Sequoia

           "A Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a narrative poem that he published in 1915. The tone of the speaker in this poem is confused and uncertain, and his choice of words brings us to know what had caused this uncertainty. The speaker is clearly struggling between "two roads" (Frost), and he proceeds to describe them both. The reader, afterwards, comes to know that the speaker in the poem is conflicted with choosing whether to follow his conscious mind, subconscious mind, and is unsure of their outcomes.          The speaker's conscious mind symbolizes society and the choices people make under its name. It stands for the standard path that people choose to take in order to follow the society’s stereotypes and boundaries which most people abide to. This is shown when he says, "having perhaps the better claim" (Frost), which means that it is a road which "perhaps" is a better choice than any other; therefore, people choose t...

          Katherine Mansfield is a great writer who has written many short stories. Miss Brill is one of the short stories written by her.      The story is a narration about a woman that lives alone and talks to her "fur coat" (Mansfield 1). She also goes every Sunday to Jardins Publiques park and sits on the same seat. When she is in the park, she eavesdrops and wills to know everything about other people's lives. Miss Brill imagines herself being in a play and she is on stage, with the band performing in the park, while the other people in the park are her audience. Miss Brill is used to buy a slice of honey-cake on her way home to make her feel better. Although she likes buying this cake, she does not buy it one time since she hears a boy and a girl criticizing her. She feels so desperate and just goes to her "little dark room" (Mansfield 4). When Miss Brill puts her fur coat back in the box then closes the lid, she hears it crying. ...

You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.           This extract is taken from the poem “And Still I Rise” written by Maya Angelou when racism was still prominent. Maya Angelou is a brilliant American author, poet, and civil rights activist. She is best known for her 1969 memoir, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, which was the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman. Angelou received several honors throughout her career for her outstanding literary works during her time period. As “Still I Rise” is primarily concerned with the struggle that black people went through to overcome humiliation and injustice, thus, it is obvious that it can be understood from a mimetic perspective as it imitates the real-life at that time.          This poem is basically related to an oppression matter. Maya Angelou is a black woman who li...

        Oscar Wilde is an “Irish wit, poet, and dramatist” (Britannica) whose works are outstanding and represent some aspects of the 19th century. Taking after his mother, who was a devoted and nationalist poet in favor of the common people, Wilde had that revolutionary sense that surfaces in some of his writings. Vera, or the Nihilists, is one of his dramas in which he deconstructs several bases upon which many values were built. This drama was reviewed by many critics through various lenses; feminist approach is a prominent perspective from which this text could be viewed.      Among all the inequalities that were depicted in the drama, gender-based discrimination and stereotyping women are critically highlighted by Wilde. Even the father of the female protagonist indicates how females are only meant to be controlled: “She’ll never love you unless you are always at her heels; women like to be bothered” (Wilde 4). Sometimes, he implies that women onl...

         'Break, Break, Break' is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, which was written in 1842. Tennyson was an English poet, who was leading the Victorian Poetry in England. His poetry is well known for its rich imagery and verbal melodies, and it dealt with human nature and destiny in a time where they were increasingly called into question by science and modern progress. This poem is a great example of elegy as Tennyson expresses his grief to lament the death of his dear friend, Arthur Hallam. By looking into the inner conflict of the narrator and his views on the life he will live without his beloved friend, the messages conveyed by Tennyson can be understood psychologically.      Basically, this poem carries the emotional impact that is reflected on the loss of a beloved person someone cares for. Tennyson, throughout his short poem, mourns the death of Hallam. Therefore, he repeats the word ‘break’ in the opening and final stanzas to stress his ...

      Charles John Huffam Dickens is one of the most prominent English writers and social critics who was born in 1867 at Portsmouth. Dickens is best-known for his novels and short stories during the Victorian era. Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Dickens which was published in 1861 and presents the three-life phases of pip’s expectations. Reading Great Expectations from a Historical approach provides the best understanding of the plot.       Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 to 1901. For this reason, the period is often known as the “Victorian era”. At that time, England witnessed a growth in industry, consumer boom, and new markets as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Industrialization brought with it people from the middle-class who wanted to higher themselves to be a part of the upper-class, as social ranking was highly significant. Thus, the expectations of Pip, the protagonist, were a result of how the society views and apprecia...

            The Scarlet Ibis is a short story written by James Hurst, an American Novelist born in North Carolina, and it is also where the short story takes place. It is set in the early 1900s during World War I, which, symbolically, has an impact on the lives of the characters involved. World War I, however, is not the only significant symbol in Hurst's short story. It is one among many others that add to the beauty of the work and foreshadow its highlights, making it Hurst's most popular work to be published and winning it the "Atlantic First" award. Hurst uses foreshadowing and symbolism to aid interpretation.            Foreshadowing is a major element in The Scarlet Ibis, and it is a style that further embellishes the short story. Hurst's foreshadowing technique shows when he says, “The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted [through] our house, speaking softly the names of our ...

                 Guy de Maupassant is a French writer known by his interesting and objective stories. " The Necklace ", Guy's story, reveals a significant and comprehensive picture of the citizens in the 18th century, especially the psychological aspect of that era. Psychology is a scientific discipline that studies mental states, processes, and behaviors in humans and other animals. Freud and unconsciousness and its often socially unacceptable irrational motives and desires, particularly aggressiveness, were the driving force underlying much behaviors and mental-illness in "The Necklace".                    Social classes have a vital role in building characters' psychology. It is also the base for the story's moral. It turns Madame Loisel into a greedy character. She does not think about anything except herself and her needs. This appears when she insists on having a new dress for the ball a...

    Edgar Allan Poe is a poet, editor, and literary critic from the United States. Poe's poetry and short stories, especially his tales of mystery and macabre, are his most well-known works. "The Black Cat" is one of Poe’s short stories. It was first published in August 19, 1843. The story revolves around an unnamed narrator who is passionate about pets until he unreasonably turns to abuse them. Looking at the psychological traits of the narrator and the way he acts helps best to interpret the text.         Edger Allan Poe portrays his characters in such a way that the reader may go deeper into their acts and behaviors to have a better understanding of the mind. In this short story, Edgar Allan Poe introduces the protagonist, who suffers from a variety of mental issues, including guilt, superstitions, sadism, hatred, revenge, and strategic self-anti-conformity.      The narrator is so kind when he is a kid. “From my infancy, I was noted for t...

         Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His works are considered classics of American literature, and he is a Noble Laureate in literature. Cat in the Rain is one of his short stories in which the iceberg theory technique is very evident as it could have many interpretations, and the focus of this post will be on the psychological reading and approach.    As human psyche, in many cases, is not detached from history, the starting point of the psychological approach will be historical, which is WW1. It was indicated in the text multiple times in the phrase " the war monument" (Hemingway), and wars affect people in the most ravaging ways, especially for a war that killed more than 9 million combatants and 5 million civilians, the psychological impact was inevitable. One of the most common damages wars cause, along with economic and social damage, is the psychological one. Our brains are more complicat...

          John Millington Synge wrote many remarkable literary works. One of these works is the play "Riders to the Sea".      Riders to the Sea discusses a significant feminist issue which is gender roles. It depicts how society limited each gender in a specific role. Women were seen as housewives who should care for domestic matters only. On the other hand, men were responsible for earning the living for the family. This asserts that both genders were oppressed.      In the play, the mother is left with two daughters and a son after her husband and the other 5 sons died in the sea. She believes that the sea will take her last son as well, and her biggest fear is that she will die with her daughters from hunger because none of them is allowed to work and earn their living.      The play shows that the oppression of women and preventing them from working could cause disasters since they believed that the lack of ...

        “The Story of an Hour “ is a short story written by Kate Chopin; this story was published in 1894. She is an American writer best known for her short stories. Moreover, she was one of the earliest feminists in history. Feminism is the best approach to understand the Story of an Hour as it reveals a deep rooted struggle women faced in material relationships.      Kate Chopin in her short story“ The Story of an Hour” tackles crucial issues involved in the interrelation of female independence, love, and marriage. She portrays a clear-cut picture of women’s struggles within a patriarchal society. Throughout the text, Chopin attempts to depict the male-dominated society in which women’s overall independence was suppressed by males. She uses satire to compare her illness and weakness to the unworthy role of women in the American society. Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist, is introduced as a sad and depressed housewife. As she appears as a character that ...

       “Mother to Son” is a 1922 poem written by the African American poet and journalist Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes wanted to introduce a unique kind of literature that can highlight the vicissitudes of African Americans, due to the 1920 Harlem artistic movement, Harlem Renaissance, as the neighborhood of Harlem was infested with migrated African Americans who decided to settle there for work and jobs. ‘Mother to Son’ portrayed the hardships faced by African Americans in the early twentieth century.  This poem states the barriers and risks that African Americans face in their daily lives due to racism and discrimination against the black community. The mother started by describing how real-life looked like by recalling how she lived and how difficult her life was and still is. As a black boy who was born in the American racist society, he would be shocked when he faces the real world so his mother had to prepare him mentally. Also, for a child who would...

  Supernatural elements include religious figures and activities, fictional beings, and anthropomorphized animals; they have been used throughout the literature history. Thus, supernatural elements have been useful in developing themes that reflect the nature of humanity. Supernatural elements are often used to outline and comment on conflict and power struggles: both within the plot of the work and within society at the time of the work’s publication. These otherworldly components are also commonly used to adapt, expand upon, and make a work of literature more applicable to its settings." Supernatural elements depict religious figures and activities, fictional beings, and anthropomorphized animals, and it has been a literature component from its origins in oral folktales, to Shakespeare’s plays, and up until today. They are often used to convey messages that reflect the nature of humanity and outline and comment on the material and spiritual understanding of the world. In the S...