World Literature Arguments

Jamaica Kincaid wrote "Girl" which is a mother speaking to her daughter about what she ought to be learning to do and what she ought not to be doing.  The cadence of the writing is quick and urgent, the entire work is one, continuous run-on sentence.  There is but a scant two interruptions from the daughter.  This causes the reader to wonder what is the cause of the urgency, why the sarcasm on the part of the mother?  Or is it condescension that borders abuse on her part instead?  Kincaid wrote this story to highlight the relationship between a mother and daughter engulfed in a poor and ordinary life. Kincaid grew up surrounded by "ordinary people", the farmers and carpenters of her young life were not highly educated people.  She was expected to learn to keep a house and cook and take care of her husband and their children.  She very well may have been on the receiving end of a talking to much like her story, "Girl".  The list begins with "Wa...

In Isabel Allende's "And of Clay Are We Created" the author tells of a girl named Azucena and a man named Rolf and their encounter while she lodged in mud after a mudslide triggered by a volcanic eruption.  During this story, the reader learns of an inner struggle that Rolf has about his experiences during WWII in a concentration camp.  Allende is said to have written this story because she was touched by a real-life event that included the corpse of a thirteen year old victim of a volcanic eruption.  While this story includes details about loss and moving on, the most prominent theme throughout is the loss of innocence for the main characters. The story for the most part is told by Eva Luna, Rolf's longtime companion.  She is observing his experience from the home that they share and also from the studio that broadcasts his reports.  She narrates a change that she sees take place in him as he observes Azucena stuck in the mud and then her eventual passing. ...

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz lived from 1648-1695, and wrote extensively for the rights of woman, yet she was a nun sworn to be chaste and modest.  Her works are extremely accurate in regards to how a woman feels towards a man and his treatment of her and, especially, her body.  Her words are still valid today and would certainly invoke some feelings of contempt from many men, including clergymen, upon reading her works.  She succumbed to the men around her that were powerful in the church in 1694 and turned away from authoring anymore literary works, sold her artistic and scientific possessions and remained cloistered for the rest of her life.  Based on her writings, readers are apt to question then, why would she even remain a nun and continue to work in the institution that condemned her? Cruz' was born into a society that valued position and wealth, although her parents were upper-class, she was born out of wedlock, which would have limited her prospects for a hus...

W.B. Yeats wrote When You are Old  in 1895, it is one of his earlier poems and is mostly viewed as being about his unrequited love for Maude Gonne.  Maude was an actress that Yeats wrote many poems that referenced his yearning for her and his disdain for the man she married, John MacBride, he portrayed him as a "drunken, vainglorious lout" (YEATS 520).  Yet, Yeats was a scholar of spiritual theories, and if you can read this work with a spiritual view, it isn't difficult to see a religious theme present itself as well. When the reader begins, an image of an old person is brought to mind, it is presumed that it is a woman based on the idea that it is about Maude, but it could also be Yeats himself for there is no specific reference of gender.  And this person is reading a book, reflecting on an old love that was felt, but never fulfilled, and how that object of affection has come to pass on.  The reader could look at this poem and think that this is a literary ...

In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis , the main character, Gregor Samsa, is transformed overnight into a cockroach.  The story tells of Gregor's acceptance of his condition and the subsequent transformation of his family. Kafka wrote this story that, on the surface, seems to be about the change that is brought about by the loss of a family member, it also is about how a person can sometimes adapt and reinvent themselves only to still feel ostracized.  This story is Kafka and his own struggles for acceptance in a life that gave him no satisfaction. The beginning of The Metamorphosis  finds Gregor in bed, realizing what has happened overnight, the author is very matter-of-fact "he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed" (KAFKA 210).  In most cases, an author would write of a certain, coming about, a realization, but Kafka is having none of that, Gregor's eyes open and there is hardly any doubt or questioning, just the state of his body as it is....

Aphra Behn is the author of a play, Oroonoko , that takes place in both West Africa and the New World (Southern American Colonies).   Oroonoko is about an African Prince in love with a maiden, Imoinda.  Their love suffers great tragedies, but they are finally reunited as slaves on a plantation in the New World. Through her portrayal of the differences between Oroonoko and the common slaves, Behn propagates an idea of the upper class versus the lower class in this play, she furthers the argument that if one is born an aristocrat, then one must always remain an aristocrat. Behn first accounts the appearance of the natives of West Africa, as though they are but things to be marveled at, she describes them "with their long black Hair, and the Face painted in little Specks or Flowers here and there, makes 'em a wonderful Figure to behold." (BEHN 202).  She writes of their hunting and gathering like one might speak of the activities of a child, that they know where to get...