Genre Essays

Mr. Chong—also known as Old Chong—is Jing-mei’s deaf and partially blind piano teacher. When she realizes that he can’t hear the music, she stops trying to hit the right notes; when she sees that he can’t read fast enough to follow the sheet music, she just keeps up the rhythm and he is pleased. At […]

The novel “The Circuit” began in El Rancho Blanco, Mexico, then continues to California. They travel many places in California because they have come to the United States illegally. The characters are Papa, Mama, Roberto, Panchito, Trampita, Ruben, and Rorra. The basic situation is: the family has always wanted to move to California thinking that […]

“How My Brother Noel Brought Home a Wife” is a short story written by Manuel Arguilla. It won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940. Manuel Estabillo Arguilla (1911-1944) was an Ilokano writer in English. He is known for his popular short story “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife,” which won […]

In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates Gatsby who is a man who over time, becomes great. He begins life as just an ordinary, lower-class, citizen. But Gatsby has a dream of becoming wealthy. After meeting Daisy, he has a reason to strive to become prominent. Throughout his life, Gatsby gains the […]

What happens when a classic story goes modern? The classic Snow white is an example of this case. Taking a modern twist on a classic story makes things more interesting. The movie Sydney White (2007) is a modern take on Snow White about how a girl survives in a strange world called college. There are […]

“Who’s Irish” written by Jen Gish, tells the story of a sixty-eight-year-old Chinese immigrant and her struggle to accept other cultures different from her own. The main character is the fierce Chinese grandmother who is the former owner of a Restaurant. She has been living in the United States for a while but is still […]

Although Emily from “A Rose for Emily” and Calixta from “The Storm” possess different characteristics, I aim to demonstrate the shared traits among individuals from varying time periods, locations, and cultures. Emily, the protagonist of “A Rose for Emily” was notable for her egoism and her resistance to changes over time. On the other hand, […]

An anonymous author once stated, “There are times in everyone’s life when something constructive is born out of adversity when things seem so bad that you’ve got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it. ” This quote states that life often hands us struggles that we must overcome. Some are often easy […]

“The Step Not Taken” by Paul D’Angelo is an essay that follows the story of a man on personal quest to discover how to rightly respond to others’ suffering. The essay can easily demonstrate the monomyth and the steps in the monomyth also known as “the hero’s journey” are separation, struggle and reintegration. The narrator […]

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Beauty and The Best is a well know fairytale that has this hidden concept. The best-known version of the story, popularized through Disney, is Madame de Beaumont’s version. The book goes in depth with the two main characters Belle as Beauty and Prince Adam as The Beast. Both […]

The sixth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew is in fact before the story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and tells the tale of the creation of Narnia and how evil was introduced into this magical land. Seen through the eyes of two children, Digory […]

The rundown of this story is that Ivan the main character is bullied by his village (the villagers called him Pigeon or mocked him with the title Ivan the terrible. ) Ivan tries to show to the village that he is not timid or afraid but when the lieutenant gives him a bet Ivan shows […]

Among the first things one is taught when learning how to write novels, short stories or even essays are effective titles. Although instructed not to judge a book by its cover or title, most people will admit to doing so. A title needs to be luring, meaningful and perhaps both metaphoric and literal, or one […]

In a very real sense, Charlotte’s Web is set in E. B. White’s barn in Maine. In the story though it is not White’s barn but the Zuckerman’s farm. And yet, the farm is not the only setting in the book. In chapter 17 we were introduced to a new setting, the country fair. The […]

Johnny Cade, the sympathetic and lovable character from the classical realistic fiction novel “The Outsides” by renowned author S. E. Hinton is one of the most complex and confusing characters in the novel. Johnny is a very special character because he is so different in so many ways to the other protagonists in this novel. […]

Margaret Murphy’s short story “Low Visibility” gives us a realistic insight of how people can remold other people negatively, and yet even though they have reached the very bottom, hope can still bring them back their spirits and rights. “Low Visibility” portrays women being mistreated by their husbands, and how the women can be capable […]

As I was reading the book Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix, it reminded me of a reality based television program run by Endemol, a television production company originated in Netherlands, which the program itself believably excerpted the idea from a 1949 novel by George Orwell entitled Nineteen Eighty-Four with a dystopian theme. […]

Legends, myths, and folklore have always captured my attention. Whether they are about made-up, mystical creatures or even creatures turning into humans, I always seem to thoroughly enjoy the stories behind them. After reading the novel Selkie Girl and watching the movie Secret of Roan Inish, I started to draw some similarities and differences between […]

In the book Shiloh, written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, one of the prevalent themes that is developed from the very beginning is that of trust. This is shown when the boy first sees Shiloh emerge from the woods as he is taking a walk. The dog cowers, acting as if someone has beaten him in […]

Shirley Jackson, the author of the short story “The Lottery” is both a traditional and a non-traditional woman of her time. She is a wife to critic Stanley Edgar Hyman and a mother to four kids (Jackson, 922). She is a typical housewife. She does the house chores, takes care of her children, attends PTA […]

Charles Dickens uses the motif of doubles throughout his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. In fact, Dickens? very first line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” (Dickens, 3) illustrates this motif. The entire first paragraph introduces the motif of doubles, which sets the precedent for the entire novel. […]

In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison sets up several characters who both love and are beloved. Among them, Paul D stands out through his timidity toward love and the meaning behind love, freedom. Because of the bitter and miserable experiences suffered by him and people around him, he has learned to love just a little […]