Classic novels
Frankenstein, Gatsby, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and other novels.
Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein’s Memories and Guilt
An analysis of how Victor’s cherished childhood memories and guilt-ridden recollections shape his choices, revealing Shelley’s critique of ambition severed from responsibility.
Alice’s Curiosity and Unfulfilled Need in Wonderland
A literary analysis of how Alice’s pursuit of understanding leads to discovery but cannot give her stable footing in Wonderland.
Jay Gatsby’s Reinvention and the American Dream
A literary-analysis essay examining how Gatsby’s self-fashioning makes his pursuit of Daisy possible while revealing the limits of wealth and personal reinvention in The Great Gatsby.
Scrooge’s Redemption in A Christmas Carol
A close-reading essay arguing that Scrooge’s transformation links personal redemption to responsibility for the people affected by one’s choices.
Gatsby’s Secrets and His Relationship with Daisy
A literary analysis of how Gatsby’s concealed identity and wealth shape his reunion with Daisy and the novel’s tensions among intimacy, status, and truth.
Frankenstein: Victor’s Decision to Destroy the Second Creature
An analysis of how Shelley’s pacing, physical action, and the Creature’s appeal make Victor’s destruction of the unfinished companion a moral crisis about responsibility.
Pip’s Guilt and Self-Deception in Great Expectations
An analysis of how Pip’s shame about his origins damages his relationship with Joe, and how Joe’s care helps Pip recognize the moral cost of his ambition.
Jane Eyre’s Memories of Lowood and Moral Growth
An essay arguing that Jane’s years at Lowood teach her to distinguish principled discipline from unjust control, shaping her responses to authority and her later moral choices.
Dorian Gray’s Rebellion Against Age and Moral Convention
A literary analysis of how Dorian’s resistance to age and moral judgment is shaped by both his desire for consequence-free freedom and Lord Henry’s influence, and how Wilde uses that rebellion to criticize a life ruled by sensation and appearance.
Pride and Prejudice: What Pride Means to Darcy and the Novel
An analysis of how Pride and Prejudice distinguishes self-respect and responsibility from social arrogance, and how its treatment of pride contrasts with the condemnation of pride at the end of Thomas More’s Utopia.
Great Expectations: Pip’s Sentimental Education
An analysis of how Pip’s longing for gentility, Estella’s judgments, and his changing relationship with Joe shape his understanding of loyalty, education, and human worth.
The Scarlet Letter: Chillingworth’s Assumed Identity and Revenge
An analysis of how Roger Chillingworth’s concealed identity lets him pursue Dimmesdale while deepening the novel’s account of deception, isolation, and revenge.