African American Literature Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

1250 total results

An Analysis of Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (1567 words, 3 pages)

Symbols are a tool writers like to use to make the readers think deeper into the meaning and message of their stories. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is full of these symbols. There are three major symbols that seem to be most important. The first major symbol is fire. ... Read More

An Analysis of the Color Purple by Alice Walker (636 words, 1 pages)

Amy Bowles Honors English III Ms. DunaganFebruary 20, 2001Celies Constructed ColorsIn Alice Walkers novel, The Color Purple, the character Celie first speaks about color when Mr. s sister takes her shopping. She admires a woman she knows only by a photograph (Shug Avery) and she wants a dress that she ... Read More

An Analysis of the Notes of a Native Son by Baldwin (1400 words, 6 pages)

Jared HandlerEnglish 101Baldwin paper 111999 Bypassing the Truth About RealityOften authors in literature tend to avoid situations in everyday life which portraycontroversial issues. Many authors avoid the reality and truth about what is really takingplace in the world, because its frightening for many people to cope with the truth. Because ... Read More

A Review of The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara (553 words, 1 pages)

Essay on The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara Toni Cade Bambara's The Lesson is a very well written piece of history. This is a story from yesterday, when Harlem children didn't have good education or the money to spring for it. Bambara's tale tells about a little girl who doesn't ... Read More

The Use of Symbols in Glass Menagerie by Tennessee William (811 words, 2 pages)

Glass MenagerieIn Tennessee Williams play The Glass Menagerie Williams used symbols to represent the reoccurring theme of the failure to accept reality. The use of the fire escape, Toms constant visits to the movies, Jim OConnor(the common man),and Lauras collection of glass animals were the main symbols Williams used to ... Read More

An Analysis of Walter Character in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (733 words, 1 pages)

A Raisin in the Sun, a drama written by Lorraine Hansberry came onto the theater scene in 1959. The title is from Langston Hughes poem A Dream Deferred when it asks what happen to a dream that is deferred. The drama tells of a lower class black familys struggle.The family ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of a Dry White Season by Andre Brink (4196 words, 5 pages)

Brink reaches for that unexpected potent strand of Afrikaner thought an almost religious repugnance toward governmental corruption. And by using a very ordinary Afrikaner as victim, Brink proclaims that no one is South Africa is any longer safe (Redman 5). Andre Brinks powerful novel, A Dry White Season, was made ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (640 words, 1 pages)

Maya Angelou, the author to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, writes about a girl who is confronted with sex, rape, and racism at an early stage in her life in detail in her novel. When she is three years old, her parents have a divorce and send her ... Read More

The Theme of Generation Gap in Two Novels by the Authors Joe Johnson and Alice Walker (1774 words, 2 pages)

Parents and kids relationships PARENTS AND KIDS RELATIONSHIPS "October Sky" by Joe Johnston and "Every Day Use" by Alice Walker's stories deal with parents and kids relationships. John Hickam and a middle-aged woman are parents who find themselves choosing between both of their kids. Dee and Jim are the strongest ... Read More

A Literary Analysis of Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (1155 words, 2 pages)

Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, takes place in1946 near the small rural town of Ixopo in the smaller village of Ndotsheni. The main character is Stephen Kumalo, a native priest who sets out on a mission to find his family. He receives a letter from a fellow priest, ... Read More

An Analysis of Conflicts in a Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1123 words, 2 pages)

Conflict in an American familyThe play A Raisin in the Sun illustrates three main conflicts in the younger family life they are internal, social, and interpersonal. The conflicts in the story give insight as to who the characters are and what they really want out of life. Conflict is one ... Read More

A Summary of Toni Morrison’s Black Matters (764 words, 2 pages)

In Black Matters, Toni Morrison discusses knowledge and how it seems to take on a Eurocentric standpoint. The knowledge she discusses is the traditional literature that is unshaped by the four-hundred-year-old presence of the first Africans and then African-Americans in the United States (Morrison 310). Morrison also addresses the treatment ... Read More

A Comparison of Strong Horse Tea by Alice Walker and the Suicides of Private Greaves by James Moffett (1223 words, 6 pages)

Characterization is the change that occurs in a character throughoutthe story. The change can be either a physical one or an emotionalone. In the stories "Strong Horse Tea," by Alice Walker and "TheSuicides of Private Greaves," by James Moffett, the characters involvedgo through changes that effect both stories ending. Characterizationalso ... Read More

The Perception of American Dream in the Writings of Langston Hughes (2152 words, 8 pages)

What was the dream that brought our ancestors to America? It was rebirth, the craving formen to be born again, the yearning for a second chance. With all of these ideas comes thetrue American dreamFreedom. This is the condition in which a man feels like a humanbeing. It is the ... Read More

The Life and Literary Career of African-American Poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1229 words, 3 pages)

PAUL LAURENCE DUNBARRenowned African-American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar rose from a poor childhood in Dayton, Ohio to international acclaim as a writer and as an effective voice for equality and justice for African-Americans (Howard, Revell). He met and associated with other historical men such as Fredrick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, ... Read More

An Analysis of Toni Morrison’s Novel Song of Solomon (620 words, 1 pages)

In the novel Song of Solomon a major ambiguous event occurs. The author, Toni Morrison leaves the interpretation up to the reader on the issue of whether or not Macon killed the "white" man in the novel. In Song of Solomon, Macon tells his son, Milkman, the story of when ... Read More

A Narrative of the Life and African-American Literature Work of Fredrick Douglass (739 words, 3 pages)

Aprill O. TurnerHUID 121656Paper 1- The Narrative of the life of Fredrick DouglassAfrican- American LiteratureProfessor Lawrence Jackson01 March 2001These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining ... Read More

An Analysis of Mr. Z by M. Carl Holman (424 words, 1 pages)

Poetry can sometimes be interpreted easily and other times it is difficult to find the meaning. In the poem Mr. Z by M. Carl Holman, the meaning is quite distinct. It describes an African American mans life and his constant effort to be part of the white race. In the ... Read More

An Analysis of Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman (333 words, 1 pages)

Phenomenal Woman"Phenomenal Woman," by Maya Angelou, describes herself from her own point of view. Maya Angelou talks of her "inner mystery" and explains, to those who cant see it, why men notice her.Using a very rhythmic rhyming scheme, she projects a strong self-confidence. Using phrases that describe her body help ... Read More

The Fissure Between Father and Son in Marriage Is a Private Affair by Chinua Achebe (477 words, 1 pages)

Marriage is a Private AffairIn China Achebes Marriage Is a Private Affair, the discrepant values of Namesake and his father dictate their fates. However, this assumption rests on the premise that fate is a transient and alterable condition. Originally, Okekes steadfast Christian beliefs and commitment to tradition prompt a fissure ... Read More

The Superior Race in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (978 words, 2 pages)

De white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he dont tote it. He hand it to ... Read More

The Struggles of Growing up in Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks (1106 words, 2 pages)

Maud MarthaGwendolyn Brooks was a black poet from Kansas who wrote in the early twentieth century. She was the first black woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize. Her writings deal mostly with the black experience growing up in inner Chicago. This is the case with one of her more famous ... Read More

The Inevitability of Bigger’s Crimes in Native Son by Richard Wright (2266 words, 3 pages)

Bigger Thomas, a young African American male, Twenty years old vicious, vile and mean he hates himself and all human society, especially that part of society which he attributes to making him a monster. Bigger Thomas is in rebellion on what he views as the white caste system his crime ... Read More

An Analysis of the Work by Langston Hughes a Poet Supreme (2408 words, 5 pages)

Langston Hughes A Poet SupremeRachael N. RivasBlack poetry is poetry that (1) is grounded in the black experience (2) utilizes black music as a structural or emulative model and (3) "consciously" transforms the prevailing standards of poetry through and inconoclastic and innovative use of language.No poet better carries the mantle ... Read More

The Theme of Love in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room (1173 words, 2 pages)

Finding SalvationWhat is love? This question has probably been asked or thought about since the beginning of time. The definition of love cannot be defined as something concrete but something that is infinite. It is something that can evolve to everyones personality and something that everyone can choose to create ... Read More

Analysing the Themes About a Veil in the Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois (3620 words, 18 pages)

body bgcolor"FFFFFF" The Different Conceptions of the Veil in The Souls of Black Folk quotFor now we see through a glass, darklyquotP-Isiah 257P W.E.B. Du Bois's ISouls of Black FolkI, a collection of autobiographical and historical essays contains many themes. There is the theme of souls and their attainment of ... Read More

Reference in Numbers in Toni Morrison’s the Beloved (1769 words, 3 pages)

In literature, numbers are used to communicate important messages to the reader. The author uses references to numbers to strengthen the important ideas of the novel. In many cultures numbers carry an important or significant meaning to them. These numbers can carry a meaning more efficiently than using only words. ... Read More

Lives of Dejected Women in Toni Morrison’s Paradise (1869 words, 3 pages)

Throughout many of Toni Morrisons novels, the plot is built around some conflict for her characters to overcome. Paradise, in particular, uses the relationships between women as a means of reaching this desired end. Paradise, a novel centered around the destruction of a convent and the women in it, supports ... Read More

A Summary and Analysis of the Inhibitions to Personal Freedom in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston (3200 words, 4 pages)

Tobey TeagueGallagherComp. 1002Their Eyes Were Watching God A StudyZora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God treats society as something that inhibits rather than advances the cause of our personal freedom. This is evident throughout the novel from the beginning, when Nanny lectures Janie on white society, to the end, ... Read More

An Analysis of the Existence of Dual Moralities in Sula by Toni Morrison (1850 words, 3 pages)

Inherent to human nature and their morals, are dualities, such as good and bad, in a character which produces all the emotions, experiences, and forces that motivates an individual to overcome the struggles of life. One, without the other, will not suffice in its existence. Consequently, only the combination of ... Read More

African American Literature Essay Examples