theme in literature essay examples

theme in literature essay examples

Exploring the Theme of Literature in Essay Examples

1. Introduction

This central question of literature: what is literature? (and consequently that generated countless others, such as that of literary norms, of literary interpretation, of the role of the author, as well as that of the public, of the impact of literature, of its social and political role), although it originated a significant corpus of reflections, also generated other tons of such reflections. This is, to define literature is to enter a labyrinth of consequences. Or diminished, to reduce efforts to try to understand the literary phenomenon to an endless game. In this section, we limit the reflections to those that, among the countless ones in the literature, approached them closely or specifically defined some form of the object. Our goal is neither to present our definition nor to choose the best among the existing ones – task as impossible, even a mere immodesty, given the immeasurable amount of existing contributions. Rather, we want, from these reflections, to illuminate an attempt to view literature in a specific way, in an even clearer focus.

So what is literature? And why have millions of people so revered it? It can’t be simply because it has stories, nor because those stories describe exciting events or take place in fantastic worlds, nor because it describes unusual characters or those we would like to be. This would become clear while exploring the works of other forms of art, such as painting or cinema, which, respectively, have history and interesting stories, have unusual characters or those we consider “models”, without, however, having the revered place occupied by literature. Some authors, even, due to their universal admiration – something unimaginable in the others – be able to investigate “what everyone wants”, to say “what everyone has already said”. So what does literature have that makes it so important?

2. Analysis of Theme in Literature Essays

An analysis of various literature essays allows the society to have an understanding of a society’s profile during the time of publication. There are noted historical changes taking place in literature in various forms, such as stories, poems, and dramas. This is a clear indication regarding the difference in styles of a given era’s different genres. The fact that literature involves the exploration of topics leads to the portrayal of the historical moment. Even though the discussion has shown that through the reference of historical information. The most significant element of learning the historical awareness of literature is the developmental processes over time. The documents show the gradual maturity of the economy through literature. Early documents often show the haste and the lack of care in the production of literary material.

Literature is a great representation of a society. In most literary works, most writers have discussed the day’s problems and issues affecting the society. Literature is, therefore, a reflection of the society, a measure of a country’s status. As generations continue to change, ideas and behaviors of people from whom the authors enjoy a significant portion of their readership also change. As such, authors tend to adapt to the social and cultural issues. This transition typically brings in the theme of the literature and any document that can be subjected to a persuasive should be a literature.

3. Comparison of Different Literary Works

Another great work in literary history is “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It was published in 1892 and introduced in the June issue of The New England Magazine. The story introduces the patriarchal institution in the 19th century and early 20th-century society and explores what happens when men control their wives’ lives and make all decisions for them. These great impacts can often lead to the oppression of women and deeper mental trauma and stress. Patients have been informed to rest their mind with unclear scientific reasoning when they suffer from similar problems. Gilman challenged this treatment model, showing that it only worsened the woman’s mental state by causing depression and ultimately forced her into psychosis. At the time, “The Yellow Wallpaper” was limited to rather static genres. The narrative form depicted the characters that slowly deteriorated under increasing force from their society.

Many literary main characters feel the effect of oppression from their societies. Here, most lessons are that tolerance or liberation from societal expectations simply feel threatened by the majority, and the message observed from the characters perpetuating these injustices eventually returns to ate them. There are times when some literary works utilize representational interpretation to pass on their meanings to the reader. Published in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter features a novel structure and represents a variety of historical and cultural characteristics in America, including different literary and moral styles. This story takes place in the 17th century, when nonconformists were persecuted for engagement in dissenting politics and religious beliefs. More than hundred years after the Puritan society labeled as lunatic wrote it on the chest of the offenders accused of violating the Christian faith. Nathaniel applies the structure and characters with symbolism in his creation. Each personality represents a type of sin or spiritual truth that needs to be revealed or released.

4. Impact of Theme on Character Development

Characters are a critical segment of playwriting, short story, novel and essay. A full character carries much more than a figure, for in its speech, dress, desires, actions, interests, attitudes and behaviours, a character’s nature, fears, traumas, joys, hope, values, problems, dreams, challenges, culture, virtues, contradictions and shortfalls are rewritten and demonstrated. A flat character will carry less and generally fewer qualitative attributes. Developing writing characters requires assessing in depth their internal and external characteristics and modifying what is necessary to catch the readers’ attention and empathy. In this article, we argue about the profound or shallow impact that literature may have on character development, depending on the development theme. We conclude that literature will provoke greater construction the more profound and closer the theme is to human condition.

Impact of theme on character development. Examples are indispensable in essay writing, since they are powerful paints that will enrich the essay. For example, to both argumentative and descriptive essays, examples will serve as proof that expands, extends or supports the argument or described element or quality. While writing a process analysis essay (an explanation or a how-to essay), it is essential and even more demanding to give personal examples of processes that illustrate the process’s methods, steps or stages. Besides the evidence, another vital role that examples play in any essay writing is illuminating and enhancing the essay theme and the characters in the exposition.

5. Conclusion

Given the complexity and multiple implications, functions and meanings of literature, since the first pages of Aesthetic Reflection on Literature to Literary Studies, the essential phenomenon and essence of literature is problematic, however, it is admitted that many of us feel that our existence is constantly open to logical conservations and appreciations; poetry is also the name anxiously waiting for the ultimate response from God; the prose is a method and a waiting – of person, place, time; literary theory is a passion or a research. Especially in the search for a criterion that distinguishes and justifies the poetic through certain logical, ontological or merely psychological ambit, the devaluation of genre, the negation, the parallel of it. Rouchianism and empiricism are the two ways taken by the translation and the critique in an attempt to determine the content, to understand the finality of a branch recognized as literature. The rationalist currents, one may say, tend to leave to the matter.

The role of a literary work is oriented to the dialectical co-foundation of those who return to it in search of spiritual values, forever open to legitimate interpretation. The critical, essayistic judgment has a function of greatest dignity, compatible with the exigency or assumption of such values. The theme or the relationship or the comparison, however it is treated, belongs to religion; the argument is political; its proof is scientific; the display of thought, sometimes or rhythmically armed, results in literature, or at least is discussed about it. Yet we must also educate the judgment on literary works, in order to fundamentally examine their significance of human values, to consider the dynamisms, the aesthetic and methodological execution procedures, even the elements, the laws, the categories of which they are constituted. Literary studies always cause an aesthetic emotion of a purely forensic abstraction nature. Pedagogy should educate individuals to the unique aesthetic and moral work as a being capable of thinking. To become a literary historian, one must first become a connoisseur of poetry, one must have felt the joys and sorrows of an artistic and sensitive spirit in the bosom of its youthful momentum. Great literary production is only respect for the ages.