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

85147 total results

A Bigraphy of Sandra Cisneros, an American Writer (1482 words, 5 pages)

Sandra Cisneros once said We need to write because so many of our stories are not being heard. Where could they be heard in this era of fear and media monopolies? Writing allows us to transform what has happened to us and to fight back against what's hurting us. While ... Read More

The Characteristics of Depressed Adolescents in the Character of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, a Novel by J.D. Salinger (1733 words, 6 pages)

In the novel Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfieldis an adolescent boy who is depressed throughout the entire story after hisbrother Allie dies. The story goes on to talk explain how Holden is copingwith the loss of his brother and his journey after being kicked out of ... Read More

The Prefect’s Actions in Finding Hidden Meanings in The Purloined Letter, a Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe (1431 words, 5 pages)

When trying to analyze a situation, people often try to find hidden meanings in the information given and look past what is seen. (rephrase) In The Purloined Letter this is how the Prefect acts when presented with a stumping case. However, Dupin indicates that this analysis is not actually such, ... Read More

The Meaning of Home and Homelessness in Anna Quindlen’s Essay (901 words, 2 pages)

Homelessness can be defined as an individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular and or adequeate residence. This basically means that you and or your family do not have a constant place of residence. You do not own or have a designated place to stay that you can truly ... Read More

A Biography of Sergio Troncoso, an American Author (1029 words, 3 pages)

Culture across the BorderSergio Troncoso is an American author that was born here in El Paso in 1961. He usually writes short stories, novels, and essays. Some of his most famous pieces of literature include The Last Tortillas and Other Stories and The Nature of Truth. He has won several ... Read More

Hester Prynne’s Fight for Freedom in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1360 words, 6 pages)

Freedom JamesBaldwin once said Freedom is not something that anybody can be given freedom is something people take and people are as free as they can be. The truth of this statement is illustrated inThe Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the behavior of the main character, Hester Prynn. Hester ... Read More

The Motif of Forgetting in Tim O’Brien’s In the Lake of the Woods (2065 words, 6 pages)

Concentrate on other things, try to forget about it (206), Vietnam Veteran John Wade explains. This simple tactic of forgetting the horrors and trying to push away bad memories has often been employed among veterans from many wars. Accordingly, OBrien integrates this simple motif of forgetting throughout his novel In ... Read More

A Critique of Shitty First Drafts, an Article by Anne Lamott (815 words, 3 pages)

First Drafts That Arent EmbarrassingAuthor and novelist, Anne Lamott asserts in her essay Sy First Drafts that all good writers must write a terrible rough draft in order to create a good final piece of writing. This claim is accurate to some degree, because many good writers take this approach, ... Read More

An Example of True Love in Spoon River, a Book by Edgar Lee Masters (720 words, 2 pages)

In Spoon River, love and good relationships is a hard thing to comeby. We constantly see bad marriages between two good people. Trainor, theDruggist points this out, specifically with Benjamin Pantier and his wife.He says they are "Good in themselves, but evil towards each other" (p.41).He compares the couple to ... Read More

The Characterization of John Brown through the Disjointed Writing Style of Bruce Olds (1748 words, 6 pages)

How Does Bruce Olds Disjointed Writing Style Characterize John Brown?Queer how history insists upon narrating itself into saints and sinners, heroes and villains (194). Since the beginning of time, there have always been varyingif not outrightly contrastingviewpoints on influential historical figures. Good historians endeavor to wade through the myriad of ... Read More

A Review of The Mortaged Heart, a Short Story by Carson McCullers (501 words, 2 pages)

My short story was an excerpt from The Mortgaged Heart by CarsonMcCullers. Carson was born February 19, 1917 and died on September 29,1967. Her literary works included novels, short stories, two plays, and acouple essays and some poetry. Her loneliness and suffering was reflectedin the novels, which have been describes ... Read More

A Review of Tuesdays with Morrie, a Book by Mitch Albom (854 words, 3 pages)

Tuesdays with Morrie Project Essay Mitch Albom thought that he was just going to visit an old sickfriend he didn't realize that over the next fourteen weeks he would learnthe lesson of a life time. Mitch accidentally heard about his oldprofessor's bad luck in getting ALS, a deadly disease with ... Read More

Sacrifice, Love, and the Purpose of Life in The Five People You Meet in Heaven, a Novel by Mitch Albom (556 words, 2 pages)

Have you ever wondered what heaven looks like? The Five People You Meet In Heaven is an extraordinary novel about a man named Eddie and his journey through heaven. During the beginning of the novel Eddie is a maintenance man at an amusement park called Ruby Pier. He believed his ... Read More

The Struggle of Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, a Novel by Ernest Hemingway (688 words, 2 pages)

In the novelette The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago lives in a smallvillage in Cuba, near Havana. The village is a fishing village right nextto the Gulf Stream. This village is isolated because there are no majorcities or roads close to it also the water surrounds part of the ... Read More

The Representation of Women in The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible and The Glass Menagerie (804 words, 3 pages)

What woman is always proper, honorable, hospitable, and perfect? Orperhaps submissive, inferior, a child bearer, and a servant? There is nosingle definition used to describe any woman, even though many thinkotherwise and create stereotypes. A woman defines herself by the way sheacts and portrays her life. Hester Prynne in the ... Read More

An Analysis of the Character Of the Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (331 words, 1 pages)

Character in The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is first introduced to the reader by many gossipers whoare waiting outside of the courthouse to witness Hester's arrival back intothe town. The first impression the reader gets is that Hester is adisgraceful woman. The many women on the town speak of Hester ... Read More

An Analysis of the Character of a Novel the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1002 words, 3 pages)

The Human Elements in The Joy Luck Club Chinese culture is known for its old, extensive wisdom. It is adifferent type of wisdom, though, compared to the wisdom a philosopher suchas Plato would have. The wisdom of ancient Chinese is more symbolic andhas more to do with the inner person. ... Read More

The Transition of Ma from a Motherly Role to a Leadership Role in The Grapes of Wrath, a Novel by John Steinbeck (920 words, 4 pages)

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel that was written by John Steinbeck in 1939. The novel is set during the Great Depression, a time when the average unemployment rate was 25. Most Americans were pinching pennies and giving up everything just to keep their families afloat. The Grapes of ... Read More

Symbols of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1012 words, 3 pages)

The Symbols of The Great GatsbyThe American classic, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is filled with symbolism throughout. Authors can use symbolism to really embellish their stories and make a reader feel a certain way about something by using an object or an idea. This story in particular ... Read More

The Literal and Metaphorical Sense of the Word Rich in The Rich Brother, a Short Story by Tobias Wolff (642 words, 2 pages)

The Rich Brother In-Class EssayThere are some words in any language that have a literal meaning but also an interpretive one. In the story The Rich Brother by Tobias Wolff, the word rich is one of these words. Although Pete would be the rich brother in a literal sense, I ... Read More

The Mental, Emotional, and Social Health Struggles of George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men, a Novel by John Steinbeck (383 words, 2 pages)

Of Mice and MenOf Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The story features two friends, George and Lennie, who travel from ranch to ranch to work. They have a dream of purchasing a farm of their own and earning their own income. Lennie, a ... Read More

The Theme of Being Alone as a Child Leading to a Stormy Life in the Lyrical Poem Alone by Edgar Allan Poe (367 words, 1 pages)

Poetry ResponseThe lyrical poem Alone, by Edgar Allan Poe explains a theme that being alone as a child can lead to a stormy life that is easily morphed and transformed as good and bad influences arise. Poes idea to write this poem most likely comes from his personal experiences. It ... Read More

The Character of Phineas in A Separate Peace by John Knowles (573 words, 2 pages)

A Separate PeaceA Separate Peace by John Knowles follows the temporarily intertwined lives of several young men in boarding school during World War II over a linear plot line. An adolescent called Phineas exerts a physical ability unparalleled by his fellow student body and a larger than life personality and ... Read More

The Struggles of Accepting the Ideas of American Medicine in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a Book by Anne Fadiman (1123 words, 5 pages)

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a fascinating story of the struggle a non-American family has in accepting the ideas of American medicine when it comes to getting their daughter medical attention for an extremely severe condition. In the story, the Lees are Hmong Family from Laos. ... Read More

The Perception and Role of Empathy in Parable of the Sower, a Science Fiction Novel by Octavia Butler (2070 words, 7 pages)

Empathy A quality or a fault?Empathy is a quality that most human beings consider a weakness rather than a strength. In a world where everyone is concerned with his or her own well being, it seems that being understanding others feelings is an unnecessary virtue to have. In Octavia Butlers ... Read More

An Analysis of the Accuracies of the 2013 Film Adaptation of The Great Gatsby to the Novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald (2821 words, 9 pages)

The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is arguably one of the best American fiction novels in American history. It is a book that is read, studied, and much appreciated throughout American culture. Since it is a very popular book, it has been made into a film at least three times and ... Read More

Character Analysis of Pilate in Song of Solomon, a Novel by Toni Morrison (1182 words, 4 pages)

Natural ImageryToni Morrison uses nature and natural imagery to characterize Pilate as a down to earth person because rather than chastising Milkman and Guitar, she welcomed them into her house in order to explicate the story of her life. The kids were more inclined to ...go inside the wine house ... Read More

A Character of Stanley Kowalski From A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennesee Williams, Based on the First Three Scenes (932 words, 2 pages)

Ambur DumaisUsing the first three scenes of A Streetcar Named Desire, it is safe to use certain words to describe Stanley Kowalski animalistic, dominance-driven, and hotheaded. Stanley has grown up as a city-boy who developed a behavior that would drive most people into the opposite direction. Growing up in the ... Read More

The Theme of Family in Flight, a Novel by Sherman Alexie (887 words, 3 pages)

Family is always a topic many authors want to write about and dig deeply due to the fact that everyone has a family in their minds whether it is biological. However, like anything in this life, a family could not always go well all the time without change, acceptance and ... Read More

An Analysis of Willy Loman’s American Dream in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (1125 words, 4 pages)

The Wrong American DreamWilly Loman, a character from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, is on his last leg of life. His career is winding down, his sons are all grown up yet not succeeding, and he is miserably depressed. His eldest son, Biff, cannot seem to find his ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples