The characters in The Sun Also Rises follow a code of exchange instead of a traditional moral code. This emphasis on exchange matches the new found booming economy of the 1920s. Characters follow this code of exchange ...

Dorothy Parker -- writer, poet, satirist, journalist -- was in her literary prime in 1920s and 30s America. America at the time was faced with considerable tensions, much of which was due to the burgeoning Women's Movement. ...

The two memoirs in my thesis universalize personal experience by linking it to larger historical events (war or the fall of the Soviet Union), and illuminate the historical through the lens of intimate life. The first piece ...

This collection of stories stemmed from reading Harold Bloom's The Anxiety of Influence. For this project, I chose to “misread” Olive Kitteridge, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Elizabeth Strout. Strout's novel is a ...

Though it has not always been so, it is now possible to conceptualize the act of reading as a process in which we necessarily form an interpretation of a piece of literature, and in so doing, create the work, or the meaning ...

A comparison of Claire de Duras's Ourika and Nella Larsen's Quicksand may at first seem puzzling to those familiar with the differing social and historical contexts of the two works. While it may be tempting to read Ourika ...

Last summer, I spent three weeks on the island of Thassos, Greece discovering, eating, and savoring life. Immersing myself under the cool seawater and climbing out onto the rocky shore I was met not only by great natural ...

Staring through the scope in Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2007), as you navigate through the boggy swamps of some exotic jungle, there is never any doubt that you are in control. The operator's thumbs roll over the toggles ...

Historical poetry is a valuable way to engage with the past. It not only allows readers to gain a better understanding of a prior time period, but it also gives them the opportunity to connect with historical figures, ...

Concluding paragraphs: "Yet even in this uncertain time in life, many Y.A. novels end in hope. The last words of the Harry Potter series are "All was well." After coping with the death of his best friend and first love, ...

In the second Gilded Age that we live in now, it has been surprising to me to find that Edith Wharton's presence in homes and classrooms has been waning. In order to understand why this is, I turn to one of Wharton's most ...

Concluding paragraph from Parody and media literacy in "Nathan For You": Over three decades after The Simpsons broke onto the primetime scene, Nathan For You harnesses a brand new form of comedy that makes similar use of ...

Concluding paragraph: "In discovering the expansive history of poetic conversation and poetic influence, the question of authenticity now seems irrelevant. Authenticity may now be described as the extent to which a poem ...

One of the most common reader responses to Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go has been to question the passivity of the clones, claiming that this inaction reveals a lack of humanity in characters who are otherwise presented ...

This thesis will attempt to put into perspective the various differences between the personal essay and the memoir. Furthermore, it will discuss why the personal essay is more useful for the creative portion of the thesis. ...

"The Imitation Phenomenon" analyzes the theme of conformity in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894) and animated adaptation produced by Walt Disney Productions in 1967. By examining Disney's reinterpretation of the ...

The culture someone grows up in helps to define that person, for better or for worse. This culture steeps itself into the writer's work, and helps make the writer into who he or she is. For Seamus Heaney, this steeping was ...

I am interested in how current Midwestern writers are continuing to develop the Midwest's literary history, and how they relate to Midwestern artists working in different mediums, but with similar goals. These works stand ...