Literature can help us examine the past and predict the future by analyzing characters and evaluating their actions. In Emily Dickinson's I Felt a Funeral in my Brain, for example, the speaker's attitude is at the negative extreme. The speaker sees "mourners to and fro", but the tone is so regular that it seems as if nothing is happening. Dickinson's life was only a short 56 years and a negative attitude Another reason for her short life is that she never left her house

Elizabeth Thomas, in The Forsaken Wife, on the other hand, shares many negative aspects of Dickinson's negativity, but with 1 major difference. Thomas, as the "Forsaken" or betrayed wife, attacks her husband (or perhaps ex-husband) for walking out on her. The poem is filled with the contrast between "I" and "you": "Methinks 'tis strange you can't afford". At the end, Thomas feels that she is somehow "Superior" to her ex-husband.

The opposite of The Forsaken Wife is undoubtedly Winter Song, which is something that my former English teacher, Caroline Paskiewiez or perhaps the sex-crazed Sara Wilson could agree with. The narrator in this poem expresses her profuse (and perhaps excessive?) love to her lover and promises to be forever by his side. This "puppy love" still occurs in society today, especially in Hong Kong, but with one major exception. In Hong Kong, men are supposed to spoil women rotten.

Another audaciously happy poem is Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. Right from the outset, this poem is happy (yes, there were even happy people in the 19th century). Unlike the speaker in The Forsaken Wife, who is only concerned about her own personal happiness, Whitman wants and is eager to share it with everyone: "I celebrate myself and sing myself"/"And what I shall assume, you shall assume"/"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you". In this poem, Whitman is suggesting that we should think like him, but if we don't, it's OK. Because of his cheery outlook, Whitman lived a very healthy 63 years.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a short story that tells of a bunch of boys who are marooned on an island, wait to get rescued and end up facing war instead. Rather than building a fire for rescue, the fire sets the island ablaze and the main character, Ralph, has to answer to a naval officer, who could've been his father as to whether or not what they were doing was "fun and games" which is humiliating. During the story, there is a constant power for struggle between Ralph (civilization) against Jack ("Merridew"/"The Chief") who represents savagery, with savagery, eventually winning out. Golding allegedly wrote this story after talking with his wife Ann who allegedly asked "Why don't you write a story about boys on an island and what a mess they'd make?" and with that, he sat down and wrote the story.

Arthur Miller has also made a significant contribution to English Literature, specifically with The Crucible and Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller's work is supposed to deal with tragic heros (i.e. people who die for a good/noble cause). John Proctor, the main character in The Crucible fits the definition because ultimately, he accepts partial responsibility for causing the witchcraft craze which he stirred up by having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a former servant, Abigail Williams. Over the next few months, Salem's church ministers (Samuel Parris, Thomas Putnam and for a time, the Reverend John Hale, although Hale later defects) demands that innocent people confess themselves to witchcraft. Rebecca Nurse, Francis Nurse and Giles Corey, an 83-year-old whom MIller refers to as "a crank and a nuisance", refuse to confess and are hanged immediately. Proctor, trhough, is put on the spot. The judges (Hathorne & Deputy Governor Danforth) give him an ultimatum. He could have either confessed to being a witch through his signature, thus saving his life, but condemning his friends for crimes that they clearly didn't commit or he could refuse to sign and get hanged. So, Proctor has a dilemma. He initially was going to sign the papers to save his life (who wants to die, right?) and he signed the documents and was about to hand them over, but Rebecca Nurse was in the room and she said "John!" when he confessed to seeing the devil as if to say "How could you confess to something like this?" Ultimately, because of Rebecca Nurse's advice, Proctor doesn't hand over the signed document (he tears it up) and gets hung. On the other hand, Miller's other significant play, Death of a Salesman, has 4 main characters belonging to the same "Loman" family: Willy, Linda, Biff & Happy. Willy isn't the tragic hero in this story because he pins all of his hopes on Biff, his elder son and commits suicide by slamming his car into a brick wall after hearing his dead brother Ben's voice telling him that "the jungle is dark, but full of diamonds, Willy". The tragic hero is Biff because he is a victim of his father's various aggressive tactics. Also, how can someone who crashes his car into a brick wall be a tragic hero?