Free American Literature Essay Examples & Topics. Page 7

1,951 samples

An Analysis “Harrison Bergeron”

Despite the fact that the author tries to portray an equal society, it is discriminatory since it ensures equality through suppression of citizens' rights, while the current American society espouses the equality of opportunity."Harrison Bergeron" [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 362

William Faulkner: Abner Snopes Character

The narrator discusses Abner's self-identity and the desire to be independent to create a well-developed antagonist that does not fit in society and whose bull-headedness puts his loved ones in danger.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 374

“Rip Van Winkle”: Rip Van Winkle’s Personality

Van Winkle is satisfied with the status quo, even if it is not the best, and having more ambitions would probably make him a different person. Thus, Van Winkle's henpecked status is a blessing, rendering [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 345

March Book 1 Overview and Analysis

The novel is based on the life of John Lewis and opens with a group of African American protestors marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The police deny the demand of one [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 841

“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell

Wright's beloved canary, as well as in the county attorney's and the sheriff's behaviors, mocking the women for their concentration on "trifles".
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 391

“The Innocent Man” by John Grisham

He gives a transparent picture of the legal system and reflects how the judicial systems are so unfair to the poor and the middle-level people in the United States.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 883

“American Son” Novel by Brian Roley

Facing all the variety of challenges connected with the integrating into the new society, the book's main characters strive very hard to overcome all the obstacles on their way to success in the conditions of [...]
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1946

Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”

And Steinbeck offered his audience a clean view of the end when George made Lennie promise "to hide in the brush" if he gets in trouble again, as if it was an absolute fact to [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 614

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” Criticism

To illustrate, The Story of an Hour narrative is based on the supposed death of Brentley Mallard - the husband to Louise Mallard - thus reflecting a number of real life deaths that characterized Chopin's [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1412

Morality in Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland

The story presents a tale of the Wielands as a precautionary tale that is meant to cushion against taking hard stance in religious matters; Theodore Wieland's over-commitment to religion is presented in this book as [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1423

“Red Harvest” by Dashiell Hammett

Red Harvest was the first detective story written by Hammett and the first crime fiction that created a new sub-genre in a crime fiction literature.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1475

Analysis of “Araby” by James Joyce

The reference to the fact that the priest who lived in the house before them had left the furniture of the house to his sister, suggests that the family could have used the furniture had [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 836

“The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright

In his novella The Man Who Was Almost a Man Richard Wright tells the story of a seventeen-year-old African-American adolescent, Dave Saunders, who has a strong desire to buy a gun to prove to everyone [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 875

“The Yellow Wallpaper” Short Story by Gilman

In Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," the unnamed female protagonist is instructed to rest in isolation and stillness in the large upper room of a remote country house that has bars on the windows [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 232

“The Return of Merlin” by Deepak Chopra

The approach is helped by the legends of Arthur and the royal knights like Lancelot and Guinevere. The book is a journey of murder and mystery to spirituality and hope at the end.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 541

“Congo” Novel by Michael Crichton

The novel starts with the end of an expedition when people were attacked and killed by an unknown enemy, and the contact between the expedition and the outer world is lost.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 587

“The Storm” by Kate Chopin and Critical Article

The article related to this short story, "Looking at setting and Atmosphere" analyses and demonstrates the importance of minor details in a short story. The author of the article is right that the story is [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 565

“A Pair of Silk Stockings” by Kate Chopin

Even when she "found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars" she did not want to spend the money for nothing and started carefully making plans trying to figure out what the best way to [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 612

Finding Oneself. “In Search for Epifano” by Anaya

The name is derived from the Epiphany which is a feast day among Roman Catholics, celebrating the manifestation of Christ to the Wise Men of the East...the Magi's quest for the Christ-child like that of [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1621

“The Scarlet Letter”: A Darkened End

For both Hester and for the townspeople, the mere presence of this letter appearing this one time on her dress is enough to mark her as something different from the rest of them and secluded.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1297

Kate Chopin’s Symbolism in Short Stories

The lightning becomes the conflict inside her and the beating of the rain on her roof is the beating of her heart as she finally expresses her passion with Alcee.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 991

Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative of the Captivity

A peculiar feature of works of this type is that the main characters, women, are not treated as they should be: they see numerous deaths of their dearest people, they are deprived of the fulfillment [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 892

“Learning Japanese” Narrative by Janice Lee

In order for the writer to familiarize the reader with the setting of the story, she has succeeded in inviting the reader to be part of the story by describing in detail the setting, from [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1043

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

Paul Bunyan’s Contribution to American Folklore

The history of Paul Bunyan is therefore attributable to the oral traditions of many loggers in Pennsylvania. The character of Bunyan was eventually popularized by William Laughead towards the end of the 19th century.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 562

“Life After Death” a Book by Damien Echols

Thanks to the newly-attained DNA evidence that pointed at the unknown suspect present at the crime scene, in 2011 the West Memphis Three were able to sign the Alford plea that allowed them to maintain [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1123

Feminism in the “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath

This piece of writing reveals the concept of gender in general and "the role of female protagonists in a largely patriarchal world" in particular. In Plath's novel, the bell jar is a metaphor used to [...]
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1909

Local Customs and Traditions in the US

This difference in customs impacting behavior can be seen in the story "My Mother, the Crazy African" wherein Lin is ashamed of her mother who is thoroughly immersed in her Nigerian culture and background despite [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 623

Edgar Allan Poe – American Literature

The main themes that are evident in his work are the themes of death and love. He speaks of a chilling wind from the sky that emerged resulting in the death of her wife.
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1921

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Literature Analysis

One of the reasons for this is that in her novel Plath was able to show that, contrary to what used to be the psychiatric convention of the fifties, one's depression-triggering sense of inadequateness does [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1677

Literature Studies: The Fat Girl by Andre Dubus

The Fat Girl has a specific plot that helps to understand the connection between culture and identity and define the power of culture over identity through the discussions about the image of American body, its [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1194

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

He trained his sons on his approach to life and hoped they would follow and achieve his dream of success. Willy's life was a disappointment as he had the wrong ambitions and failed to teach [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 920

Too Many Crooks by Donald Edwin Westlake

Truly, after scrutinizing the blueprints that they can find thoroughly, they learn that one among the walls of the tunnel is erected right where the vault of the bank is situated.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 882

The Warning Effects of Catastrophe Narratives

In this paper, the author analyzes the usefulness of catastrophe narratives as far as alerting the public about the possibilities of environmental destructions is concerned. The events depicted in the texts take into account the [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1407

Herland by Charlotte Gilman

This female sex only society resulted in a culture of peace among the inhabitants, the women had a good social order and they followed the laws set to the latter.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1957

Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”

In "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe portrays the Usher family as struggling to survive albeit in a gloomy manner that involves degradation, disease, and death."The Fall of the House of Usher" is [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1077

The Ethicality of an Action Jay Gatsby

As well, an action is "wrong" if it results in the opposite of happiness to the people. Mill's utilitarian theory can be used to assess the ethically of Jay Gatsby's action, as presented in the [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 833

“Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman

The different themes and characters issued and depicted in the book can be applied in management to provide a basic guideline in terms of the principles of management and the current growth being experienced around [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1123

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

There is also a profound difference in the plot and the setting of the story and the film. In both the film and the story, Ichabod Crane is the main character.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1357

“Catfish and Mandala” by Andrew X. Pham

Catfish and Mandala is a smooth mix of travelogue and memoir: Pham merges stories of his family's escape and settlement in America with steep mountain climbs on his bike, the reunion with several family members [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1095

Critical Analysis of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

This book was authored in the period before the Civil War and the consequent abolishment of slave trade. One of the most apparent issues in this book is the author's wish to portray slaves as [...]
  • 5
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 887

“Sula” and “Beloved” by Toni Morrison

Her mother goes to the extent of trying to starve herself to provide Beloved with what she wants. Nel accepts the fact that her friendship with Sula was the best thing that ever happened to [...]
  • 5
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1689

“Barn Burning” by William Faulkner

The long sentences used by Faulkner in the story "Barn Burning" are observed to loop, thereby creating a style that shows the indecisiveness of the characters, and the diversity of their thoughts.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1235

Trends in “Love is a Fallacy”

The raccoon coat seems to have been the trend associated particularly with the college male student at the time that the writer is in college.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 741

Montressor in The Cask of Amontillado

In addition, Montressor said that he was a friend of Fortunato but he seemed to have acted out of character when he assumed the habits and characteristics of a cold blooded killer.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 625

The Way to Rainy Mountain: Analysis of the Text

The way to Rainy Mountain is not a simple description of how the Kiowa people developed, learnt, and protected their knowledge. They got one simple right to live and be the people of Kiowa.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 545

The Novel “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

Dandelions have a strong meaning to Pecola's view if the world and the way the world views her. She can feel her resemblance to the dandelions and they amount to her feelings about the people [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 371