Aspects of American Novels Essay Examples and Topics

Introduction A wall of fire rising is a masterpiece short story by Edwidge Danticat. This story explores the life of a poor man trying to provide for his family. However, the reader can sense a deep longing for something better, which appears elusive to the man. Guy is longing for freedom, but he cannot achieve […]

Introduction Very few writers are able to create narratives that can be both entertaining and intellectually demanding at the same time. This thought continuously plagues students who are forced to incorporate the so-called “must-read” books in their intellectual repertoire. Unfortunately, this approach can sometimes completely stifle a person’s interest for literature of any kind. This […]

Introduction Born in the USA: How A Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed To Put Women and Children First, is a book that was authored by Dr. Marsden Wagner. The book underscores the error in thinking that the obstetrics and gynecology sector in the US has reached a level that can be considered safe for […]

These are protests that came to prominence in the course of 1950s, which raised concern against the incessant discrimination and racial segregation experienced by the American Africans and other marginalized groups in the southern America. Continued oppression against people of different color, race, politics, or even religion had inspired many young American Africans to join […]

Introduction In the world we live in there are many things which happen and eventually change the course of life. These things happen in our day to day lives and have a great bearing on the direction which we take. These occurrences have come to be mentioned by authors and writers as they try to […]

Introduction The following is an analysis of the story of O’Connor A stroke of good fortune. This essay will have a description or a short synopsis of the story. There are characters used by the writer and the reason she used them as well as the themes, which the writer of Stroke of good fortune […]

Introduction Every teenager wants to be independent in their life. Most of them try to shun any influence from their parents and start to associate with their peers. The overrunning theme in this book is that of total independence. Banks uses the character Chappie (or Bone) as the protagonist in the story. He helps to […]

Katniss Everdeen is the main character and narrator of the novel The Hunger Games. We first meet Katniss as a teenager of 16 years who must support her family after her father’s death. Her mother also suffers from depression. Katniss must also support her younger sister. Katniss and her family live in a poverty-stricken coal-mining […]

TallMountain Reveals Her True Self Mary TallMountain remains one of the most remarkable poets and writers of the twentieth century. This Athabascan woman inspired many people to listen to their heart (Welford, “Mary TallMountain’s Writing” 136). Some say that this woman’s works have opened up a new world of her culture to the world of […]

Introduction Francis Scott Fitzgerald is a renowned American writer of the Jazz Age. He wrote about the disconcerting time in which he lived, where people were either rich or dreamt of wealth. Just like the majority of Americans, Fitzgerald could not resist the urge of wealth accumulation; unfortunately, this quest brought misery and devastation. Fitzgerald’s […]

Introduction The role played by a character in any play defines his or her traits. These roles depend on the themes that the writer wants to discuss throughout the play. The writer could talk about love and compassion, greed and injustice. The theme of the play brings out the main traits of character revealed within […]

Analogy of the birds The novel focuses on the suppression of the masses through the media and censorship. Books have been outlawed and consequently, the fire department has been allocated a new role: burning books (Bradbury, p.1). Guy Muntag, the main protagonist in the novel, is a firefighter who is tasked with incinerating books. He […]

Introduction The ‘Great Gatsby’ is a novel revolving around the story of a young man, Nick Carraway, a graduate from Yale University. He does bond business and lives in the same neighborhood as Gatsby, a rich man whose life is a mystery. Gatsby, despite his earlier struggles with life, is now living a comfortable life […]

Relationships between Willie and his sons Willie Loman is a salesman who is constantly on the road than in his home. He also does not make much money from his sales business. However, his two sons, Biff and Happy look up to him as a role model. From the onset of the play, there is […]

‘Among School Children’ is a poem written by William Butler Yeats; it is among the highly rated poems globally. It has eight stanzas. The poem discusses various themes; the major theme being aging. Some of the other themes that are discussed in the poem are hoplessness and education. Throughout the poem, William Butler acknowledges the aging […]

Introduction American literature refers to the body of written or literary works shaped in the history of the United States and its former colonies (britannica.com). Tracing back America’s history, America was once under the rule of Britain as part of the latter’s colonies therefore its literary institution is associated to the expansive tradition of English […]

Different people, being in different circumstances, hold different views towards a common thing in life. What one believes to be rational does not mean the same to another person. Thus, people, to justify their underlying assumptions and beliefs, react differently to a common situation. Hence, when we judge the rationality of a person’s action, we […]

Edith Wharton wrote several books between 1900 and 1938. Wharton travelled extensively during the World War I and assisted war victims in Paris. Her novel, The Age of Innocence won the Pulitzer price. Critics and readers considered this novel to be the best literary work of Edith Wharton. The novel reflects the desire and betrayal […]

Authored by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, The Scarlet Letter is a fascinating masterpiece featuring Hester Prynne as the protagonist. Hester bears a child, Pearl, who is a byproduct of an adulterous affair. Amid facing imprisonment, the main character strives to leave a life of repentance struggling to restore her dignity. The author sets the novel […]

Introduction Fortunato has insulted Montresor, the narrator of “the Cask of Amontillado”. He, therefore, decides to seek revenge, but he wants to be careful in order not to risk his life. Fortunato seems to be fond of wine against Montresor, and he decides to use this as his weapon. The offender eagerly waits to taste […]

Introduction Whether there is value or purpose inherent in our lives, other than that which we ascribe to, has remained a matter of speculation. And if one was to consider the idea of the immortality of the human soul, the possibility of the afterlife and the certitude of our physical death, life becomes an affair […]

The role of cultural identity and the moral independence are significant in human life. Those who managed to agree personal moral independence with the cultural identity are lucky people as they should not live in constant struggle between personal considerations and social demands. Even though the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya does not […]

In the movie entitled The Day the Earth Stood Still the protagonist said that people change when faced with a life and death situation. There is truth to this statement because human beings will do everything to survive. In the face of danger the normal reaction is to flee or fight the source of threat. […]

First of all, I would like to point out that the basic idea of the novel written by Gloria Anzaldua is the author’s immigrant experience. Generally, the borders the author defines are of particular importance. Thus, she speaks about geographical and cultural differences. Anzaldua determines the border “as a place for misfits, a place, literal […]

Synopsis The book Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart by Ian Ayres is a comprehensive overview of society’s development from the time when people relied on predictions based on experience to nowadays when the reliable data is used as a way to determine the future happenings. The introductory […]

Super Crunchers start with two convincing examples. Orley Ashenfelter decided to determine what reasons produce a great wine, and Bill James sought to separate key qualities of a great baseball player. The two men arrived at their conclusions not by walking in the winepresses or sitting in the baseball pitch, but by sitting in their […]

Abstract Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a genius work in the art of literary satire. I picked certain issues and commented on them regarding how Swift made Irish beggars and their children a necessary evil that was deteriorating Ireland from the inside. Largely, this behemoth of a problem was causing an economic slump of mass […]

The following book review of the opening of American mind by Lawrence W. Levine is an analytical summary of the content of the material that is under the study. In a book review, any writer writes the book and the book reviewer acts as the researcher, reader, analyst and the reporter of the given written […]

Introduction This essay analyzes the main themes of A&P by John Updike, a short story written in 1961. The main message of the story is the choice made by the main character. He rebels against the society that is consumer-conditioned and chooses to live honestly and meaningfully. The nature of this rebellion is what J.Updike […]

Michael Cunningham’s “The Hours” is arguably one of the greatest works of the American novelist. The author takes a daunting task of reworking Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway”, one of the greatest literal works of twentieth century (Young 33). Mrs. Dalloway follows the life of Clarissa, Dalloway’s wife through a day spent in London. The story […]

The lottery is a short story that revolves around life in an agricultural village, whose setting is in summer; when flowers are blossoming and lawns exceedingly green. The village is composed of a population of about three hundred people, who know each other very well. The men are generally farmers, while the women are homemakers […]

The history of Cuba is full of challenges which are connected with the periods of revolutions and with the Cuban Special Period of the early 1990’s. The retrospective of these historical events is presented in many literary works in which different aspects of the issues are accentuated. Achy Obejas provided the readers with her own […]

Introduction Many societies have strategies to encourage the culture of reading. With the advent of the Internet, reading has taken a new meaning. It is easy for students, scholars, and any other text-oriented people to access books online without the need to go to the library. Physical and e-libraries have lots of materials with information […]

Introduction This essay will focus on the article “The Saints and the Roughnecks” by William Chambliss. It will demonstrate relevant sociological theories, perspectives and other critical concepts captured in the study. The theories addressed are social learning theory, social strain theory, and rational choice theory. Theories Sutherland’s theory of social learning addresses the problem of […]

This essay reflects on the Awakening Novel by Kate Chopin from pages 535 to 625. To begin with, the treatise discusses Edna’s male relative. Besides, Mademoiselle Reisz opinion on what an artist need is applauded. Moreover, common themes, imagery, metaphors, and self actualization are presented as literary styles used by the author. In addition, this […]

Introduction Heroism generally has been associated with qualities such as courage, determination, self-sacrifice, and risks taking. Heroes are known to have qualities beyond human capabilities; hence are seen as superhuman: someone between God and human always referred to as a demigod. Moreover, a hero is most of the time seen as reflecting the ideals of […]

The principal idea of the Faulkner’s short story Barn Burning is related to the mature reflections of the young boy Sarty Snopes who can’t decide on his moral obligations and family duties. It is exactly the dual nature of the young boy’s reflections which is described in Williams Faulkner’s short story. Sarty’s complicated thoughts are […]

Jacob Jankowski is the main character of the novel Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Considering the main traits of Jacob Jankowski, it may be stated that this person is too controversial. It is impossible to miss his complex character and opposing personality traits. Reading a book under discussion, many cases are found when Jacob […]

Introduction Literature is one of the many ways through which we synthesize information about different elements of human nature. Interestingly, most works of literature reflect the lives, aspirations and dreams of authors. One such literary work belongs to Annecy Baez, who is a poetic and short story writer. This paper presents a literary critique of […]

Introduction: American Poetry From Whitman to Olds American poetry is one of the most amazing phenomena in the history of the literature. Incorporating the elements of the literature peculiarities of various cultures and at the same time possessing and developing its own unique features, American poetry is an original issue that requires thorough consideration. Tracking […]

Introduction This paper seeks to carry out a psychological study of “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner. This short story appeared in Harper’s in June 1939 and has been widely anthologized since then. Its setting is an unknown place somewhere in the south of the United States. Psychological analysis of Barn Burning’s characters offers a new […]

“Quinceanera” is a poem from the book Silent Dancing written in 1991 by a Puerto Rican writer, Judith Ortiz. The poem talks about a young girl preparing for her transition from a child into a woman. In Spanish, the word “quinceanera” is used to refer to a celebration of the transformation of a girl into […]

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a short story that was written by Flannery O’Connor and got published in the year 1955. The story was initially included in the “Modern Writing I” before it was later published in another anthology “The House of Fiction” in 1960. This vast appearance in various anthologies has […]

Introduction ‘Everyday Use’ is set in the American rural down South; superficially, it is a story of Mama Johnson and her conflicting psychological reception and relationship with her two daughters, Dee and Maggie (Xroads). Dee has taken an impressive formal education and now works in an urban environment; she is light skinned and sophisticated (Xroads). […]

Introduction The story, set in a small town in New England, opens with three teenage girls, wearing just their bathing suits, walking into an A&P grocery store; it is the watching of these girls that gets the story rolling (Tiger-town). The narrator, Sammy, a teenage boy working in the store, watches these girls closely, taking […]

The story ‘Bartley’ is a description of a Scrivener or copyist of a law firm. The narration of the story is done by a lawyer of a firm who had employed Bartley. Apart from Bartley, the law firm had two other employees working as copyists who were Turkey and Nippers. The story is given the […]

According to James Joyce, the narrator, Mrs. Mooney who was married to his father’s foreman, but is separated now from her husband owns the Boarding House. At first, she is a quite and self-determined woman who later reacts due to her husbands drinking problems and fighting him in front of customers. Mr. Mooney seems to […]

The story of Bartleby is about an individual who enters the life of the author and brings with him a totally different aspect of life altogether that is difficult to comprehend due to his restrained nature. In this paper, we will assume that this is a story about love. We will see that the author […]

Introduction Nicholas Spark in his novel, A Walk to Remember, portrays Jamie Sullivan, as a centerpiece of his work. Perhaps, her relationship with Landon Carter, the main protagonist, and other characters in the novel can support this. At the beginning, Jamie Sullivan is a character seen as unattractive, extraordinary and unpopular especially at school (Taylor, 2). Contrary […]