Category: Literary Analysis

Ernest Hemingway - Literative

Story Symbolism: White Hills Like Elephants

Ernest Hemingway is known for a lot of things: daiquiris, traveling, Paris, his tumultuous love life, his simple style of writing, etc. He’s known for The Old Man and The Sea and For Whom The Bell Tolls. He’s known for his iconic image, his persona, and his demons. But there is one singular story that outshines much of his work, and which often goes unnoticed

Read More »
Photo of old and used hardback books.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Book Discussion

When we were children, we all had dreams and hopes beyond the ‘ordinary.’ All little children do because they’re free to dream. No limitations have been planted into their young brains. They are still innocent. We can recover that innocence—it’s what’s commonly known as connecting with our inner child. That is an important part of our evolving process: recovering what we

Read More »
Heat - Literative

Story Symbolism: Heat

Tucked in the back of Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, edited by Ellen Datlow, is a short, eight-page story that despite its topic, is relatable to everyone, somehow or another. It’s a story much like any other, with a prominent obstacle that threatens the happiness of the protagonist, only this time, the protagonist starts and ends in the same

Read More »
A rose on an old book.

Poetry Spotlight: Rumi

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, known as Rumi, lived in Persia in the 13th Century. Besides being a poet, he was also a jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic. His poems have been translated into many languages all over the world. Rumi’s original work was mostly written in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic and Greek. His works are widely read today

Read More »

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa Book Discussion

I must admit I’m cheating a little bit with this one—I haven’t read the manga book. I have watched both versions of the anime series, though. In the one released in 2003—while the manga books hadn’t been finished—the series started deviating really quickly and ended up being a totally different story altogether. Because of this, for a deeper and better

Read More »
Story Symbolism - Literative

Story Symbolism: The Great Open Mouth Anti-Sadness

Ron Carlson‘s “The Great Open Mouth Anti-Sadness,” is short, simple, and direct, and yet, still manages to hide symbolism in its lines. It’s a beautiful combination of simplicity and complexity, and one which surely applies to everyone in some way, shape, or form. The story centers on a man trying to keep it together after his daughter’s wedding. He lies

Read More »
A rose on an old book.

Hidden Poetry

Most of us are unaware of the amount of poetry that surrounds us everywhere, every day. In fact, some of us even listen to poetry for hours, on purpose. Sometimes we even pay for it! Yes, this even includes those who claim to have no idea about poetry, or to have no interest in it whatsoever. Guess where you’re receiving

Read More »
Photo of old and used hardback books.

The Little Prince Book Discussion

One of the most well-known stories of the 20th Century, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is often misunderstood and mistaken for a simple children’s book. This is beginning to sound familiar, isn’t it? Most of the most meaningful stories are masked as children’s stories. Probably because the deepest messages are best delivered directly into our inner child. No matter

Read More »
The Horla - Story Symbolism - Literative

Story Symbolism: The Horla

Guy de Maupassant was a popular French writer, who’s work has influenced many creatives, both in literary circles and film. Considered one of the leaders in modern short stories, he mainly captured the essence of war, more notably, the impact on it had on civilians. However, he also wrote well over 300 stories, and during his last few years, when

Read More »
A rose on an old book.

Painting with Words: Haikus

Since I’ve seen haikus being mentioned so many times lately on the Literative forum, I thought it might be interesting to start the poetry series by talking about them. The first impression I’ve always gotten from haikus is that of a written painting—as in the literary version of one of those Zen-like ink images. It’s hard to explain without using poetic

Read More »

Alice in Wonderland Book Discussion

“We’re all mad here!” It all starts when we fall down the rabbit hole, doesn’t it? In 2004, a documentary called “What the (bleep) do we know?” asked the question, “How deep down the rabbit hole are you willing to go?” The film itself presented many interesting theories about our purpose, where we come from, and the nature of reality. But of

Read More »
A picture inspired by the book "Momo" by Michael Ende featuring a little girl, a turtle, and a clock.

Momo Part III Book Discussion

Feature Image: Flow of Time by SvenjaLiv courtesy of DeviantArt. Click here for more of SvenjaLiv’s wonderful artwork. [x_line] For those who haven’t read “Momo” or who have missed the previous articles about the book, please check out the first article of this series for a brief summary of the story and to read about the magic of a good ear: Momo: Part I [x_line]

Read More »