American Literature

In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner is concerned with the distance between what is said and what actually is, what is true and what can be expressed in language.  He captures this distance through the juxtaposition of curt, grammatically incorrect dialogue with the characters rich and brilliant inner lives, showing that, while the characters appear to be uneducated, they are actually deeply educated as to the trials, paradoxes and truths of life, truths which go deeper than the language they...

INTRODUCTION Jack London wrote To Build a Fire in 1908. It was the story of an unnamed man who struggles against the snow in the Klondike in winter and eventually meets his tragic freezing end. It is a story that emphasizes mans helplessness against the wrath of nature. Dickinsons poem A Narrow Fellow in the Grass, on the other hand, was written early on in 1865. In this short poem about a certain creature believed to be a snake, Dickinson also shows mans fear of nature. However, Walt Whitmans poem...

In Hemmingways The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Harry is the portrayal of the remorseful artist struggling with his art, a complacent and yet sensitive writer who has failed to translate his knowledge into the written word. He scrutinizes his past in contrast with the alarming reality of his present situation and contemplates the reasons for his artistic failure. As a writer, Harrys memory is a rich tapestry of people, recollections, incidents, and geographies, waiting to be liberated from his scrapbook...

Washingtons Irvings famous short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an interesting study of male character in the ante-bellum America. The two main male characters in the story are Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones. The two characters are exact opposites in every sense, especially in their masculinity. While Brom is the epitome of a young, male bashfulness, Ichabod comes across as a mature man who carefully chooses his battles. These contrasts become stark when we consider the two mens masculinity...

The Awakening is Kate Chopins novel that becomes controversial because it contains unorthodox views on feminine roles that contradict with the prevailing society at the time of its publication. The story centers on Edna Pontellier, who experiences gradual transformation following her self-discovery. Although many people and events in the novel cause her to discover her self-worth, the two most influential characters in Ednas awakening are Adele Ratignolle and Robert Lebrun. Life must have been...

The characters in Melvilles Bartleby The Scrivener A Tale of Wall Street Gogols The Overcoat and Thurbers The Catbird Seat all reflect characteristics and caricatures of the times when they were written. The main characters in each reflect the common, ordinary man of the period. This is demonstrated in that each  Bartleby, Akakiy Akakievitch Bashmatchkin and Erwin Martin possess similar characteristics  they are industrious, diligent, mild mannered, follow precise routines and working...

My Antonia by Willa Cather My Antonia is a fictional narrative written by Willa Cather. Looking closely at the authors biography and the protagonist of this story, Jim Burden, it can be said that the story was inspired by some of the facts in the life of the author. The author and Jim are both from Virginia and moved to Nebraska during childhood and attended school at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and eventually moved from Nebraska to New York to pursue their career. My Antonia is a story...

Truenervousvery, very nervous I had been and am but why will you say that I am mad So begins the story of an individuals mental breakdown and his descent into madness. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is told from the first-person point of view. The first-person point of view allows Poe to create suspense, fear and anxiety, while letting the reader discover the thoughts of the narrator. By using the first-person point of view style of writing, Poe was able to demonstrate clearly how the narrator...

Independence Day, irregular in meter and line length, is a good illustration of transcendentalist poetry because it exemplifies the way in which writers of the time discussed the identity of man with the natural world in which they lived  nature in other words, they used aspects and features of nature as analogies with human life. The underlying struggle within this poem is the struggle of America to be free and independent from England and that those who died in the fight for independence...

It is Edgar Allan Poes style to use flowery words that describe the scenery of the short stories and poems he composes using different levels of metaphors and symbolisms. From this style springs an entire myriad of ideas that are unique and artistic in all its essence.  Using this style of writing he is opening up a new world that is believable and articulated in a manner that is interesting as a piece of fiction and bold in the detailing of certain aspects. While assuring the reader of the...

Postmodernism was the leading style in the American literature of the 20th century. However some writers opposed the literature mainstream and wrote in the realistic tradition. As the result the end of the 20th century became the time of the rebirth of realism. John Updike has a significant impact on the revival of realistic tradition as a writer and as an editor of The best American short stories of the century, which includes The Half-Skinned Steer by Annie Proulx. From postmodernism to realism Among...

War has always been a common subject matter in literature especially during the post-war era. Due to the prevailing stigma which was brought by the pains and miseries of the war, authors found it difficult not to depict and present the existing depression during their time. A possible manifestation of this is Nash Candelarias El Patron which tells the story of a young man whose identity is torn between his commitment and valuation of his family and his urge to join the army (Anaya and Marquez 41)....

At the core of modernism is an absolute adherence to realistic themes. Such realism is most definitely evident in the work Babylon Revisited as F. Scott Fitzgerald presents are darkly depressing image of a man trying to recapture his fall from grace. Unfortunately, the ability to find salvation is not easy for the protagonist. This is because his attempts to correct his sins of the past are met with pure contempt from those he comes in contact with. In many ways, this could be considered a major...

Naturalism abounds in the story. From the trip of Blanche towards her sisters house to the conflicting interactions among the characters, everything looks real. The setting itself looks like the one that can be seen in ordinary life pulsating crowded urban scenery. The characters are portrayed so realistically that a reader may believe that Streetcar is a true story. There is Blanche, who suddenly finds herself destitute after losing everything. Her situation is common for many people during the...

Daniel Keyes was born on the 9th day of August year 1927 at Brooklyn, New York. In his book, Algernon, Charlie and I A Writers Journey, he narrates some story of his childhood. According to him, his parents, William and Betty Keyes, have little formal education but this did not stop them to strive for living. His father is a persevering person in such a way that he would walk everyday ten miles to save two nickels (13). Poverty challenged them more to have their children educated. Daniel is the...

Racism has always remained a critical issue in America and the blacks were the ones who are facing it from centuries. The century long division of blacks and whites had created a wall, which the writers and poets are trying to break from past times. This paper describes the literary works of two such writers named Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, who have reflected the darkness of black emotions in their writings. The Artworks Shadows of Racism Langston Hughes was the poet who showed a feeling...