Themes in American Novels Essay Examples and Topics

The main conflict of the novel is built around one of the main characters' awareness of the legacy of evil that he has inherited from his mother and his hesitation about whether he is destined [...]

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald pays attention to the relationships between both Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan. Scott Fitzgerald's book is mainly focused on the relationship of Daisy with Gatsby and Tom, [...]

Perhaps that is clearly illustrated by the quote that presupposes that whoever can control the past, has power to control the future; while whoever has the ability to control the present, wields the right to [...]

The story reveals a Western culture, where the narrator exhibits freedom and openness in her conversation with other characters of the story. This is depicted in the conversation of the narrator with her mother in [...]

The beliefs and norms of the people in Panem are centred on the self-interest; they are obsessed to acquire the comfort and lifestyle of the affluent people.

Thus, although it was a beautiful experience to see the motherly love, it was devastating to see the discrimination and bias faced by the Native American community whose feelings and rights were violated by the [...]

Also, it is a tragedy of the society the influence of which can be too devastating to heal."The Paper Menagerie" teaches the audience how ungrateful and cruel a child can become under the pressure of [...]

Judging by the way the short story handles the themes, plot, and literary tools, The Last Leaf is a literary masterpiece.

Jimmy Cross, a lieutenant enlisted to take care of the other soldiers is the victim of the guilt burden. Collectively, these soldiers experienced different forms of emotional torture, which boiled down to emotional burdens as [...]

The misunderstanding between An-Mei Hsu and Rose Hsu-Jordan occurs due to their differences in the views on the roles of females in the family.

In the novel Joseph is introduced as the sister of “the illustrious Pamela whose virtue is at present so famous”.

A possible thesis for an essay on this topic could be: "In 'The Wars,' Timothy Findley suggests that adversity plays a crucial role in shaping an individual's identity, as it forces the person to confront [...]

Main idea 2: Social and historical difficulties of migration and slavery. Main idea 3: The search for the main character of identity and place in society.

Wishing to shed the fetters limited her freedom; at the beginning of the novel, Dellarobia fears not meeting the gender norms of the culture.

It is ironic in the sense that Abner is punished for his injustices to the wealthy yet the justice system does not consider the social injustices of the rich society to the poor.

This essay discusses the rhetoric devices George Orwell uses to convince the audience of the credibility of his arguments regarding the ambiguity of political language.

The first evidence to support their ignorance of McCandless is his lack of knowledge and experience to understand and survive the wilderness.

The reason why this is important to the main theme lies in the fact that passing is a form of deception that allowed Clare to obtain higher status and more freedom.

Maus, through the comic, explains the Holocaust through his father's experience, and we see that it was not an easy place to come out because of the horrors and mistreatment in the concentration camps.

By showing how the stringent moral and religious standards of Puritanism can result in hypocrisy and the restriction of human freedom, The Scarlet Letter emblem relates to the concept of Puritanism.

He gives the money to his brother who purchases a corsage for Sally and a new black shoe for the dance.

The themes of empathy and compassion are actively developed throughout the novel; at first, Lauren realizes that the world is cruel and she must learn to live in it.

The population had to work hard to pay taxes to the state and various fees required by the Church that assured them of the importance of that.

In the beginning, the readers are exposed to the horrifying experience of Melinda being raped by Andy Evans. The little girl feels alone and has no idea how to deal with her anguish or let [...]

The narrator had ups and downs with Sonny, and through the story, there is a significant aspect of racism which is the main focus of this proposal.

The play shows the contrast between the representatives of American folk and Yankee on the basis of Jonathan's behavior and manners.

The girl from the new family reminded Alvarez of her own plight when she had moved to the United States and had not yet been accepted completely by the community.

After the release, Malcolm had the tools he needed to change his life and the lives of many others in America.

The Devil and Tom Walker depict a corrupted man named Tom Walker, who is eager to sell himself in exchange for the treasure that the devil has promised him.

The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the novel from several points of view. The character is a picture of savagery and primitivism.

It contrasts the extravagant and luxurious lives of the wealthy characters in the East and West Egg with the struggles of individuals in it.

Another one is more of a humorous idea that there are spores in the sunlight that are essentially converting people into self-centered zombies.

Being the representatives of different literary genres, the chosen stories contributes to the promotion of home as the only place for hope, safety, and empowerment.

The novel presents the incompatibility of the "divine law" and human law, and the protagonist's, Joseph K, inability to understand the discrepancy.

This analysis would focus on the essay's Chapter 3 dedicated to fiestas in general and the Day of the Dead in particular, which reflect many national traits of Mexicans.

The book covers the mid-life of David bringing to the fore the events which he has contributed to himself and some he has not that are set in motion and lead to his near-total destruction.

The main characters in Karen Russel's story The Bog Girl are situated on a mythical island somewhere in Northern Europe, where peat cut out of the bogs is the main source of fuel.

He also shows the way people responded to the opportunities and challenges of the new times. The girls seem to rebel against the system and conventions of the society, as they dare come into the [...]

The present work thus seeks to elaborate the reason behind Hong's valuation of 'Bad English' as featured in the book 'Minor Feelings.' The valuation of 'bad English' by Hong partly purposes to celebrate and appreciate [...]

The authors were in the middle of events: they worked as editors in the Ramparts, a political magazine popular among the radical audience.

The surrounding atmosphere and cultural specificities influence the characters' personalities throughout the story and change their attitude towards the particular minorities and races.

The main idea of the book lies in upholding the Marxist belief of the inevitable collapse of capitalism and the accession of the proletariat, or industrial working class.

Even without the name of the main character, the audience can tell how she behaves and relates with others, which brings out the imbalance of power that exists between men and women particularly when it [...]

This was an indication that although his faith had started to change, he still had faith in God. He was able to come out of the holocaust with a stronger faith.

The essence of the latter is in the opposition of a person to society and its norms. Further, the second conflict in "The Story of an Hour" is the internal struggle and confusion of Louise.

Through symbolism, O'Connor was able to convey the characters' unique features with their names, connection to parents with Hulga's wooden leg, Joy's mindset with her glasses, and Pointer's non-religiousness with the hollow Bible.

Art Spiegelman magnificently links the past and the present graphically to narrate his father's surviving the Holocaust and his relations with the father.

Paul is offered a chance to pursue the American Dream and gain huge material riches as a result of hard work in the area of business, for example.

The focal point of this paper is to present a symbolic criticism of the play "Fences" by August Wilson with a special emphasis on the significance of Gabriel in the play.

Ana brings out the pains of living in exile in America for most of the Cubans, some of whom had a life in their former homes. A new beginning in Miami is the fate of [...]

Characters and locations in the novel work as potent symbols that draw attention to the struggles experienced by the underprivileged and the monetization of violence as a sort of entertainment for the rich.

In the narrative, the lawyer's office is divided into two rooms by a glass folding door, one where Bartleby works and the other where the lawyer's station is.

Kindred is the story of a strong woman from a comfortable but not ideal 1976, who travels back in time to XIX on the estate of slave owner Tom Whalen. The novel shows the reader [...]

The development of the American dream and its impact on the society of the United States is a pertinent topic of discussion for various authors.

The younger one is in a hurry to go home, the older one hesitates, he clearly does not want to leave, although it is already deep night. There are no human meanings in the world: [...]

To be more specific, the consideration of actions and motivations of the protagonists of the stories so that to see what courage meant to them and to the authors.

This effect is reached by opposing the details and the setting of the traditional human world with the magic of the wild forest.

The main focus of the story is the problem of racism, particularly to African-American people in the United States. In terms of other issues that "Battle Royal" demonstrates and that are further developed in the [...]

The events show that in the conditions of racism, the psychological deformation of a person occurs due to the formation of a feeling of inferiority in him or her and the cultivation of fear.

It becomes apparent upon closer examination that his fixation on the mystery of life, his neglect of the creator's responsibility, and his lack of empathy for his creation make Victor Frankenstein more responsible for the [...]

The story's central irony is that the protagonist is not a good boy. A passage that depicts the author viewing the character as pretentious is the one discussing Jacob's desire to rescue a dog only [...]

The attempt by writers of the nonfiction but documentary literature genres to explore various global phenomena often responds to the claim of certain absolutism, that is, the recognition of the perfect truth of the picture [...]

In the novel, the culprit for the destruction of Okonkwo's personality, the disintegration of the clan, which Elder Mbata speaks of in the second passage, the destruction of family ties and religion, is the person [...]

The setting is the poverty-ridden streets of Chicago and a realistic peep into the lives of the two brothers Lafeyette and Pharaoh.

Despite the fact that, throughout story's entirety, Cal is being presented to us as "progressive" educator, who seriously believed that endowing Donny with strongly defined sense of self-respect could have helped Daisy's son to straighten [...]

Nevertheless, while it is emotional, having to deal with death, the pain of losing a son, and having to deal with the sympathy of people around them, the story disguised the emotion of the individuals [...]

To transmit the message, Faulkner uses three binary oppositions: death life, the old the new, and the North the South. In this passage, Emily is compared to the soldiers who fell in the Civil War [...]

As for the statement that the power of nature is the symbol of renewal, it is connected to the concept of equality and justice.

Therefore, in a strict play of the private incidents such as the death of her father with gangrene and his German lineage are presented in the poem to actually demonstrate Plath's abhorrence for her ancestry [...]

One of the most famous models of the topic of nature versus society in The Scarlet Letter is the romance between Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.

Through the lens of this novel, McCarthy exposes the relentless brutality of colonial conquest, the dispossession of land and identity, and the dire repercussions of human greed.

A breakdown of the symbolic significance of the concept of "doubleness" in the short story and its exciting aspect forms the basis of this paper.

As a result, people use local gossip networks as the source of authority, eventually arriving at a decision that the man is an angel whose mission is to take away the soul of Pelayo and [...]

The primary purpose of Gary Soto's The Afterlife is to show the significance of human life and forgiveness from the perspective of those who lose it.

The way a black child is struggling to get the most basic needs in the US. In the story, the twelve-year-old child is not afraid of mistreatment by the people when they realize she is [...]

The sinister nature of the novel is inferred in the title which derives from the Hebrew word, Ba'al-zvuv which means god of the fly, host of the fly or literally the Lord of Flies a [...]

Being the brain and the intellectual reason of the family, the husband wisely guides the ship of his matrimonial unit through all the possible mishaps and traps and takes the necessary precautions in order to [...]

It is necessary to underline the fact that in the modern world the concept of racial profiling is considered to be common rather than unheard or unknown; the essay under analysis allows evaluating the author's [...]

In the short story, Faulkner portrays that the beginning of the 1900s was marked by great social and economic changes but many people fail to accommodate their life to new social relations and a new [...]

In the first chapter Guy Montag, the protagonist finds himself in a position that allows him to recognize the lack of genuine happiness in his life, viewing those around him as uncompassionate and disinterested shades.

The book, The Maid's Daughter: Living inside and outside the American Dream, is a historical study and it covers the history of a woman, Olivia Salazar - the daughter of Carmen - an immigrant working [...]

The convention of the femme fatale is of great significance for the noir fiction as far as it can reveal the historical and cultural background of Los Angeles in the 1930s.

The intense training depicts the importance of reward to the tributes. Further, the society is in touch with the preparedness of their tributes via media.

When examining the novel, it becomes clear that the writing style and the way in which the author delves into the Puritan way of life seemingly shows the double standards that existed at the time.

The narrative "Girl" is a piece written by Jamaica Kincaid concerning a mother's attempt to teach her daughter about a woman's role in society.

Love is a strong feeling filled with tenderness, the heartfelt affection of a man and a woman, which Aparna and her husband lack.

Through these works, the concept of the blurring of reality and the imaginary world of dreams is explored, showcasing the complexity of reality perception and its nuances.

As a consequence, the constant social pressure added to the stress of strict parental control and further exacerbated the sisters' depression. It resulted in Cecilia's suicide and the tightening of parental restrictions.

In "The Veldt," George and Lydia suffer terrible repercussions from the delegating of parenting duties to the house, which offers all the living luxuries at the expense of the organic relationship between parent and kid.

The Back of the Bus by Mebane presents the American South during the era of racial segregation and complex black-white interactions.

I think that the protagonist of this short story became mad because of loneliness and the inability to live an independent life.

However, no matter how important the physical map of the city and the wanderings of the heroes is. Nobility, loyalty to the word, decency, and dignity are the distinctive qualities of the heroes of The [...]

The paper will examine how Naylor manages to achieve this through an analysis of the main idea, stylistic devices and classification of the piece.

There is a powerful cultural perception of the behaviors of the three groups, the father and the brother on one side, the mother and the grandmother on the other side, and the American media and [...]

In the novel, the main character, Clare Kendry, defines herself in terms of her family; she is concerned solely with the welfare of her children and the degree to which her husband's infidelity threatens her [...]

The play is made by the author in the way representing the memories of the main characters through the flashbacks along with the real scenes of the play.

In spite of the fact that the events depicted in Beloved take place after the end of the American Civil War, Sethe, as the main character of the novel and a former slave, continues to [...]

Happiness becomes accessible through product attainment, and even the opening of the story deals with the fact that the protagonist and his wife, Tom and Betsy Rath, want to live in a better house.

In spite of the fact that Butler rejected the idea that she intended to discuss the problem of the humans' enslavement in her work, it is impossible to ignore the accentuation of the issue of [...]

In Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, women are a ubiquitous part of the story, and even central to the plot.

The significance of the above-described adopted trait is that it helps Elena to have a deeper connection with her children. She begins to recognize the importance of allowing her children to make their own decisions [...]

Racial prejudice, morality, and the importance of the law are common themes in To Kill A Mockingbird, and their implication in life is readily apparent.

West Coast Mafia is a group of youths; Frankie included who are paid to commit the crime and other heinous acts in society.

The insensitivity in this mistreatment and dehumanization of Black people is pervasive to the extent that Jim considers himself "property" and was proud to be worth a fortune if anyone was to sell him. To [...]

By exploring the notion and censorship and how it affects people, the author draws parallels with the modern world of his time and the increasing impact of government-led propaganda. Censorship is a recurring theme that [...]

Its main theme is slavery but it also exhibits other themes like the fight by Afro-Americans for freedom, the search for the identity of black Americans and the appreciation of the uniqueness of African American [...]

The novel 'The Third Life of Grange Copeland' by Alice Walker is dedicated to the highlight of economical and racist oppression suffered by the society; it is a set of lives depicting gradual formation of [...]

Various attempts by April throughout the novel reveals her desperateness as a teenager to fulfill the criteria set by white, however, as an adult, April feels and experiences the endeavor to observe the creation of [...]

Deckard's efforts have been constituted by the feeling of an 'emotion', the making of an intellectual connection, the speaking of an utterance, the passing on of a story in the real world beyond it, or [...]

In the case of Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", the social-cultural factors that impede the main character's development are also the elements that contribute to her coming of age.

The people in the districts forego the freedom of speech and expression so that they can live peacefully with the Capitol.

Based on an examination of the book, it is the opinion of the reader that the portrayal of the brilliance and personality of John Forbes Nash, Jr.is to a certain extent fiction mixed with a [...]

As a result, Kathy is ready to start the strange and disgraceful relationships with Burdon in order to find a kind of security.

The next chapter of the book explores more on the main subtopics of the piece of writing. According to the author, the increasing depression amongst the people triggered the creation of a public warfare.

He is so annoyed that he would like to go out and show her that he is not the hairy ape that she called him.

Although his flight mission does not succeed, he sets the tone in the book for the people who desire to fly. He wanted to identify his place in the world and his family's history because [...]

This phrase is heard on behalf of the author at the end of the story, in the part where the description of the murderer of the protagonist's son is given.

The Gift of the Magi tells the story of two lovers who sacrifice valuable things for themselves for the sake of their beloved. Love requires sacrifice and compromise, and the willingness to do this is [...]

Though deemed to be the land of opportunity, the 1940s New York environment and the harsh setting of rigid stereotypes and prejudices create multiple challenges for each of the protagonists, setting barriers that are exceptionally [...]

The central tempter of the story is Tom Sawyer because he is ready to give something valuable to the other boy rather than paint a thirty-yard fence. The reason for the inability to withstand temptation [...]