Bloom's Canon I have spent the past two months learning how to use contemporary adolescent literature in a high school classroom. That makes me a danger to people like James D. Black, a teacher at Louisa County High School in Mineral, Virginia. In his essay, "The Monuments of a Culture&...

For many centuries, the Western Canon of literary works has set a standard for education by presenting the great and outstanding literary works of the past. As multiculturalism and equality thrive in the new millennium, the validity of the seemingly racially and sexually discriminating canon is bei...

Critical Decisions In Crucial Times Poetry perceives the irrational mysteries and subtle truths, through rational words. Although it is not true to assume that poetry always emanates its messages from the arcane land of mysteries, but it is pretty safe to conjecture that...

In the past, critics have ad moralized and/or brutalized every writer they could get their pen on. This is seen from criticisms of Henry Adams to William Butler Yeats. These writers critique everything about the writer and his/her works. For instance many critics criticize Willa Cath...

This paper will look at race relations in the South in the 1940s, and Pecola's idea that if she were white, she would somehow be "better" or "beautiful." At the heart of this novel is Pecola's self-esteem and how race relations erase self-esteem and empowerment, and how the blacks of the story allo...

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark The trust that a person has in his friends and family is paramount to a healthy life and quality relationships. Once this trust is broken or betrayed, a person's security can be shattered, leaving him doubtful and insecure about all aspects of life. When betrayal of trus...

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a sordid tale about a group of kids who are stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. The story is set during the Atomic War and plenty of references are made to the fact. However, the real key to the story lies in the role of Beelzebub,...

Holden Caulfied: Saint, Snob, or Somewhere In-between? Although J.D. Salinger has only one novel to his credit, that novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is recognized as an exceptional literary work. The key to the success of The Catcher in the Rye is the main character, Holden Caulfield. There a...

The Blind Man People learn many lessons as they go through life, and most importantly they usually change their way of living. In the story, "Cathedral," by Raymond Carver, we are introduced to a nameless first person narrator who is in a sense blind to the deeper feelings in life. T...

Hamlet is one of the most popular plays of William Shakespeare. It has been enjoyed by audiences throughout its existence, and also criticized by critics. Since the time it was written, critics have been trying to explain Hamlet's odd behavior, and the apparent lack of explanation for the ab...

Essay on Blake's Nurse's Song in Songs of Innocence In Blake's Nurse's Song in Songs of Innocence, the idea of innocence is largely presented by showing the children's carefree enjoyment of present. At the same time, we also see evidence suggesting the interconnection betwe...