Essays on Literature

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.
Of the Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Hester Prynne is first introduced to the reader by many gossipers who are waiting outside of the courthouse to witness Hester’s arrival back into the town. The first impression the reader gets is that Hester is a disgraceful woman The many women on the town speak of Hester with nothing but disgust and disdain. They are discussing how the punishment Hester has received for her crime is not harsh enough, and they wish she had to endure a more psychical…...
CultureHester PrynneLiteraturePsychology
Miley Cyrus Should Be Branded with W for Wild, Like Hester Prynne Was
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As it was in the early days of America, today’s society uses the act of “shunning” to shame a person or a certain group into behaving in a way that society approves. Like Hester Prynne, who was shunned by the Puritan’s in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter many celebrities, politicians and even average people are “shunned” through the media, social networks, and work/school environments. This “shunning” is used to make money, show dislike of a person and their actions,…...
CultureHester PrynneShameSocial Psychology
Freedom for Hester Prynne
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As a Contemporary Magistrate, I understand the complexity of moral systems developing through time, but I believe that the values outlined in the United States Constitution and assessed by the Supreme Court are of utmost importance in as. ssing a government‘s ability to pass certain laws and determine punishments for the accused. In addition to assessing the constitutionality of law and penalty, the treatment of the accused should also be addressed under current moral standards of punishment and recent viewpoints…...
GovernmentHester PrynneJusticeLaw
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Hester’s Strong Will in The Scarlet Letter
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Hester Prynne is an adamant character within Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s The Scarlet Letter novel; Prynne chooses a course of action and refuses to change her mind. To this end, when the husband is away from home for a long time, Prynne identifies a man and has a daughter with this man, Further, after leaving the Massachusetts Bay Colony area to avoid public condemnation, Prynne returns to this locality later on and reenacts her past punishmentt This essay analyses The Scarlet Letter…...
CultureEthicsHester Prynne
Hester Prynne vs TMNT
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a children’s cartoon centered around a gang of turtles who fight crime While seemingly a trivial television show regarding nothing more than superheroes in the guise of costumed turtles, the chronicles of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello illustrate a story of triumph. Cast out from the streets of New York City for their freakishness, the turtles are forced to move into the sewers, where they eat pizza and learn Japanese warfare from a ratt Despite…...
AdulteryCultureHester PrynneIrony
Hester’s Redemption Journey in The Scarlet Letter
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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, was faced with many obstructions and difficulties to overcome. The story takes place in Boston , Massachusetts during the seventeenth century, resulting in different actions than those that would occur in present day. Revealed in Chapter 2, after committing the crime of adultery, Hester was forced to face audible criticism while standing on a scaffold for several hours in addition, a scarlet letter A was stitched onto her…...
ClothingCultureHester PrynneLiterature
Character Changes in The Scarlet Letter
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Hester Prynne was very upset, that small town she lived in and was unknown to her already knew about what have happened between her and Arthur. Roger also found out about it even when he was so far away, because rumors travel really fast over the internet, but that wasn'tjust a rumor it was the truth. Her tummy was already showing and all of the people would stare at her, they knew she had a boyfriend back in her home…...
FictionHester PrynneInternetTruth
The Love/Hate Relationship between the Siblings Jack and Stephen
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The relationship between two siblings is both a strange, yet comforting thing, Some of them hate each other with a passion, and some love each other endlessly. And then there are some siblings that are in between That’s where Jack and Stephen lay on the spectrum of sibling love/rivalry. Jack loves his brother dearly, and he knows that but at the same time, he despised him. He hates the things his brother does, but he loves him all the same…...
FamilyFictionHateSibling
Arendt’s Three Spheres in Human Mind
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In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt discusses three different spheres and how they are applied to public and private spheres. These definitions were constructed in the 50s and accordingly times have changed. Although Arendt frequently refers to the ancient world. not much has changed to contemporary times. Arendt argues that the past has been destroyed by modernity Arendt grew up In a time of war and chaos in which she was not welcomed to express her true self or freely…...
CultureEthicsHannah ArendtPhilosophy
A Critique of Total Domination Written by Hannah Arendt
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Totalitarianism from Total Dominationln the essay "Total Domination," written by Hannah Arendt: she discusses Nazism in the form totalitarianism as "True Terror". If not for the survivors of the cruel brutality of totalitarian states, it would almost be impossible to believe it ever happened. What is Totalitarianism? Totalitarianism is a form of government in our political system. which gives absolute power to one ruler (dictator) who cannot be restricted by any type of constitution or law. The rise of totalitarianism…...
CommunismHannah ArendtTotalitarianism
Total Domination by Hannah Arendt
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“The concentration and extermination camps of totalitarian regimes serve as the laboratories in which the fundamental belief of totalitarianism that everything is possible is being verified". The author defines total domination as the homogenization of humanity into a set of immutable and consistent reactions that ultimately result in the elimination of the people and their histories. Through the annihilation of their victims’ spontaneity and humanity, she contends that the Nazis were able to achieve total domination in their concentration and…...
Hannah ArendtPhilosophyPoliticsTotalitarianism
An In-Depth Description of the Greek Art, The Procession of Twelve Deities
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The Procession of Twelve Deities is a piece of Greek art found in the permanent collection of The Walters Art Museum. It came from Tarentum, Italy and was created during the first century BCE, or late Hellenistic period of Greek art (The Walters). There is no known artist. This paper will include an in depth description of the Procession of Twelve Deities as a whole and figure by figure. It will also put this piece into context based on style,…...
ApolloGreek ArtZeus
An Overview of Greek Art and Its Impact Around the World
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In the ancient Greece, people had the perception that creativity never came from human beings as it is in the modern world. It was believed that creativity was a divine virtue that came to living beings from distant and unknown sources for unknown and outlying reasons Greece believed that unknown spirits would speak to individuals from far and that would influence the outcome of their works of art. Since Greece life was dominated by religion, architecture was characterized by temples…...
ArtGreek ArtReligionTragedy
Themes in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
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In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, O’Conner uses different themes to show in his story. These are: Good vs. Evil, Religion, Society and Class, Family, and Manipulation. The theme of Good vs, Evil is a standstill between a grandmother who seems to be innocent and good, and a criminal who seems to be all about evil. She seems to be all about goodness, manners at the table, and doing the right thing, while the criminal stands for everything…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindCulturePhilosophyReligion
Biblical and Mythological Allusions in Araby, Handsomest Drowned Man & A Good Man
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In the stories ofAraby, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, and A Good Man is Hard to Find, similar “illuminating incidents“ are shared through the use of biblical and mythological allusions. These allusions are exposed through the utilization of a grim setting. Each story presents a different underlying meaning through these literary devices; however, the stories are able to present these contrasting meanings in similar manners. Amby takes places in a country similar to Ireland. However, the grim setting…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindChristianityCultureReligion
Grandmother’s Multifaceted Personality in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
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In “A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O’Connor, the grandmother has a multifaceted personality that becomes clearer as the story develops. She is deceitful, self—absorbed, and presents a false self to give herself an edge. The grandmother pretends to be upper class and proper to appear wealthy and successful. She passes down this personality trait to her son Bailey, who also occasionally showcases these characteristics while dealing with his family and especially when interacting with the grandmother.…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindAdolescenceAggression
Grandma’s Role in A Good Man is Hard to Find
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Although stories can have many characters, not all characters within a story are crucial, However, the grandma within “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a crucial character to the story. The first, and most simple, reason that the grandma is important is because she drives the plot forward by either influencing the other characters to do something or by directly causing something to happen. The second reason is that she showcases how even though something may seem like…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindChildPhilosophyReason
A Review of O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
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Debuting in Modern Writing l (1953), "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the title piece of O'Connor's first collection of short stories, was published by Harcourt, Brace in June 1955. A comic story with a tragic ending, the story begins with a family traveling from Atlanta to Florida on vacation with their grandmother in tow. Along the way the unnamed grandmother convinces her son, Bailey, to take an unplanned detour to a plantation she remembers from her youth. Hearing…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindCulturePhilosophyReligion
The Vampiric Motives in O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find
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Authors have various strategies of conveying their ideas to their audience Numerous rhetorical devises such as motifs can portray how an author feels about an aspect of society or a particular topic Oates and O’Connor’s use of Othering to heighten tension in the stories and through their deployment of vampirism bring our characters to the realization of their roles as individuals The Other is “a group, an individual, or an object establishing one’s own identity through opposition to and vilification…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindCultureIronyPsychology
A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
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“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a short story written by Flannery O’Connor. In most stories of Flannery’s, she often includes a character that suffers from some sort of “spiritual blindness", These characters are often not your usual suspects, They often do appear to be following what is right and following the way of God. That is what it seems at first glance. Taking another and deeper glance at the character makes it obvious that they suffer from…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindCultureReligion
Violence in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
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Violence is an inescapable feature of life, And while it is arguable that no good could ever come from it, violence always brings out either the best or worst in people. It strips us bare, naked as the day we’re born and exposes our true nature This is the peculiar premise behind Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. In it, a grandmother and her son’s family encounter an escaped convict, called ‘The Misfit‘, on a…...
A Good Man Is Hard To FindChildCultureReligion
Imperfect Society in The Catcher in the Rye
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In his novel The Catcher in the Rye, JtDt Salinger describes Holden Caulfield’s acceptance of the imperfect society to show that it is impossible to avoid undesirable aspects of the world, and that acceptance of society is crucial to survival. From the beginning, Holden claims to loathe phoniness, he comments on the facades rampant in the society, such as his boarding school’s advertisement. Holden states, “They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some hotshot guy on a horse…...
Catcher In The RyeChildCultureSociety
Holden’s Innocence in The Catcher in the Rye
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The years between childhood and adulthood are a time for renewal and self-discovery, the time for us to shed our innocent eyes and enter the blurry and uncertain path that will take us into the world of adulthood. This transition period can be frightening and confusing, a journey as such being most accurately described by the novel, “Catcher in the Rye" by JD. Salinger, a story about a teenager named Holden Caulfield. Holden has a tough time coming to terms…...
Catcher In The RyeChildFictionPsychology
Fantasy vs Reality in Fitzgerald and Salinger
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The works we have read throughout the semester show how characters have difficulty differentiating fantasy from reality, The individual takes on the struggles of life, which leads them to develop a routine, or their idea of a reality. They live in an illusory world were everything is safe and they can deal with the struggles of their life in their own terms, An illusion’s sole purpose is to add liveliness to the droning way of life we live in. Jay…...
Catcher In The RyeCultureLiteratureThe Great Gatsby
Holden’s Character in The Catcher in the Rye
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JD. Salinger wrote an almost timeless novel in 1951 when he published The Catcher in the Rye, It is the story of Holden Caulfield’s past year, starting at getting kicked out of school and ending with him telling you he was telling this story from a home of some sort. Many people have problems with it, but those who don’t enjoy every bit of it. The book starts off with the main character Holden Caulfield, telling of what happened to…...
BooksCatcher In The RyeFictionLiterature
Moderation in Portraying Holden and Creon
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Youtube sensation CollegeHumor once posted a video called “Everything That Will Kill You“. From A to Z,” which named one of the causes of death as “Z: Zealotry”, the fanatical and uncompromising pursuit of ideals CollegeHumor’s assertion of the consequences of stubbornness and of the importance of moderation is supported by both Salinger’s portrayal of Holden from Catcher in ME and Sophocles’s portrayal of Creon in Antigone. The rigidness and extremity of the beliefs held by Holden and Creon, which…...
Catcher In The RyeCulturePhilosophyWisdom
Holden Caulfield’s Abnormal Adolescence
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The transitioning period between childhood and adulthood is referred to as adolescence, During this time, teenagers gain independence, discover their personality, and plan for their futures. In J. D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is a 17- year—old boy amidst his adolescent journey. Although every adolescents will experience different things during this time period, there are clear distinctions of what is typical versus atypical developmental behavior. A staggering number of readers recall their adolescence…...
AdolescenceCatcher In The RyeEthicsPsychology
A Review of Passages in The Catcher in the Rye, a Novel by J. D. Salinger
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The first quote I chose happens in the beginning of chapter two, when Holden is at Spencer’s house: "Some game. Ifyou get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right - I’ll admit that. But ifyou get on the other side, where there aren't any hot- shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing, No game. " Although this isn‘t actual dialogue between Holden and Mr. Spencer, this thought of Holden’s is prompted by…...
Catcher In The RyeFictionLiteratureThought
Holden’s Passion
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Passion is an immensely powerful emotion that can push people to extremes, extremes that they may not always finish at. In most cases, it can help a person or character in a positive way, such as Holden, whose passion, preserving childhood innocence, helped mature and bring closer into adulthood and further from childhood. On the other hand, there is Neil, whose passion, unfortunately, hindered him. His passion for acting was so strong that he felt if he couldn’t continue with…...
Catcher In The RyeChildPsychologyThought
From Childhood to Adulthood in Catcher in the Rye
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Growing up is one of the toughest obstacles children face. Changes in physical appearance, personality, relationships, and awareness of the world overwhelm them with problems and responsibilities they never even dreamed of as children. This transition is the embodiment of a dramatic loss of innocence that introduces children to the harsh reality of adult life. JD. Salinger‘s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, tells the story of Holden Caulfield, a young man who resists the path to maturity and greatly…...
Catcher In The RyeChildCulturePsychology
Holden’s Loss of Innocence in A Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
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As time has gone on everyone at some point loses their innocence. For some, it is sooner than for others. Some parents may try to shield their child, while other parents embrace and help their child through it. In the novel “Catcher in the Rye" By J. D. Salinger, one of the main themes is loss of innocence. The main character Holden Caulfield is a young teenage boy trying to handle the experience of losing his innocence. There are several…...
AdolescenceCatcher In The RyeCultureHuman Development
Companionship in The Catcher in the Rye
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According to countless scientific studies, it is unquestionable that emotional trauma hinders the development of the human brain. Specifically, emotional trauma inhibits the process of maturity, Throughout the entire novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden Caulfield, struggles to develop mentally and is unable to act his age. The author, JD. Salinger, uses his own life experience and time period to provoke the age of conformity that he lived in, challenging young adults to ‘grow up’ quicker,…...
Catcher In The RyeLonelinessPsychology
Isolation and Innocence in Catcher in the Rye
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In The Catcher in the Rye, teenager Holden Caulfield describes, in a frame narrative, his descent into depression and his experiences before his breakdown. Throughout the novel, Holden is always about to do something, while never really doing it. He desperately needs companionship, but he always rejects it at the last second. This cycle shows Holden's self—imposed isolation and rejection of personal contact. He always contemplates running away to be a hermit. whether out west or up north to the…...
Catcher In The RyeCultureFictionPsychology
The Power of Words in Catcher in the Rye, a Novel by J. D. Salinger
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It's been estimated that there are 237 uses of the word "goddam" Within J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, 58 of "bastard," 31 of "Chrissake." and six of "fuck." The importance of this comes from the feeling of power and control cursing can give someone. Holden, the protagonist, utilizes these words as he struggles on his Journey of finding himself, which is most clearly represented through imagery, diction, and symbolism. Salinger uses imagery because the detail and description that is…...
AngerBooksCatcher In The RyeLiterature
Communication in The Catcher in the Rye, a Novel by J. D. Salinger
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American psychologist Rollo May once said, “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing"(“Brainy Quote"). In The Catcher In The Rye by JD. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield is in a constant struggle with communication throughout the novel. His difficulty with communication only adds to his struggle of being a disillusioned teenager wandering alone through New York City after he has been kicked out of school. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden’s struggle with…...
Catcher In The RyeCommunicationCulturePsychology
Holden’s Failure to Join the Human Race in The Catcher in the Rye
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Many tag Holden Caulfield. the main character of JD. Salinger‘s famous novel The Catcher in the Rye, as depressed. But depressed is a strong word, and I‘m no psychologist. I may not be able to diagnose Holden, but i can tell you that he's got a lot of emotions and no idea how to handle them. Holden’s emotions are unpredictable and overwhelming, often leading to depressive periods. As Holden interacts with other, less sensitive, characters we see his reactivity more…...
Catcher In The RyeCulturePsychology
Innocence and the Loss of Innocence in Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
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Catcher in the Rye deals with several different themes, including innocence and the loss of innocence. Holden relates youth to innocence and believes that adults are responsible for helping children maintain it. I feel that children lose their “innocence" once they start to grow older..That can be at a different time for everyone Separate aspects of your life can affect when you need to grow up. For example, a boy who grows up without a father might become the man…...
Catcher In The RyeHealthHealth CareMedicine
Holden’s Trust vs Mine
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Catcher in the Rye, by JD. Salinger is a novel about a teenager named L-lolden. The story starts off with him in a mental hospital, discussing with a therapist how he is unable to trust anyonei On the other hand, he seems to have a connection with his old History teacher, Mr. Spencer. Still, he does not have much trust in him. As Mr. Spencer lectures Holden, Holden agrees with him aloud but silently disagrees. At first, he tells the…...
AdolescenceCatcher In The RyeFictionLiterature
The Main Motives of the Novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
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The novel “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger is a true masterpiece of the 19th century, which is still relevant nowadays. Motifs play a very important role in the reader’s un- understanding of any film, poem and even book. Moreover, every text uses this literary device, A motif can be hidden behind anything: an idea, a concept, a color, or even a character. Motips usually have a symbolic meaning and carry certain mood. Their main function is to…...
Catcher In The RyeEthicsLonelinessPsychology
Holden’s Misconception of Catcher in the Rye Lyrics
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Holden heard a young boy utter the words “If a body catch a body comin thro the rye” With those words he imagined that he was catching children, before they run off of a cliff. That was incorrect, the poem's original lyrics said “If a body meet a body comin thro the rye”. The poem was actually about two lovers meeting in a field of rye, Holden’s misconception of these lyrics seemed to best represent the theme of being stuck…...
Catcher In The RyeChildPsychologyThought
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