Sample Introductions- Literary Analysis papers
“Tragedy is born in the West each time the pendulum of civilization is halfway between a
sacred society and a society built around man.”
-Albert Camus
The American Dream, to most is a promise of opportunity, land, and freedom.
The prospects that anyone can make it, from rags to riches, if he or she has the will and
motivation to do so. The American Dream exists in a world of optimism; the world in
which there are happy endings and romances that bloom. The world of children’s fairy
tales and romance novels in the grocery store. This is not the world of Theodore
Dreiser’s An American Tragedy or Richard Wright’s Native Son. Clyde Griffiths and
Bigger Thomas live in the world where tragedy is the only possibility. They are doomed
from an early age because of their position in society, which they cannot help. From poor
family backgrounds, both lack the motivation to work and to make it in the world. They
simply want to get rich, have the things they desire, whether they be goods or women,
and “make it”. However, because of the societal traps set up for them, they desire too
much too quickly and are unable to maintain what opportunities they do receive. The
American Dream fails them, yet they too fail in that they cannot handle the new worlds
into which they are thrust. Their pressures to conform, while at the same time maintain
their pasts, drive them to disaster. Neither Clyde nor Bigger realizes his American
dream, because in tragedy there is no dream come true. Their backgrounds, violent
tendencies, and enchantment beyond reason with the world of the white rich all lead to
their downfalls. They soon find themselves running from the system which was
supposed to allow them to get them to the top, and it works against them in the end as it
had in the beginning.
In Shakespeare’s time women were considered property. They were often
“defined and contained through their place in the marriage paradigm” (Carol Neely as
stated in Digangi). Women were expected to be submissive to the men in their lives,
whether their fathers or husbands. They also did not have much say in anything public.
The female characters in Shakespeare often go against the norms of Elizabethan society
and prove to be strong and independent. Two of these characters are Isabella from
Measure for Measure and Desdemona from Othello. Each of these women defies what
the other characters and society are telling her to do. Each is also faced with a decision
of whether or not to defy the norm. They do not submit to the male characters, Angelo
and Brabantio, and they prove to be very strong-willed women. In modern times we can
appreciate their characters even more because we can see that they hold an important
place in the text. Both Isabella and Desdemona are what “girl power” is all about. Their
defiance is not equal, however, in that the roles they play in society bring different
consequences to their situations. Through their lines and in other characters’ descriptions
of them, one can see that their situations bring about different consequences. The
consequences are different because of the roles the women hold in society.
In an age where expressing emotion and having a sense of the sublime beauty of
nature and literature were the prominent virtues, Jane Austen strove against the norms
and fought back with the idea of realism. Unlike other notable authors of the period such
as Victor Hugo, Lord Byron, Charlotte Bronte, Mary and Percy Shelley, and John Keats
whom all extolled the idea of beauty and emotion being the most important aspect of life,
Austen waged war against this concept expressing the idea that human weakness lies
within the overindulgence of passion. Every story Austen created centers around the
heroes and/or heroines overcoming the misery that illusions of romantic fantasies inspire,
and thus attaining a better control and understanding of their consciousness bringing them
the prosperity and happiness that accompanies “a well-regulated mind” (Wellington's
Beef Against Romanticism). Her utter disdain for romanticism can be seen in her novels
Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, where even the names of the novels
reflect her realistic views. Sense and Sensibility focuses around two sisters, Marianne and
Elinor Dashwood, both of whom have conflicting ideas about how life should be lived.
Marianne believes that life should not be worth living unless it is flooded by the sublime
wonders that passion brings where “love is to burn - to be on fire” (Lee). Elinor accepts
that life is not as whimsical as her sister wishes it to be and takes a calm and intellectual
approach to how she lives her life. In the end Marianne’s ecstasy fades, having only
brought her heartache and emotional torment, as she gradually assumes a more docile life
that brings her love and cheerful bliss, thus affirming Austen’s anti-romantic belief that
sense and “cultural restrain” triumphs over sensibility and emotion (Bertonèche).