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

85147 total results

A Short Review of A Fateful Journey, a Story by Mark Dziak (499 words, 2 pages)

A good author of historical fiction uses historical details, and changes a few to keep the story entertaining. The author of A Fateful Journey decides to include some details and sees fit to leave specific details out that are included in the historical account Moving To America . These choices ... Read More

The Portrayal of Pioneer Life in O Pioneers, a Novel by Willa Cather (682 words, 3 pages)

The authors of O Pioneers! and Women on the Lone Prairie attempt to provide an accurate portrayal of pioneer life for the reader. In O Pioneers!, the author includes details readers can find in the non-fictional account, Woman on the Lone Prairie. However, to give the account a fictional feel, ... Read More

Dealing with Unexpected Changes in Who Moved My Cheese?, a Novel by Spencer Johnson (793 words, 3 pages)

Who Moved My Cheese?Who Moved My Cheese? is a novel about two little people and two mice. They live in a maze and look for cheese to feed them and make them happy. In this novel, the characters have to deal with unexpected change. The little people and the mice ... Read More

Racism and Segregation in You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, a Book by Howard Zinn (876 words, 3 pages)

Howard Zinn was a man who experienced much of the racism and segregation in the United States. He was a bombardier in World War II and lost two of his close friends in war. He thought he had to do something great and honor those two. His views were much ... Read More

The Flaws of John Proctor in The Crucible, a Play by Arthur Miller (655 words, 2 pages)

Proctor 101 How to Not Survive The CrucibleIn the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the characters in the play eventually show their personal flaws. The entire play was designed to force out everyones loyalty to each other and their flaws when they are put under extreme circumstances. Each character ... Read More

A Woman’s Plummet Into Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper, a Short Story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1315 words, 5 pages)

Seclusion and Entrapment A Womans Descent into Schizophrenic MadnessThe Yellow Wall-Paper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman which depicts a womans descent into madness. Due to the narrators isolation in solitary confinement, she experiences hallucinations and falls victim to extreme mental illness. The wallpaper in the story ... Read More

The Realistic and Relatable Character of May in The Secret Life of Bees, a Novel by Sue Monk Kidd (623 words, 2 pages)

The Secret Life of BeesThe Secret Life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd in 2001, is a young adult novel set during the Civil Rights Movement Era in 1964. In the book, the main character Lily recounts the summer she turned 14, and how her life had drastically changed ... Read More

The Conflict of Self Image in Death of a Salesman, a Play by Arthur Miller (590 words, 2 pages)

Throughout the play, Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, the conflict of self image alludes to the struggle in finding peace in ones life and accepting our own mistakes. The play, based on a man named Willy who is shown to continually regret his decisions and the place he ... Read More

Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye, a Novel by J.D. Salinger (1143 words, 3 pages)

Catcher in the RyeThe Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger. It tells a story on a young teenager named Holden Caulfield, a skeptical young person who got removed from his fourth school. In spite of the fact that Holden is the storyteller as well as the ... Read More

Symbols, Motifs, and Recurring Themes in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, a Novel by Stephen King (732 words, 3 pages)

Analysis of Chapter 1 of the GunslingerStephen Kings classic introduction to his famous Dark Tower series is his greatest claim to fame, and may very well be one of the most influential Post-Apocalyptic style books in the lost 100 years. The name of this hallowed piece of marvel? The Gunslinger. ... Read More

Existentialism, Jungian Analysis, and Marxist Criticism in The Great Gatsby, a Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (940 words, 3 pages)

The Great Gatsby Critical AnaylsisWith many English theories created throughout literature, The Great Gatsby consists of many, including existentialism, Jungian analysis, and Marxist criticism. Each of these theories are exhibited throughout the novel several times. The theories connected to the book represent different things that help us understand the characters ... Read More

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, a Novel by E. Lockhart (857 words, 3 pages)

So far in Lockharts The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Frankie Landau-Banks has met a strange boy at the beach, gone into her sophomore year at Alabaster, and been invited into her Fathers old clique called the Bassetts.The day after he sister Zada left for Berkeley, Frankie and some of ... Read More

The Coming of Age of Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, a Novel by Harper Lee (463 words, 2 pages)

Jem Finchs Coming of AgeThroughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the protagonist Jem Finch changes by maturing and growing up. By making these changes, Jem became responsible, understood what was happening with the trial, and how it affected others. At the beginning, Jem does childish things ... Read More

Carl Gustav Jung’s Psychiatric Theories, Personality Types, and Functions in the Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne (2100 words, 6 pages)

Jungian Analysis Applied to HawthorneFrom 1914-1928, a man named Carl Gustav Jung went through a painful process of self-discovery that later formed the basis of all of his theories. These psychiatric theories, personality types, and functions can be found in short stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Examples are The Ministers ... Read More

The Misconception of the Speaker’s Objective to Get the Mistress into Sexual Activity in The Persuasion of the Coy Mistress by Robert W. Halli, Jr. (606 words, 2 pages)

In the article The Persuasion of the Coy Mistress by Robert W. Halli, Jr. the author analyzes the Seventeenth Century poem To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell. In Hallis opinion, most readers of the poem come to the wrong conclusion that the main objective of the speaker is only ... Read More

History Repeats Itself Through the McCarthy Hearings, the McMartin Trials, and the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible (1234 words, 5 pages)

History Repeats The Crucible contains several themes and happenings that can be seen in the McCarthy hearings, the McMartin trials, and the Salem witch trials. Accusing innocent people and having their lives eternally affected are two major themes. Each one of these incidents have negatively affected all of the people ... Read More

The Oppression of Women in Society in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (1509 words, 6 pages)

Kate Chopins The Awakening and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper, were both initially published in 1899, present strikingly similar stories of the oppression of women in society. Both texts contain a distinct feminist bias, narrated from the point of view of a female protagonist who wrests with the restrictive ... Read More

Being True to Your Identity in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a Novel by Mark Twain (981 words, 3 pages)

At this wild and singular appeal, which indicated that Hester Prynne's situation hadprovoked her to little less than madness, the young minister at once came forward, pale,and holding his hand over his heart, as was his custom whenever his peculiarly nervoustemperament was thrown into agitation. He looked now more careworn ... Read More

The Gothic Moment in Chapter 6 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a Novel by Mark Twain (473 words, 1 pages)

Throughout life, there are many scary and horror-filled things that can happen. Every day, you see new and frightening things that have happened in the news. You think that none of that could ever happen to you, that these moments are meant for other people, not yourself. The truth, though, ... Read More

Conformation to Society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Awakening (620 words, 2 pages)

Conform-ationAs people grow up, their personalities are morphed by the people around them in their society. People change so that they can ease more easily into the culture around them, but what about their natural personas? What happens to the personality that they were born with, the personality that may ... Read More

The Apartment in A Temporary Matter, a Short Story by Jhumpa Lahiri (308 words, 1 pages)

"A Temporary Matter" ResponseIn "A Temporary Matter," Jhumpa Lahiri creates an apartment that lives through the past actions and current stagnation of its inhabitants. Whether by Shoba's "endless sealed pyramids" of now-eaten leftovers or the"lace she had once planned to turn into curtains," the setting teems with reminders of busier, ... Read More

Truth Versus Lies, Deception of the Self, and Deception of Others in The Whore’s Child, a Novel by Richard Russo (327 words, 1 pages)

"The Whore's Child" ResponseIt's tempting, almost instinctual, to call Sister Ursula's writings in Richard Russo's "The Whore's Child" the subplot of the short story. Yet her submissions to the college writing class take center stage, with the comments by her professor, her classmates and herself serving as their frame. Subordinate ... Read More

The Failure to Find Happy Endings in The Dungeon Master, a Short Story by Sam Lipsyte (302 words, 1 pages)

"Dungeon Master" ResponseThe ending of Sam Lipsyte's short story does something blatantly unrealistic and knows it -- but then again, it doesn't. It teases the reader with an inexplicable flash-forward, and then in response to the unsaid "do you really see that?" says flatly, "Of course I don't." The dysfunctional ... Read More

The Symbols of Moby Dick, the Whale’s Whiteness, and Queequeg’s Coffin in Moby Dick, a Novel by Herman Melville (458 words, 2 pages)

Moby Dick by Herman Melville is bursting with symbolism and allegories, whether intended by the author or not. Three of the most prevalent symbols are Moby Dick himself, the whales whiteness, and Queequegs coffin. The character of Moby Dick is very symbolic and represents much more than a deranged sperm ... Read More

The Concept of True Heroism in Anthem, a Book by Ayn Rand (1263 words, 5 pages)

Genuine Heroism in Any Rands AnthemHeroism embodies courage, persistent, altruism as Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and humanitarian interpreted, True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. Everyone can be ... Read More

A Comparison of the Similarities and Differences in Themes and Approach to Themes Between The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1469 words, 5 pages)

Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Stephen Chboskys The Perks of Being a Wallflower are separated by more than a century yet, both novels have similar themes, transmitting a message regarding truth. However, these two novels approach this theme of truth in different methods. The narrative style in ... Read More

Connecting Men and Women in Tartarus of Maids, a Short Story by Herman Melville (938 words, 3 pages)

Bridging Men and MaidsMen and women in Herman Melville's Tartarus of Maids seem to inhabit different worlds. The maids and their male overseers may work in the same paper-mill, but these two groups seldom interact. Dynamics shift, however, when the narrator enters the mill. Through commonalities concrete and symbolic alike ... Read More

Teen Rebels Seeking for Justice in Legend, a Novel by Marie Lu (1116 words, 4 pages)

A most wanted criminal and a top military agent seem like quite an unlikely pair. But when these two fifteen-year-olds find out they have a lot more in common than they think, including a common enemy, their bond becomes a lot more believable. Told from the perspectives of prodigious teen ... Read More

Romanticism as the Most Important Literary Era of the United States (533 words, 2 pages)

Romantic States of AmericaAmerica, more often than not called the land of the free, is the birthplace of one of the most motivating ideas to have ever been spread The American Dream. While some people think that sustenance is enough, Americans are never content with just enough. They try to ... Read More

The Fear of Equality in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a Novel by Mark Twain (877 words, 2 pages)

People have always been judgemental. There was the prejudice views of jews in medieval times, as well as the preconceived notion that all Muslims are terrible people. In Huckleberry Finn, the major example of judgemental people is shown when people talk about humans who are different or do not share ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples