World Literature

What is the author’s perception of his work? In the preface, the author explains that of all his works, Night is the most important one. It is the epitome of his work as a writer. (p. 3) What human qualities does Wiesel appeal to? He appeals to compassion. In the...

While the most obvious transformation that takes place in Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” is the physical change of Gregor Samsa, the reality is that physical transformation is where the change in Gregor begins and ends. Despite the fact that Gregor actually does wake up one day to discover that he...

Cima and her father live in a deserted valley far from where Hig and his compatriot Bangley live. It happens that on one of his usual trolls over the land, Hig flies above the valley where Cima and her father reside, and he can see the signs of life in...

In her essay, “How It Feels to be Colored Me,” Zora Neale Hurston explains her identity and self pride as a black woman. She describes life in various Florida towns with a series of scenes and metaphors. In the essay, she ruminates on the concepts of racial identity, social dynamics,...

In the “Battle Royal,” Ralph Ellison uses a female stripper to symbolize corruption and perversion in the society to which his narrator belongs. The stripper appears as the narrator and his school fellows prepare to fight and she stands “in the center” of the room into which the narrator is...

Question: How did Joy ' Hulga' end up where she did? Hulga Hopewell’s character is unique in “Good Country People”. She is a female intellectual who is a cripple, and has no meaningful relationship with anyone. Her own mother does not approve of her Ph.D. degree, and neither does she...

Reading the reviews of the 1991 novel “Mating” by Norman Rush, it turned out that some critics tend to view it as “a feminist manifesto of sorts” (Gaffigan, 2009). Once interviewed about the essence of his controversial characters in “Mating”, Norman Rush, too, admitted to the narrator’s feminist convictions. In...

The three objectives in life are achieving happiness, fulfillment, and a sense of belonging. It is for this reason that family is considered a fundamental aspect of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If you belong to a family, regardless of whether it is by friendship or blood, you experience happiness. Therefore,...

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is the surreal story of a man named Gregor Samsa who awakes one morning to find that he’s turned into a giant insect-like. The story describes how Gregor adapts to his new body, how his transformation affects his family, how his family and other people...

Detective fiction is a part of mystery fiction or crime fiction which focuses on a detective or inspector who investigates a crime which is often murder. The detective can be a police officer but is often a private investigator or P.I. In stories where the protagonist is a private detective,...

It was in October of 1881 that the Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea was published. It was immediately regarded as the finest piece of work completed by Leskov, particularly for its ingenious storytelling ability and its skaz style (Leskov, 1965). Every line seemingly carried a...

In Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire,” a story within a story is told. The story of Rodriguez is told, with emphasis on his childhood and coming of age experiences. Rodriguez reflects on his life experiences while he was a scholarship boy, and it is through these reflections that he...

Michelin Tires commenced an ad campaign about 1985 that featured a baby sitting by a Michelin tire. This baby looks at the camera with his mouth half-open, expectantly looking out of the ad at parents who drive. The baby’s innocent look challenges parents to purchase anything less than a Michelin...

“Interpreter of Maladies” is a brilliant piece of literary art, developed by a person, who belongs to the intersection of two great cultures, the cultures, which, even despite the globalization processes we are all so well aware of, still oppose each other, though more and more frequently have to interact...

Willa Cather’s novel My Antonia was highly regarded as one of the first books to bring the story of early American immigrants to the Midwest to life. In considering that the depiction of immigrants in 1918 describing the 1880s, and the 130 years that have passed since that time, it...

Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis explores the problems and effects of exploitation from several angles. As Stanley Hill (161) suggests in his study of Metamorphosis, it is a story about estrangement and alienation, with the transformation of the central protagonist, Gregor Samsa, coinciding with his exploitation by both his employer and his...

Farewell to Manzanar (2002) is a book written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and her husband, James D. Houston. Being first published in 1973, the book describes an experience of Japanese Americans throughout their imprisonment at the Manzanar Camp, created due to the United States government’s policy during World War II....

It is quite possible that the first caveman envied his neighbor who had a bigger cave. For whatever reason, the drive to accumulate material goods—money, houses, cars, and more—seems to be hardwired into humans’ DNA. What is worse is the fact that for many people, there never seems to be...

Speculating upon Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, it can be said that the author here makes stress upon illuminating the story concerning an angel that came from above the sky and was injured afterwards. As the passage opens, a Colombian short-story writer introduces Pelayo, one...

Sherman Alexie’s short story “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” demonstrates the confusing conflict between the reality of the Indians and the reality of the white people. White people only see the surface of things, which is shown again and again through the story. But by trying to fit himself...