Literary Merit Essays

  • The Literary Merit of Animal Farm

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Literary Merit of Animal Farm The year of 1945 marked a great turning point in world history.  The end of the Second World War, the detonation of the atomic bomb, the beginning of the Cold War took place during that year.  Also in 1945, George Orwell published Animal Farm, The book drew wide interest due to its scathing commentary on the Russian communist movement at a time when Britain and Russia were still allies.  The body of criticism relating to the novel is among the greatest of twentieth

  • The Literary Merit of A Lesson Before Dying

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Literary Merit of A Lesson Before Dying Ernest Gaines was born during the middle of the Great Depression on January 15, 1933. He was the oldest of twelve children. At the age of nine Gaines worked as an errand boy on the River Lake Plantation, the same plantation his book A Lesson Before Dying was set in. Gaines was raised by his Aunt Augusteen Jefferson, much like Grant, the protagonist in the novel, was raised by his Aunt Tante Lou. At the age of fifteen Gaines rejoined his immediate family

  • Literary Merit To Kill A Mockingbird

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    kinds of works can be evaluated to determine if they hold literary merit, removing most subjectivity from the matter. These standards ensure that the literary piece is judged on far more than just a personal preference. Some works that uphold the outline for literary merit include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Kite Runner, and Jane Eyre – to name a few. The 2014 novel Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult also claims the honor of possessing literary merit, given that it meets nearly all the requirements. The

  • Allen Ginsberg's America

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    Defense of Poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Democratic Vistas by Walt Whitman, one can gain a holistic sense of poetry, what it is and what it does, that can be applied to literary texts of all times. One can better understand Allen Ginsberg's "America" through an examination of the aforementioned texts as well. The literary merit of the poem is best recognized through Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas, although Percy Bysshe Shelley's A Defense of Poetry also contributes some very critical parallels

  • The Style, Technique, and Structure of Conrad's Heart of Darkness

    2796 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Style, Technique, and Structure of Heart of Darkness The novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is proof that a novel does not have to be long to have literary merit. Heart of Darkness is quite short, yet intriguing, due to the content of the novel. Much like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Heart of Darkness overwhelms the reader by the power of the story so that one will never feel quite satisfied with their attempts to intellectualize the experience (Adelman 8). Heart of Darkness was written

  • Use of Symbols and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Symbolism plays an important role in any novel of literary merit. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols to portray events, feelings, personalities and time periods. Throughout the narrative, Fitzgerald uses strong contrasting symbols such as West Egg and East Egg. His superior use of other predominant symbols such as color and light are also evident throughout the novel. The story begins as the narrator, Nick Carraway, describes his arrival to West Egg. One can immediately

  • Literary Merit In Literature

    1422 Words  | 3 Pages

    “It’s hard to judge literary merit (Henry Rollins).” When writing a story, all authors have three key things: a purpose, an audience, and a message. These key elements are used to help not only the writer but the reader figure out the writer’s reason for telling the story. Due to the fact that opinions of individuals range very uniquely, many critics and readers figure out a book's usefulness by deciding if it has literary merit. Literary Merit is a term used to describe a book that is considered

  • Hamlet Literary Merit

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    teachers consider more than an important lesson when choosing a book to read as a class. Each book introduced in a classroom usually encompass the criteria of a work with literary merit. A piece of work with literary merit, not only addresses a theme beyond the text itself and entertains the reader, a piece of literary merit contains ideals like complexity, originality,

  • Ernest Hemingway and A Farewell To Arms

    3202 Words  | 7 Pages

    pessimistic and judgmental mind housed within the author. Regardless of the unhappy circumstances and heart-breaking situations which prevail throughout the novel, A Farewell To Arms certainly deserves a place in a listing of works of high literary merit. Born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois at the closing of the 19th century, Hemingway soon abandoned the Land of Lincoln and exposed himself to the pain, suffering and defeat of humanity as a reporter for several American newspapers.

  • 1984 Literary Merit

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    George Orwell’s dystopian political fiction novel 1984, initially published in 1950, still stands today as a timeless literary work, depicting, “not dramas of what life might be...but nightmares of what it is becoming” (Fromm 266). Though the novel is simple and easy to comprehend, it conveys a critical message, warning of the dangers of totalitarianism emerging from the well-intentioned construct of communism. Though the Second Red Scare most likely influenced Orwell’s composition of 1984, the themes

  • Death and Creation in The Hollow Men

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the semester, we have read many poems by many well-known authors.  All of these poems were worthy of the literary merit they received, but I would like to write this paper on a poem that is equally as wonderful.  I will be writing this paper on T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.”  This is an incredibly poetic work that is just simply brilliant.  I will be discussing how Eliot constantly uses death and creation images to strengthen the theme of the poem. Throughout this entire poem, there is

  • The True Message of Joy Luck Club and The Hundred Secret Senses

    1922 Words  | 4 Pages

    "honest, moving, and beautifully courageous."  Publisher's Weekly describes the novel as "intensely poetic, startlingly imaginative and moving ... deceptively simple yet inherently dramatic."  Not only has Amy Tan's fiction been praised for its literary merit, but it also has been included in anthologies of multicultural literature for its portrayal of Chinese and Chinese-American culture. However, critics such as George Tseo vehemently disagree with these and other accolades, particularly regarding

  • Symbols and Symbolism - Heat as a Symbol in The Great Gatsby

    1945 Words  | 4 Pages

    Heat as a Symbol in The Great Gatsby Symbolism plays an important role in any novel of literary merit. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald displays a superior use of symbols such as color, light, and heat. Fitzgerald’s superior use of heat as a symbol is the focus of this essay. “When F. Scott Fitzgerald turns on the heat in Gatsby, he amplifies a single detail into an element of function and emphasis that transforms neutral landscapes into oppressive prisms” (Dyson 116). Through

  • The Genius of Plato

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    Plato completed the Sophist, the Politicus, the Philebus, the Timaeus and finally the Laws. (Internet) DIALOGUES The Symposium is the most widely read of Plato's dialogues with the exception of the Republic and it is with good reason. It's literary merit is outstanding with philosophical and psychological sources (Allen) THE EARLY DIALOGUES In the early dialogues Socrates always played the leading roll. In all of them, Plato was trying to keep the spirit of Socrates alive. There are also early

  • The House On Mango Street Literary Merit

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    phrase ‘literary merit' refers to a work of literature that endures time and appeals to a wide diversity of audiences. Works of literary merit have relatable qualities and relative concepts, not only to the time period it had been published in but also throughout time. These kinds novels also have in-depth and insightful qualities that go beyond the words printed on the page. To me, these elements greatly contribute to the definition of a work of literary merit, a work of literary merit also has

  • The Chapter of Circe in James Joyce's Ulysses

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    Regardless of which theme or idea we refer to, one cannot deny the potency of the chapter in terms of literary content and finesse. A theme that supports the literary finesse of Circe is chemical imbalance. Specifically, I came across research to support the theory that Circe is a metaphor for Schizophrenia. Though this cannot be considered a major watermark, the idea does not lack merit and is interesting in the least. The chapter progresses in the same way the disease progresses

  • Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief, Literary Merit?

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, Literary Merit? Books that have literary merit tend to engage the reader with a conversation to the author in deep analysis with the use of juxtaposition, varying syntax, and a hidden deeper meaning within the literature. In Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, it established its own literary merit by the books complexity, use of motifs, and the situations the readers can identify to. Rick Riordan’s novel, Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, is a complex

  • Literary Merit of John Gunther's Death be not Proud

    601 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther is a classic work of literary merit. The genre of the memoir is one that will never die. The life of young Johnny Gunther takes place in the 1940’s, but the courage and wisdom he portrays can be understood forever. The message Johnny sends will endure the test of time. Johnny Gunther goes through countless surgeries, hospital visits, and painful illness. Yet, despite his troubles, Johnny is surprisingly upbeat and optimistic. It is not that he is naive, it is simply

  • Affirmative Action Essay: Quotas for White Players in the NBA?

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    argument that it's wrong to give whites an even greater advantage to make up for their lack of merit is irrelevant. If blacks got an equal start in life, they might even dominate the NBA more than they do now. The fact that they don't is a further injustice to their merit. This is a prize piece of rhetoric among anti-affirmative critics. Teams in the National Basketball Association select their players based on merit. For some reason, blacks have come to represent the vast majority of players in the NBA

  • Innovation and Traditionalism in Art

    3383 Words  | 7 Pages

    or another, noticed that almost any discussion concerning the merits and demerits of art, if it goes on long enough will come to the qualities of innovation and traditionalism in regards to aesthetic value. As soon as these two qualities are mentioned, there comes an inevitable forming up of those who favor innovation and deride tradition and those who favor tradition and deride innovation. Either side usually admits only enough merit to their opposition, and limitation of their own view, to make