Shakespeare’s King Richard III and Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard

Through the study of two distinct texts composed centuries apart, it is evident that an exploration of context and intertextual connections provide a deepened understanding of the shared human struggle as individuals search for their identity and a meaningful purpose in life. Subsequently, human frailty is illuminated through one’s misguided pursuit of power, and unwillingness … Read more

Blink – Gladwell

In addition to experiencing segregation publicly, minorities were not given the same educational opportunities as privileged individuals were. In the book Blink, Gladwell discusses the impact of race while it effects minorities and how they view themselves. In this case, African Americans were discriminated against and became hopeless in receiving a proper education; discrimination kept … Read more

The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga

INTRODUCTION ‘The White Tiger’ is the debut novel of Aravind Adiga, which grabbed him his first man booker prize award. He is an Indo-Australian writer who graduated from Columbia university in 1997. Adiga began his writing career as a financial journalist for The Financial Times. He worked on stock market and investment , he even … Read more

Adam’s Curse – Yeats

‘Adam’s Curse’ centres itself around William Butler Yeats’s frustration at those who undermine the hard work and dedication required to compose poetry. A narrator, assumed to be Yeats, speaks under the moon to two women, discussing the laborious ‘stitching and unstitching’ required for poetics, female beauty and for love itself, lamenting at how all three … Read more

Masks in literature

The presence of masks in the world is often dismissed as people tend to not think much of them. However, if we pay more attention to masks and their purpose, a considerable amount of information can be obtained. These masks are surrounded by mystique, leaving us wanting to see and understand what hides under it. … Read more

Exploration – various questions and answers

19.1 Reading Guide English East India Company: The East India Company, also known as the Honourable East India Company or the British East India Company and informally as John Company, was an English and later British joint-stock company. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with Mughal India and the East … Read more

The Pearl – Steven Steinbeck

‘A plan once made and visualized becomes a reality along with other realities – never to be destroyed but easily to be attacked.’ Despite the fundamental dichotomy between reality and dreams, they are often perceived as indistinguishable by humanity. Dreams fuel humanity’s intense desires for the seemingly unobtainable whilst reality encourages reason, logic and moral … Read more

Mark Twain

Mark Twain was an American author that became well known around the world for his satirical and humorous writing. The piece that launched the beginning of his successful career was written in 1865 and is titled “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. This story centers on a Western man recounting a tall tale about … Read more

The Book of Salt

The Book of Salt written by Monique Truong expresses a narrative of main character Binh from Vietnam who ventures into his identity and his ability and love to cook. Through living in Paris, he cooks for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolkas while being reminded of his past life in French-colonial Vietnam. Throughout the novel, … Read more

The Glass Menagerie

In Tennessee Williams’ play, Glass Menagerie, William’s channels his family life through writing it about the Wingfield family. Tennessee Williams based his character, Tom Wingfield on himself. Both are considered to “traveling dreamers” (Falk 47). The Wingfields are a normal family just trying to get by. Instead of talking out their differences, they turn to … Read more

Post war novels

The form of Beckett’s second novel, within his trilogy, investigates the loss of time as the elderly protagonist Malone lies naked in a bed, unaware of his own location, he acknowledges his fragile state the moment the narrative begins stating that his death is imminent ‘at last’ (Beckett 1994: 179). Interestingly, Malone appears nonchalant towards … Read more