Not all works of literature use para-textual features in the same way – or even at all – but Maya Angelou’s prologue in her autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, is a feature of the text which should not be overlooked, for it…
Literary Commentary
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writing || Parenting is like a Fencing Match: Scene Analysis in “I Know why the Caged Bird Sings”
The ultimate coming-of-age story that doesn’t shy away from even the more difficult topics, Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is immensely honest and vulnerable. Her experience being sent from mother and father to grandmother several times throughout her life is a…
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writing || The Hereditary Sickness: An Analysis of the Structure, Tensions, and Motifs of “Mad Shadows”
The passage from pages 52 to 55 of the book “Mad Shadows” by Marie-Claire Blais presents a turning point within the novel. It is in these four pages that the deterioration of the characters and superficial relationships begins to occur. An aura of sickness and…
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writing || Flying Purple People Eater: Spiritual Regression in “My Father’s Garden” | IB HL English Paper One Commentary
This was my [IB, HL English, Paper 1, mock-exam] commentary essay on the poem “My Father’s Garden” by David Wagoner. In my class, we wrote this as our official midterm exam, and were given two hours. I was proud of the product so I decided…
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writing || Charisma, Love and Psychology | 4AM Coffee-Induced Thoughts
Couldn’t fall asleep Friday night because I drank a Brazilian Hazelnut Latte Espresso (gotta try new things right?) around 5pm so… this happened. If you want to skip to the good stuff: Lots of me talking about things and getting distracted by other things (1:00)…
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writing || Human Virtues and the Meaning of Life: Rousseau vs. Frankl
I’ve had “Discourse on the Arts and Sciences” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau on my “currently reading” shelf for the longest time, and just a few weeks ago I had a little reading inspiration so I decided to finish it. Turns out I only had several pages…
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writing || Thoughts on “My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King” by Reymundo Sánchez
Synopsis Looking for an escape from childhood abuse, Reymundo Sanchez turned away from school and baseball to drugs, alcohol, and then sex, and was left to fend for himself before age 14. The Latin Kings, one of the largest and most notorious street gangs in…
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writing || The Backbone of “Blue Bouquet”: An Analysis of Literary Style
We read “Blue Bouquet” by Octavio Paz a while ago in my English class, and I wrote a response to the following assignment: Respond to any specific aspect of the story that you feel is an important part of the story (Character, setting, symbol, central…
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writing || “Vicious” and Morality
Vicious! I read this book, by V.E. Schwab, a long time ago, and really enjoyed it! Although I had a lot of initial comments and discussion questions building up in my mind while I was reading, I unfortunately never wrote them down once I’d read…