A school district in Biloxi, Mississippi, recently made waves when it decided to pull Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird from required reading in its school. The reason? The language made students “uncomfortable.” Banning books has long been a problem in the United States and one that (justifiably) infuriates the general public. If we are a…
Not only are we busy writing new study guides, answering hundreds of questions per day, and meticulously conquering comma splices, we've also been sprucing up key areas of our site. An overarching goal is to always be making eNotes even easier to use and more valuable to our users (sheesh, humblebrag much?), so we're excited to…
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Though he had only 54 poems published in his lifetime, John Keats is recognized as one of the greatest poets of the romantic era. Mostly noted for his series of odes, Keats used gentle language and natural imagery to illustrate his subtle philosophies on life. John Keats was born in London on October 31, 1795.…
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With Blade Runner 2049 (2017) in theaters right now, stories categorized under the genre of “cyberpunk” have surged in popularity. Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction, usually set in technologically advanced dystopian societies, that incorporates larger themes about the ethics and implications of technology. Soon, Ready Player One will be released as a major…
Read More "Enjoyed Ready Player One? Check Out These Other Titles Next"
Divergent took the young-adult fiction world by storm, spawning two sequels, three movies, and a TV series. If you enjoy dystopian stories riddled with romances, villainous government structures, and page-turning adventure, then you might enjoy these titles too. Legend by Marie Lu The Republic, once known as the United States, is a nation perpetually at…
British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the highest award a literary author can receive. It is given not for a single piece, but for the collective work throughout an author’s career. The organization that selects the recipient, The Swedish Academy, stated that Kazuo Ishiguro is a writer “who, in…
Photo via Stanford News Stanford University’s “Three Books” program encourages incoming first years to read three selected titles before beginning the school year. This year, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi was chosen as one of them. Gyasi’s debut novel details the lasting effects of slavery, both culturally and generationally. It spans over…
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photo via Business Insider In her 2013 memoir, I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai recounts the profound influence that education has had on her own life and the eventual formation of her life goal: for girls to receive education worldwide. When she was denied education in her home country, Pakistan, she spoke out.…
