all classic literature,…...
CivilizationFictionJ.R.R TolkienLiterature
Bilbo’s Motivation of Desire in the Novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
In the novel, The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, the protagonist is Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is a hobbit, which is from a race of small, chubby people with furry toes Hobbits are about half the size of humans. In this novel, all of the characters are driven by their motivation to achieve what they need, Bilbo is driven by the motivation of desire, Bilbo’s motivation in the novel is desire because he was trying to get back his lost…...
FictionJ.R.R TolkienLiteratureThe Hobbit
“To Kill a Mockingbird” Atticus Stands For Justice
Andy Biersack once said, “stand up for what you believe in even if that means standing alone” (Goodreads). Often times in novels, characters go to extreme measures for something in which they take pride. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch, a lawyer, and father, stands up for his beliefs. Atticus believes everyone should be given a fair chance, no matter the situation. Despite the challenges Atticus faces, he still treats everyone equally. Atticus helps others because…...
EthicsFairnessPhilosophyTo Kill A Mockingbird
Pressure changes characters in Miss Rosie and Richard Cory
The poem "mrs. Rosie" and “Richard Cory" both deal with people whose lives changed due to the pressures from the lives around the. Georgia Rose is the main character in "Mrs. Rosie" who was once the most beautiful girl in Georgia and turned into a girl when lived on the streets. She felt great pressure which caused her life to take a major downturn. The speaker talking about Georgia Rose states, “ who used to be the best gal in…...
CultureEdwin Arlington RobinsonLiteraturePoetry
Deception of Appearance in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard Cory”
In "Richard Cory" Edwin Arlington Robinson explores the deception oi appearances. Richard Cory was a wealthy man, admired and envied by those who consider themselves less fortunate than he. Seemingly, Richard Cory was the model of success. dignity, and wealth, a standard to which every man was measured. However, Richard Cory didn‘t have everything; the desire to live through Richard Cory. Robinson illustrates how appearances can be deceiving and how depression and despair is not confined to the “people on…...
Edwin Arlington RobinsonLiteraturePoetryPsychology
Times of War in Miniver Cheevy, a Poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The poem “Miniver Cheevy” written by Edward Arlington Robinson is about a boy who wishes he was born in an earlier time period with warriors and Medicine “Miniver loved the days of old when swords were bright and steeds were prancing. The vision of a warrior bold Would set him dancing" Miniver is bored of the place he lives in and wants to fight “Miniver cursed the commonplace and eyed a khaki suit with loathing" Miniver feels as though he…...
Edwin Arlington RobinsonFictionLiteraturePoetry
The Quest of Self Understanding in the Novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
The quest for self-understanding is a long, enduring journey, in Siddhartha, an Indian novel by Herman Hesse, a young Brahmin goes on a quest to find Atman, one’s individual self. This Brahmin, Siddhartha, lived with other Brahmins and absorbed much of their knowledge throughout his childhood the Brahmin lifestyle, a highly revered priestly class in India, doesn’t satisfy Siddhartha‘s craving for learning. Siddhartha’s quest to find an understanding of himself leads him down the paths of the Samana, the merchant,…...
Herman HessePhilosophyReligionSpirituality
Choosing Danger in Siddhartha
Is it better to allow oneself to be subjugated by others rather than follow a dangerous path? This is a very difficult question to answer, since both choices can be detrimental, if a person chooses to allow themselves to be subjugated by others, they’ll have no freedom. Choosing this means they’ll never be able to make their own decisions. However, if they choose the dangerous path, they might be hurt more than if they allow themselves to be subjugated by…...
ChildHappinessHerman HessePsychology
Siddhartha’s Timeless Cycle of Life
Sometimes, the best teacher is one’s own self in Herman Hesse's story, Siddhartha. Siddhartha, the main character, undergoes many trials searching for enlightenment, peace, and happiness, sometimes even within himself. Hesse's motif—the river—teaches Siddhartha to embrace the timelessness and cyclic nature of life in order to accept the idea that reaching joy and success is not a destination, but rather a lifelong journey. Like the river flows without end, so do Siddhartha’s opportunities to redeem himself, even though he has…...
HappinessHerman HessePhilosophyWater
Archetypes of a Hero in Star Wars by George Lucas and Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell explores the underlying similarities between heroes of a wide range of literary works. He explains the fundamental characteristics of a hero, which remain in play across mythology and literature. As the title suggests, the face of an archetypal hero may vary the presence of a protagonist is central to the plots of most movies and books, but all heroes, are united by certain criteria that make them heroes. Like the four…...
CultureHerman HesseHeroLiterature
The Use of Symbols in Siddhartha, a Novel by Herman Hesse
A symbol is a noun that has a deeper meaning or intentionally represents another noun or concept. ”Things are going downhill for me!” laughing the while; and, as he said this, his glance fell on the river, and he saw the river going downward, too, moving constantly downstream, but singing merrily as it went." Siddhartha, pg 51 In Siddhartha, the reoccurring river arguably represents many overall concepts, but the river especially serves to represent the path of Siddhartha’s enlightenment and…...
CultureHerman HessePhilosophyRiver
The Symbolism of a House in There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradburry
In Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains," the personification of the house, the uses of medical and psychoanalytic discourses, and ritualistic constructions in the text, revolving around religious discourse frame the house and nature as opposing forces. Through the language of the text, the house is diagnosed as a machine with two sides: the caring, domestic, automated home and the whirring, incinerating, cold-eyed machine. Nature spites the house for continuing its empty and pointless rituals without humans inhabiting the…...
BrainCultureLanguageThere Will Come Soft Rains
Dual Soft Rain Titles
Within seconds all is destroyed buildings, people, and animals, but nature still thrives in every way. Survivors try 0 run away but start to die from disease within a day. Rubble is blown away by the lonely wind, and animals run astray, the sun beams down with sorrow and pity at the dark, destroyed, and dead city. This is what the city looks like in the short story “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury because of…...
AnimalsBiologyLiteratureThere Will Come Soft Rains
Parental Support in Not Bad Dad & Those Winter Sundays
The vital and crucial suppon given by parents and family members is often overlooked in many situations the poems "Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad” by Jan Heller Levi and "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden signify the importance of realizing the diligent work that parents give to their children. The child narrator in “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad" describes the enduring problems between the child and father through the metaphor of swimming, where the narrator comes to realize the hard…...
ChildCultureLiteratureThose Winter Sundays
Bonds in Not Bad Dad & Those Winter Sundays
At a cursory glance, a prominent theme of life is the conflict between love and hate; people must learn to distinguish between these two forces because they have profoundly opposite effects. Love and hate serve as the basis for many relationships, and their constant friction threatens to distort one's sense of understanding for another, leading to misconceptions and embitterment. Jan Heller Levi and Robert Hayden both apply this connection between love and hate to their respective works “Not Bad, Dad,…...
ChildLovePsychologyThose Winter Sundays
Childhood Reflections and Father in Those Winter Sundays
“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden is an emotional poem of an adult looking back at their childhood, and relationship with their father I instantly was attracted to and connected to this poem. There are times in our lives where we look back on certain experiences in regret views change and people grow. The speaker in “Those Winter Sundays” reflects on past experiences of indifference toward their father when he she was young. As the poem progress, and the speaker…...
CultureLiteraturePsychologyThose Winter Sundays
Papa’s Waltz vs Winter Sundays
A key difference between poetry and other forms of writing is that the meaning of poetry often requires a reader 0 “read between the lines.“ In prose, diction is the biggest indicator of meaning; however, in poetry, the structure plays a crucial role in conveying the ideas of the poem. This idea of meaning embedded in structure is evident in the poems “My Papa‘s Waltz" by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden through the manipulation of the…...
LiteraturePoetryThose Winter SundaysWriting
Remembering the Father in Those Winter Sundays and My Papa’s Waltz
Both speakers are adults reflecting on how they saw their fathers when they were children, each poem focuses on only an occurrence or event that makes a statement about how their father as a whole. In the case of “Those Winter Sundays,” the speaker chooses to only focus on his winter sundays with his father; the speaker of “My Papa’s Waltz” only describes the ‘waltzes‘ he dances with his father. Although both poems essentially have the same topic, they approach…...
ChildCultureLiteratureThose Winter Sundays
A Comparison of Good Will Hunting and Catcher in the Rye
Holden and Will Hunting are two similar characters that have relationship problems. Both are afraid to get close to others because they have the fear of getting deserted. In other words, they are afraid of bonding with others. Yet, they also have some significant differences that make their stories happen significantly different. One of the most important differences is their specialties, Will is gifted for his incredible intelligence, but Holden doesn’t have that. This causes the difference between their reasons…...
FictionGood Will HuntingLiteraturePsychology
Interactive IT Policy-Making in the Netherlands
Alongside quick advances in IT, policies administrating IT and its stakeholders have multiplied. Stakeholder commitment is generally commended as an essential procedure for enhancing Information, Communication and open policy decision making. The purpose for this paper is to inspect how Stakeholder commitment is utilized to create policies in Informational and Communication technology regions and how to promote people (Stakeholders) who are affected by policies involved in the policy-making process, and in addition to recognizing future needs to lead proof-based stakeholder…...
CommunicationPolicyTechnologyThe Netherlands
In the Netherlands, van Eyck created the Ghent Altarpiece
The Arnolfini Portrait is a painting that has many interpretations, is it artwork of woman with child or a celebration of marriage, to commemorate a wife who died in childbirth, to highlight the figures status or a fashion statement? Completed in 1434 in Bruges, Belgium and admired for its profound dexterity and examined for its peculiar imagery, Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait has remained a mystery since the 19th century. The Arnolfini Portrait’s earliest known history is remarkable, it’s rare…...
ArtCulturePaintingThe Netherlands
Netherlands Clothing Fashions in 16th-17th Centuries
In the painting made by Pieter van der Werff, a young boy sits, playing with a toy three-master, which is a three-masted ship, hence the name. The boy holds a bright red string that is attached to the toy boat, indicating that wheels are attached to the bottom of the ship. On the highest mast, the ship flies a Netherlands flag, indicating that this is where the boy is located. The boy has shoulder-length blond hair and is wearing a…...
ClothingCulturePaintingThe Netherlands
Self Understanding in The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
It has previously been established that the African-American community found it necessary to extensively understand and manipulate double consciousness. Essentially in order to avoid further mistreatment, African-Americans would enact a façade while in front of a white man, although they themselves had a different concept of their own identity. The situation described in Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man provides a unique twist into the self understanding of identity because the protagonist is still "looking for himself". (Ellison 264) The unnamed…...
Invisible Man
Activist Policies of Famous Activists in the Book Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man details the recollections of an unnamed African- American narrator living "invisibly" in a New York basement. Through his memories and thoughts on his experiences with racism and civil rights activism in late 1940s America, the novel offers insight and critique on many activist policies promoted by famous figures such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Analyzing Ellison's usage of symbolic language can help in discovering the underlying messages of nearly every scene. Color symbolism…...
Invisible Man
Narrator’s Stereotyping Experience in The Invisible Man by HG Wells
Throughout these chapters, the narrator is profoundly self-conscious about his race, about his southern roots, about everything, really. What do episodes like the "pork chop incident" reveal about him? about being Black in America? about being Southern in the North? I feel as though chapter nine shows the first time that the narrator really embodies his grandfather's wise words about whites to the narrator's father about how he should "overcome 'em with yeses, undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to…...
Invisible Man
Internal Tensions in Ellison’s Invisible Man
Upon analyzing this passage, one is able to better understand the functions of the innumerable societal and internal tensions in IM's life. At the beginning of the prologue, IM makes clear that he is telling his story after the action of the novel has already taken place, from a small basement room, illuminated by 1,369 lightbulbs. For IM, this is a place of hibernation; of fighting silent battles, such as stealing electricity from the Monopolated Light and Power company. IM…...
Invisible Man
The Pivotal Moments in Ralph Ellison’s Novel Invisible Man
Most of us tend to make decisions in our lives that can shape a significant portion of our futures, and there are many literary exemplars that showcase this effect on a character. A common trait of these works is the inclusion of a pivotal moment: a moment where the decision takes place, where the character changes their life. In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, there are many situations or decisions that can be seen as the pivotal moment of the novel,…...
Invisible Man
A Comparison of the Differences Between the United States and the Netherlands
Let us go for a visit to the Netherlands, home of never-ending beautiful canals, windmills, old wooden clogs, and most famously known for their cheeses. Most adults from the United States understand the punitive laws about “soft drugs” like marijuana and “hard drugs” like Cocaine, Heroin, and Opiates that the United States enforces. In the Netherlands, their views and laws about “soft drugs” and “hard drugs” are much different from the United States. Let’s head into one of their many…...
HealthJusticeLawThe Netherlands
The Revenge of Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo, a Novel by Alexandre Dumas
During the course of the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, the main protagonist, Edmond Dantes also known as. The Count of Monte Cristo, gains many new friends and new enemies which will go hand in hand with each other, Gradually as Dantes receives knowledge and education from Abbe Faria his plans for revenge on the men who put him in prison for life for their own selfish reasons becomes more evolved. For example, in such a way that with…...
Alexandre DumasFictionMoneyPrison
Novel the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
One of the best novels I have read is The Count of Monte Cristo. This book is about a man, Edmond Dantes, who gets arrested for a crime he did not do He gets arrested. Then at the jail he meets a man, Abbe Faria, who teaches him to survive and fight, so he does not lose his mind. The book was written in 1844, by French author Alexandre Dumas. He is best known for his historical novels of high…...
Alexandre DumasFictionLiteratureNovels
Dante’s Religion & Unplanned Event in Monte Cristo
Subsequent to its release in the Journal des Debuts in 1844, the French novel, “Le Comte de Monte» Cristo" was deemed a forbidden book by the Catholic Church due to its discussion of controversial topics In spite of this, the story became popular and continues to thrive over one hundred years following its release, being translated into a plethora of languages, sparking the plot for multiple films and television shows, and being read by students across the globe. The novel…...
Alexandre DumasBeliefPhilosophyReligion
George R. R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings
In a Clash of Kings by George RR, Martin is the second book in his A Song of and Fire series. Renly Baratheon the late king Robert Baratheon‘s youngest brotheri declared himself king of the seven kingdoms, at the urging of his future wife at the time, Margaery Tyrell Later, Stannis Baratheon also the middle child in the Baratheon family declares himself the rightful king because Robert left no true heirs. When Robb Stark, the King in the North, sent…...
A Song of Ice and FireFantasyFiction
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