The Tyranny of Freedom

There’s a sonnet by Charlotte Smith, opposing the constrictive societal expectations of her time, called “On Being Cautioned Against Walking on an Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because It Was Frequented by a Lunatic” (perhaps my favorite title for a sonnet ever, but that’s beside the point). Is there a solitary wretch who hies To the […]

You’re Not Worried Enough: The Strange Key to Fighting Anxiety

Growing up in church, I have read Jesus’ sermon against anxiety, Matthew 6:25-34, what felt like umpteen-million times. Familiarity had coated this passage, causing me to skim it with the pride of experience rather than humbly approach it as the Lord’s effective comfort to His people. “Yes, yes, lilies of the field and all that.” […]

The Performance-Driven Mama

One afternoon, after a very bumpy morning that ended with me yelling at my kids (again), I dejectedly clicked on a link that promised to reveal my maternal “grumpiness trigger.” I answered a few questions and received an email telling me I had a Growth Trigger. In short, if my kids aren’t displaying character growth […]

Delayed Gratification is Good for the Soul

“Delayed gratification is good for the soul.” One of my college friends said that frequently, and I took it to heart, saying it even more frequently during my four years of undergrad. So frequently, in fact, that one of my best friends was pretty done with the phrase at one point: “If I hear that […]

Tolkien’s Fruitless Labor and Our Hope

I had the distinct privilege last week to visit the Morgan Museum and Library in New York City to catch the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibit, a display of his original papers and artworks. I knew Tolkien had a gift for prose, language creation, and world building—but I never knew how talented he was as […]

You Might Be a Literature Major If…

You have very strong opinions about Paradise Lost. You are a total snob about the meter in children’s books. You are used to the question, “What do you plan on doing with your major? Teach?” (You really don’t know what you’re going to do with your major. You will probably teach.) You are unable to […]

Making Good Look Good: Top 5 Non-Boring Good Guys

Last week, I introduced the idea that often, “good guys” can come across as boring. I’m not sure if this tendency is a deficiency in the way they are written (i.e., the author’s understanding of what constitutes “goodness” is shallow) or a deficiency in the way we perceive them (as in: being in mental turmoil/moral […]

Are “Good Guys” Boring?

Stephen Koch writes the following about Lucie Manette, the ideal woman in Tale of Two Cities: “She is a flawless paragon of sweetness and love, and the way we know it is true sweetness, true love, is that both are defined by the absolute absence of any conflicting impulse whatsoever. In two plain words, she […]

Resurrecting Tenar: Easter in Earthsea

I recently read Ursula K. Le Guin’s magisterial The Tombs of Atuan. This slow, relatively simple story details the life of a young priestess, Arha, and how a wizard thief comes into her domain, changes her outlook, and helps her escape. There’s not much of a plot to be spoiled—everything I just said is straight […]

Moral Engines, or, Shannon Won’t Shut Up About Mortal Engines

Last week, I posted an analysis of Hester Shaw’s character arc in the tragically underrated film, Mortal Engines. I conceived this post on an analytical high and wrote it in a fervor. And, perhaps due in part to our country’s tragic lack of interest in the film,… got very few hits on it. At the […]