A bit of LIT

A Perfectly Good Ticket (short story)

From where he stood inside the Old Timey Museum, he could look out the window and see her. She was just getting off the ride, her face flushed, her grey hair blown back. She knew where to find him and ran in. “Lord, was that fun!” He smiled; he was always pleased to see her happy, like the other night at bingo when she won the pot. She looked up at him and said, “Honey, I’ve got Dramamine in my purse, if you’re worried about getting sick.” (Continue reading here.)

Blood & Mother’s Milk: Toni Morrison’s Beloved as Sweet Song of Sorrowful Loss (essay)

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is devastating in its tender depiction of people who are physically and emotionally damaged by slavery. As an avid reader of slave narratives and a student of black history, Morrison cuts right through the mental construct of slavery to drop us into the middle of a group of characters who will change our lives by making us feel slavery. (Continue reading here.)

Transformation of Prospero (essay)

William Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, was written sometime after late 1610 and performed for King James I at least two times between 1611 and 1613. Sometimes classified as a comedy because it ends with a wedding, The Tempest actually defies exact categorization. It is a complex play and scholarly interpretations about every aspect of it abound. Amidst the widely diverse theories that exist about The Tempest, this essay will focus primarily on the personal transformation of Prospero… (Continue reading here.)

The Trickster Around the World: Making Mischief and Balancing Power (essay)

The archetype of the Trickster runs through myths from cultures around the world. The term “Trickster” was first introduced to the academic world in connection with the study of Native American mythology in Paul Radin’s book The Trickster in 1955. However, since the term was coined, the telltale signs of the trickster have been noticed in mythical characters dating back to Ancient Greece. (Continue reading here.)

Seeing New Facets in “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant (essay)

Issues of “class” are central to Marxist literary theory. “Class,” with its distinctions and conflicts, is a concept that can readily be applied to Guy de Maupassant’s story, “The Necklace.” This is a short story about a man and woman who suffer greatly as a result of the wife’s obsessive envy of those in a higher socio-economic class than hers. (Continue reading here.)

No Lights, No Sound: An Analysis of the Film, The Celebration (essay)

The original title of The Celebration was “Festen.” It debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998. It was the first widely recognized film for its young director, Thomas Vinterberg, and was eagerly anticipated by the festival audience because it was the first film produced according to Dogme 95 Vows of Chastity. (Continue reading here.)