Category: Literature Review

Nature is the embodiment of science and mathematics. From Valentine’s grouse to Thomasina’s leaf to human interactions, mathematics transcend the boundaries of mere numbers and symbols to create patterns that function to explain the universe. Yet, paradoxically, the most constant form of nature is its unpredictability. In his play Arcadia, Tom Stoppard examines this enigma:…

Hannah, a character from Arcadia, asserts, “It’s all trivial…it’s wanting to know that makes us matter”, a statement which suggests that the need for knowledge is an essential part of human nature. Stoppard and Ackroyd explore this concept through themes such as emotion vs. Intellect, the concept of ignorance, learning and teaching and the effect…

A reader reading Albee will not fail to notice tricks of language in operation; a more interesting analysis is to consider how the characters themselves are aware of language, of reading and being read, as a text, by other characters. Albee’s plays, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Three Tall Women”, show the obsession with…

In literature, different settings are often used to explain the production of different types of characters with varied opinions, personalities, and morals. On top of this, the setting is often used to carry a specific idea or emphasize the goal of the characters. The rural locations of each of these books push towards a common…

New York: the place where one’s dreams come true. At least, this is how it appears to outsiders. However, upon a closer examination of New York, a harsher truth comes out. As seen in the play Thoroughly Modern Millie, the social class one is born into is typically the social class one will stay for…

Table of contents Charlie Franz’s Military Life After the War Charlie Charlie was the pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress which was called Ye Old Pub. He was born in West Virginia on a farm. He had milked cows and lived without electricity. He went to school every day and he worked as a janitor…

In Tracy Letts’ play August: Osage County, each of the Weston daughters—Barb, Ivy, and Karen—shows evidence of deeply rooted emotional damage. A large amount of the emotional damage the girls have can be attributed to their upbringing, and being treated so harshly by their mother, Violet. Although all three daughters experience emotional damage at the…

Tom Perrotta’s Bad Haircut is a collection of short stories about Buddy, a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1970s. In these stories, Perrotta often introduces characters who bear false facades that do not resemble their true selves. Later on in the book, these pretenses are stripped away and the persons’ genuine personalities…

Dorothy Allison’s novel Bastard Out of Carolina tells the story of ‘white-trash’ girl Bone Boatwright and her “no-good, lazy, shiftless” family (3). The novel explores some of the most common myths and realities plaguing the Appalachian region such as poverty, incest, and domestic abuse. Specifically, Allison confronts the institutional system of gender relations through all…

Although the characters’ distinctive individual stories are told in Act I of Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls, the overall effect is a cumulative chorus of women’s issues. The dinner scene in Act I establishes thematic foundations upon which numerous women’s issues can be raised. Despite each character’s clamor of self-absorbed monologue and consequential disinterest or…