Ask a question about any subject
and get an answer instantly.

To get you started on your preparations for this essay, we will review the concepts of horror, terror, and the sublime presented by Edmund Burke. Then we will look at the two novels to bring out...

At the end of Life of Pi, Pi himself invites the officials investigating the sinking of the Tsimtsum to choose which version of his story they prefer: “You can’t prove which story is true and...

The discovery of sound waves was actually the result of the work of many scientists over a long period of time. One of the earliest scientists to make significant contributions to our understanding...

Aeneas in Virgil's The Aeneid and Moses in the Bible are both leaders of a wandering people destined to settle in a particular land, but their leadership is quite different. Let's look at each of...

The tone of any piece of writing, including a song like “America the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates, reflects the author's feelings, opinions, and attitudes toward his or her subject matter. We...

In "Once Upon a Time," Nadine Gordimer illustrates her anti-apartheid stance with a frightening fable showing the dangers of inequality and social division. It is axiomatic that apartheid was...

While Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric is largely focused on experiences of racism, there are places in the book where womanhood comes to the forefront. Let's take a look at some...

The human brain stores memories through a complex process that involves multiple regions and networks within the brain. It's a complex system that scientists and researchers are still working to...

While there are hints and suggestions in the text that Mrs. Danvers may have known about Rebecca's relationship with Jack Favell, there is no concrete evidence to confirm or contradict this....

In his essay “Barrenness of the Imaginative Faculty in the Productions of Modern Art,” Charles Lamb laments the lack of deep imagination in the art of his day when compared to the works of the...

The setting of New York City in the United States is important to the theme of the play Trying to Find Chinatown by David Henry Hwang. The play explores themes of identity, cultural stereotypes,...

In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, the protagonist, undergoes a journey of self-discovery and empowerment, which enables her to acquire her own voice and shape her own...

In David Henry Hwang's play Trying to Find Chinatown both Benjamin and Ronnie think the other is ignorant in some way, but they are also blind to their own ignorance. Benjamin believes that Ronnie...

Non-conformity can be though of as the act of going against the established norms and expectations of a group or society. Being a non-conformist can be appropriate in certain situations, but it is...

Structuralism and Deconstruction are both theories that literary scholars use to explore the meaning (or lack of meaning) in literary works. Let's look at each of these theories in turn to help you...

Using sources without plagiarizing is a major concern when working on a project like yours. Without access to your particular sources, I can only offer some generalized advice for how you might...

Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is filled with bawdy humor, some of which subtle, some of which definitely is not. Let's look at a couple examples to get you started on this question. The...

The poem “African Things” by Victor Hernandez Cruz is all about the search for and desire for identity and heritage. Let’s look at the poem in more detail and think of a couple critical questions...

Sexual double standard is a set of unfair rules and expectations that apply differently to males and females when it comes to sex. It's like having different sets of rules for two different groups...

In “The Return,” Ngugi wa'Thiong'o reflects on the nature of time and change. Let's look at some of what he has to say, focusing especially on how the passage of time brings inevitable changes that...

It may be more accurate to say that the title character of Medea is something of an anti-hero than a hero. Let's explore this in more detail. Medea has been abandoned by her husband, Jason, the man...

Isaiah 61:1-3 is a prophecy about the Messiah and his mission. It describes the Messiah's objectives to bring good news, heal the brokenhearted, free the captives, and comfort those who mourn....

For your comparison of these two characters in Goodbye, Columbus, you can consider how Aunt Gladys and Mrs. Patimkin are both very committed to their families as well as their Jewish identity. They...

In The God of the Small Things, Arundhati Roy shows the failure of Communism to make a change in the lives of the people of India and also the contradictions that some Communists hold. Let's look...

Zora Neale Hurston's use of vernacular dialect helps us better understand the characters and their communities in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Let's look at how this works and what the use of the...

In David Henry Hwang's play Trying to Find Chinatown, the two characters, Benjamin and Ronnie, both challenge and conform to certain biases and stereotypes. Benjamin is a middle-aged Caucasian man...

In comparing William Shakespeare's Hamlet to Medea by Euripides, one strong similarity that emerges is the theme of revenge. Both plays are tragedies in which numerous characters die, including...

The Crucible was written in 1953, and set in the late seventeenth century, at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. Arthur Miller, who was himself later questioned by the House of Representatives...

In Trying to Find Chinatown by David Henry Hwang, the two characters are Benjamin and Ronnie. Their diction and voice reveal a lot about their characters and perspectives. Benjamin, a white man,...

In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” Jig and her partner clearly have difficulty communicating, and Jig’s partner is pressuring her (indirectly yet still somewhat forcefully) to have...

In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare uses the guards and Horatio to open the play in order to establish a sense of tension and mystery as well as to introduce some of the central themes of...

Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto sharply depicts the contrast between virtue and vice, and it is illustrated throughout the novel by various characters. Let’s look at a couple quotations you...

In Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu discusses how the competence to appreciate “high quality” art, food, and music most often results from unintentional learning. Let's take a closer look at this to...

To make generalized theories out of these statements, think about the logical conclusions that can be drawn. For instance, you could claim that smaller class sizes lead to better learning outcomes...

Tish's experience at the “little Spanish restaurant” in James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk shows her some important truths about the relationships between men and between men and women....

In Women Without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity, Julie Bettie argues that social class is both a performance and a performativity and that performativity is connected to cultural capital. Bettie...

How to apply the law certainly stands as a central theme in Susan Glaspell's Trifles. Let's look at the various aspects of this theme as they are explored throughout the play. The Sheriff...

The setting of Susan Glaspell's play Trifles is a lonely farmhouse, and that setting does indeed have plenty of significance both for the plot and the characters. Let's look at some points you...

"Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women" is the title of a lecture by Jean Kilbourne and a series of documentary films based on this lecture. The essential point Kilbourne explores is the...

In God’s Bits of Wood, there are quite a few efforts to break up the unity of the strikers and weaken their resolve through internal conflicts. Let’s examine some of these so that you know where to...

"The Eve of St. Agnes" by John Keats is primarily an idealized depiction of romantic love. However, Keats uses contrast and juxtaposition to emphasize the purity of Porphyro and Madeline's love,...

It is simple to compute the area of any "curved corner" (one of them is marked in green on the attached picture). It is `A_1 = 1 / 4 ( 10^2 - pi * 5^2 ) .` Also, the area of the triangle ACD is...

John Steinbeck's novella The Pearl is full of symbols, and their meaning is not always clear. For instance, not all readers have thought that the pearl itself symbolizes goodness. It may also...

To help you get started on this question, let’s review the spoils system and talk about the effect it had on politics and the government during the nineteenth century. The spoils system is also...

It sounds like you will have an interesting essay to write. Alienation is indeed a major factor in Holden's meltdown. With a goal of about 1500 words, you should be able to explain this pretty...

"Ballad of the Dreamy Girl" is a poem that explores the challenges faced by young women who are interested in pursuing the arts in a society that does not necessarily respect or value such...

Alice Munro's short story "Silence" is told from Juliet's perspective, and contains various speculations about Penelope's feelings and her motives for leaving. However, the reader never discovers...

Susan Gaspell utilizes a lot of symbolism throughout Trifles. Indeed, the canary, birdcage, and nonexistent cat are vivid symbols, particularly of the oppressive gender roles imposed upon women in...

Ann Radcliffe's The Italian does at times paint an idealized portrait of home and femininity, especially when the former is missing and the latter is strongly desired. Let's look at a couple...

The insect apocalypse refers to the rapidly declining populations of insects throughout the world and the negative effects that accompany such a decline. Citizen scientists across the globe helped...