Free American Literature Essay Examples & Topics. Page 13

1,964 samples

Family Structure in ‘The Good Earth’ by Buck

The rules in a conventional Chinese family are obligatory, where a wife has to be subservient to her husband, so also the children to their father, and each and every person including the husbands, wives [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 969

Psychological Issues in “Fight Club” by Palahniuk

The story focuses upon an unnamed narrator who struggles to find a sense of fulfillment in a world in which personal fulfillment is supposed to be accomplished through making the right purchases and having access [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 935

“Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison: General Idea

As he stood beneath the lights of the strident room, the inhabitants beam him and make him replicate himself; an unintentional orientation to parity nearly damages him, but the whole thing terminates well and he [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1586

O’Connor’s “Good Country People” in American Canon

However, as time progresses, the relevance of the story may become outdated, beginning a discussion on its presence in the Americana literary canon."Good Country People" deserves continuous recognition in the canon due to its brilliant [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1125

“My Body Politic” by Simi Linton

Lack of directions and information that people with disabilities face when they find themselves in that condition is one of the problems that the author raises in the first part of her book.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 850

Two Brothers in Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin

In contrast to the brother, Sonny uses jazz music and heroin to cope with the despair of their living conditions. In the final part of the story, Sonny's performance at a jazz club brings his [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 898

“The Sky Is Gray” by Ernest Gaines

Bassett is mostly an offstage character, and when on stage, he exists as Dr. Pride is one of the elements in the narrative and appears as social behavior in today's society.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 305

“A Summer Tragedy” by Arna Bontemps

The story is set near the Mississippi River, in the fertile lands of New Orleans. The Patton's love each other so much, and their affection is shown in the story.
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  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 404

“Scarlett and the Sinkhole” by Padgett Powell

The tone that the narrator uses is a complete contrast to this sad condition. The narrator should have used a more appropriate manner that is evidence or characteristic of Scarliotti's situation.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 182

Laura Wexler’s Book “Fire in a Canebrake”

Wexler discusses the murder of Roger and Dorothy Malcolm and George and Mae Dorsey in detail, while paying much attention to the causes of the killings, to the racial component, and to the personalities of [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 810

“A Darkling Plain” a Book by Kristen Monroe

For example, Frank the Soldier jokes about the experiences of his life during the war in a bid to cover up the horrible experiences of the war. Other people retain their humanity by repressing and [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1117

“Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” a Novel by Art Spiegelman

Intertwined throughout the story is the turbulent and pragmatic relationship between Art and his elderly father. This was the root of the overwrought relationship that existed between Vladek and his son because he held his [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 306

Tayo in “Ceremony” by Leslie Marmon Silko

In the book Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, the author brings into light Tayo, the main protagonist in the story, his relations with other characters in the book and brings out the effects of these [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1354

The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck’s Writing Methods

In company with other 'Okies,' they tried to find land, dignity, employment, and future for their children.'The Grapes of Wrath' begins with a representation of the Dust Bowl, the incident that brings about all that [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1669

African American Literature Digest Continued

The principal theses of the article are easy to enumerate; these are the origin of the African American literature, the stages of its development, its most famous writers and their impact on the literature and [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 1052

“The Short Bus” by Jonathan Mooney

Although most of his meetings are beautiful and inspiring stories, some of the encounters represent the communicational issues that are inevitable in interaction with the people, who have been isolated from the society due to [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 556

“The Shame of the Nation” a Book by Jonathan Kozol

In his book, Kozol presented the stories and events that were a part of his personal experiences and motivated him to focus on the research of the problems of institutional racism and the normalization of [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 830

“Song of Solomon“ by Toni Morrison Book Review

Ruth did not abandon her affection for her father even as an adolescent, their goodnight kiss ritual, motivated by her seeing her mother as a rival due to the latter's lack of maternal care, was [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 496

“Travels With Charley” a Book by John Steinbeck

Although his participation is sometimes attributed to the author's fascination with dogs, Charley actually serves two functions in the novel: he is an important character that helps to highlight the author's point and a plot-forming [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 950

American Southern Literature

Some of the most common themes that can be found in Southern literature are dedicated to the dominant religion practiced in this region Christianity, the ethnic communities that inhabit it, class division of the Southern [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1705

National Identity in “Song of Solomon” by Morrison

In this novel, Morrison, from her feminist viewpoint, depicts the successful quest for the personal and national identity of the main character Milkman, who finds the solution in African national values and the act of [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 834

“Tiny Beautiful Things” by Cheryl Strayed

Tiny Beautiful Things is also a memoir with a strong element of self-help built in it; the author is in the role of Sugar who answers questions sent to her by ordinary people for the [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 559

“The Giver”: Novel by Lowry and Film by Noyce

Having the plot in common, the book and the film have some slight differences in the content, and the most significant of them can be acknowledged the theme of love which is touched upon only [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 576

“Bartleby, The Scrivener” by Herman Melville

Right from the start, the Lawyer admits that "Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources", yet he is also the character who is central to the [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 888

“Daisy Miller” a Novel by Henry James

As the representative of literary realism, Henry James in his novel Daisy Miller uses a number of realistic features such as concentration on details, accent on reality instead of reflections and on characters instead of [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 580

“Planet of Slums” a Book by Mike Davis

In his book, Mike Davis explains to the readers the mechanisms of how slums work, and puts forth an idea that the blame for slums being dangerous and miserable lies not on the inhabitants of [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 920

“Legends of the Fall” by Jim Harrison

S, the horrors of the First World War, and the atmosphere of the beginning of the 20th century America. Legends of the Fall tells the readers about the fate of the Ludlow family, consisting of [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1206

“The Giver” a Novel by Lois Lowry

Before the Sameness, the world of the book was much like ours. Finally, the central box lists the emotions and sensations, probably the cause most responsible for the occurrence of the Sameness.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 538

Joe Christmas in Faulkner’s “Light in August”

Although it is possible to perceive him as a bad person, the analysis of Christmas' character and the adverse episodes, in which he is represented as the main actor, reveal that he is not more [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 592

Characters and Setting in “The Veldt” by Bradbury

The second and the third ones are created and represented by the Veldt, which turns the reader nauseous with the eye-blinding sight of an African steppe and then lulls their vigilance by offering a background [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 584

“The Story of an Hour” Plot by Kate Chopin

In this case, the duty of the person breaking the news was to appear gentle while transmitting the sensitive news. It was quite unnoticed that a sob was to hit her hard since she was [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 554

Racism in “To Kill Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee

The family is transformed from poverty to wealth, but it remains one of the few white families ready to accommodate and recognize the black people as a part of the society, while other Whites oppress [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 833

Stetson’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” Criticism

Since the woman who narrates is alienated from the community and not allowed to work or be engaged in any other activity, she describes her inner thoughts and feelings, and that makes the whole story [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1165

Puritans in “The Scarlet Letter” by Hawthorne

As I read through the introductory part of the novel, the statements made by the narrator reinforced the idea that the Puritans were bad people. I was surprised at the obsession they had when it [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 330

Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway

The setting of the place also seems perfect for the discussion that the couple had. This demonstrates that she is comfortable with the pregnancy should it happen to be the outcome of their action.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 571

“Ligeia” a Book by Edgar Allan Poe

Since the fact that the narrator is not in full control of the mind, this is made very apparent by the author, it could mean that Ligeia and Rowena are really the same people and [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1185

“The Scarlet Letter” a Novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This essay asserts that the role of the narrator in The Scarlet Letter functions more as social critic of the Puritanical values that founded the United States; the narrator of The Scarlet Letter represents Hawthorne's [...]
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 1941

“Into the Wild” a Book by Jon Krakauer

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tackles McCandless's life, starting with the discovery of McCandless dead body in a bus, Krakauer takes a journey back into McCandless life as a graduate through his disappearance to [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1222

American Literature Course: Reason for Attaining

Literary works have always been a source of fascination and enjoyment for me, and it is due to this that I have taken this course not out of any particular reason outside of that I [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 1087

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

It remains evident that the primary goal of the book is to display the existence of the dramatic social gap in income, inequalities, and the ability of the people to find the way out of [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 846

African Americans in Langston Hughes’s Poems

The tone and spirit of the poems display the author's frustration with the fate of African Americans. In addition, because the poem is the brightest example of Harlem period, the presence of musical elements contributes [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 819

“The Open Boat” a Book by Stephen Crane

The mood in the story is melancholic, partly due to the predicament of the boat and its occupants. According to the description of the boat in the book, there is little space for the sailors [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 831

American Protest Literature: Native American Injustices

Native American protest literature was mostly characterised by non-fictional stories written in the form of autobiographies, short stories and novels that were authored in response to the American society's infringement of the Native American people's [...]
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2918

“Breadwinning Daughters” a Book by Katrina Srigley

This paper examines the major tenets of the book and evaluates their significance to the history of Women in Canada. The writer introduces the book to readers by showing how women contributed to development in [...]
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2226