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

85147 total results

The Corporate Takeover of Society in Neal Stephenson’s Cyberpunk Novel Snow Crash (1094 words, 4 pages)

The corporatized world of Snow Crash hits a little close to home for many, including myself, who looking at the effects that capitalism is having on our society and world cant help but see it as an all too realistic warning of whats to come.Snow Crash takes place mainly in ... Read More

A Satire Relationship with Technology in the Short Story The Veldt by Ray Bradbury (785 words, 4 pages)

In Ray Bradburys short story, The Veldt, he invites us to imagine a future wherein a device exists which can recreate any scene directly out of a users imagination completely believably. This technology is employed to keep children entertained, in appliances called nurseries.Like many things in literature, I believe that ... Read More

The Use of Style, Tone and Point of View to Convey the Real Meaning of the Narrative in Only the Dead Know Brooklyn by Thomas Wolfe (984 words, 3 pages)

I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once. Thomas WolfeIntroductionOnly the Dead Know Brooklyn provides an interesting look into the use of style, tone and point of view to convey the main meaning of the narrative. This story by Thomas Wolfe was published in ... Read More

American Dream Turning Into American Nightmare in Death of a Salesman and The Glass Castle (535 words, 1 pages)

The American NightmareHappiness is in individualism. Since we are young society paints a picture for us that seems so perfect of a so called dream that expects everyone to be the same and gives a falsehood that if we arent in this image we can never succeed.In Death of a ... Read More

A Feeling of Emptiness and Discontent in the Novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (709 words, 2 pages)

In the future dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 society and the people in it are given a false sense of happiness through constant distraction and a culture that encourages short quick thoughtless joy and eliminates the process of thought. In the novel some characters find a thoughtful happiness once again while ... Read More

The Misconceptions and Malpractice in the Treatment of the Mentally Insane in the Film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (850 words, 3 pages)

In modern times, psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, often through communication between the patients and their mental health professionals, to help the patients overcome their problems and to increase their sense of well-being. While recent progress in psychotherapy has resulted in better understanding and more efficient treatments for ... Read More

The Father and Daughter Discussion on the Different Styles of Writing in the Short Narrative A Conversation with My Father by Grace Paley (710 words, 2 pages)

A Conversation with My Father Literary Analysis 1A Conversation with My Father by Grace Paley is a short narrative about storytelling. The daughter, a writer, and her father, a terminally ill educated man, discuss styles of writing. The father asks for a simple story, direct and to the point, with ... Read More

The Themes of Freedom Versus Responsibility, Religion and God’s Grace, and Moral Corruption in the Short Story The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Flannery O’Connor (2018 words, 6 pages)

Analyzing themes of The Life You Save May Be Your OwnThe style of writing that Flannery OConnor embraces seems better suited to the middle ages in her rather old-fashioned and conventional Catholic and Christian conviction that the central issue in human existence is salvation through Christ (Shackelford 780). Most critics ... Read More

The Hidden Message in If I Could Tell You, a Poem by W. H. Auden (438 words, 2 pages)

Upon a first read, the structured villanelle form of If I Could Tell You by W. H. Auden may seem repetitive in nature however, after further analysis, it is revealed that this specific use of rhyme, meter, and repetition reflects the poems haunting message that time taunts and holds the ... Read More

Christian Views on Stem Cell Research and Therapy (1308 words, 5 pages)

Christian Views on Stem Cell Research TherapyThe difference between embryonic stem cells and adult stem cellsThe most significant difference between embryonic and adult stem cells, is their ability to specialise and the number of differentiated cell types they can form. Embryonic cells can be described as pluripotent (capable of giving ... Read More

An Analysis of a Parent’s Role in Huckleberry Finn, a Novel by Mark Twain (771 words, 3 pages)

In the majority of novels, the role of the parent is supposed to be of caring, moral support. The parent is there to help the child whenever he or she needs them and to provide good moral direction. However, in some cases, it is not always this way. In the ... Read More

The Men and Women of Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude, a Novel by Gabriel García Márquez (1448 words, 6 pages)

The Men and Women of Macondo The various men and women of Macondo, the small rural Colombian towndepicted in the novel, One Hundred Years Of Solitude, by Gabriel GarcaMrquez, go about living their lives in drastically different ways. Thewomen of the town, such as rsula, for example, live quietly and ... Read More

A Comprehensive Analysis of March, a Graphic Novel by John Lewis (2429 words, 9 pages)

An Analysis of MarchMarch is an autobiographical graphic novel about the Civil Rights Movement from the perspective of John Lewis, a key figure in the movement and author of the graphic novel who later became a congressman. The graphic novel exposes the reader to John Lewiss childhood as the son ... Read More

The Physical Journey of Huck in the Novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (503 words, 2 pages)

Physical JourneyIn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the main character Huck embarks on a journey along the Mississippi River to escape his fathers abuse and a life of uneventful domesticity. Huck begins his journey as a mischievous and immature child, but as he travels, he learns valuable ... Read More

The Lives of the Lost Generation in the Novel The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (2490 words, 8 pages)

Where Is Your God Now? Faith and the Lost GenerationThe Great War was a terrible war, killing millions and ravaging most of Europe during its bloody duration. Even more dramatic than the death toll, however, was the broken state in which it left millions of people around the globe. The ... Read More

An Analysis of the Raw Creativity That Nature Provides as Seen by Gary Snyder (726 words, 3 pages)

The creativity that produces art is, as stated by American writer Gary Snyder in A Place in Space Ethics, Aesthetics, and Watersheds, That consciousness, mind, imagination, and language are fundamentally wild richly interconnected, interdependent, and incredibly complex. The art of the wild is to see art in the context of ... Read More

An Analysis of the Symbolism Used in Greasy Lake, a Short Story by T. C. Boyle (1166 words, 4 pages)

Adolescent teens often go through a cynical rebellion phase, some more severe than others. Some grow out of this phase and some do not however, some teens linger in this phase because they deem it to be attractive. T.C Boyle's "Greasy Lake" tells the story of a naive group of ... Read More

The Use of a Transitional Approach in the Korean Frontier in America, a Historical Novel by Wayne Patterson (2352 words, 8 pages)

The cultural institution of the novel legitimates particular forms and subjects of history and subjugates others (Lowe 98). This is an on-going issue with education all around the world, leaving history to be written by the elite heroes, as Lisa Lowe calls them. Since the elitists are in control of ... Read More

The Dishonest Illusions in the Play Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (1475 words, 5 pages)

A mirror is a tool used to reflect images. Many claim that drama holds a mirror up to society to reflect its true self. On the other hand, there are others who believe that mirrors present dishonest illusions. However, it is generally agreed that mirrors reveal parts of people that ... Read More

An Examination of the Suicide of Edna Pontellier as a Personal Success in the Novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1008 words, 2 pages)

Mythological StandpointThe Awakening by Kate Chopin is about a woman who goes by the name of Edna who has two children and a husband, Leonce. Edna felt like an isolated slave obedient to her husband and her childrens every demand. Even as a child she had lived her own small ... Read More

The Portrait of Time as a Fluid Motion of Nature in the Short Story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (990 words, 4 pages)

In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce has created an awe-inspiring and wonder-filled portrait of time as a fluid motion of nature. The reader is swiftly transported from the present to the past, then forward to the present (as the protagonist perceives it) and finally into the actual ... Read More

The Cost of Knowledge in the Play Wit by Margaret Edson (541 words, 2 pages)

Knowledge at the Cost of the Human SoulThe pursuit for intellectual gain can sometimes lead people to forget that they are dealing with other human beings and not just a test specimen. Researchers, scholars, medics, scientists all seek to discover the next great breakthrough in their respective field, but in ... Read More

An Analysis of Modern Marriage in the Snows of Kilimanjaro,a Short story by Ernest Hemingway (1281 words, 5 pages)

Ernest Hemingways The Snows of Kilimanjaro is one of the authors finest and fantastical literary offerings. Quite compellingly, it is one part autobiographical in its protagonists mental ramblings and bravely one part drama as well. Set in the desert wildlands of Africa, the short story centers on a bitter and ... Read More

Quality and Affordable Health Care Should Be Available for Everyone (1025 words, 5 pages)

Imagine a little African boy is three years old. Hes laying on the dirt floor of his house, head throbbing, sweating, with a fever hotter than the Sahara. Hes tired, having hallucinations, nausea, and vomiting. Now realize, there is a box of medicine at the pharmacy in his town for ... Read More

A Look into the Culture of the 1980’s in the Yellow Wallpaper, a Short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1637 words, 6 pages)

Historical-cultural texts give us much insight into how time has changed various aspects of our lives. Thats why while reading The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which was written in 1890, we have the opportunity to look back on how the culture and the way things were done has ... Read More

An Analysis of American Psycho, a Novel About a Troubled Man in the 1990’s Society (728 words, 3 pages)

American Psycho a novel about a materialistic, vain, and maniacal character. His name is Patrick Bateman. He is just like everyone else from the time period. He does drugs, listens to rock music on his abnormally loud stereo, and has a job in the growing business industry. Only one thing ... Read More

Illusions, Materialism and Love in the Novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (620 words, 2 pages)

There is no reality except the one contained within us.That is why so many people live such an unreal life."There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion" (95). ... Read More

A Character Analysis of Happy From Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (696 words, 4 pages)

Its Getting Better All The TimeThe character Happy from Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman is an almost ambiguous character, revealed more by what is not said than what is said. Happys invisibility and stagnancy are used as a reflection of Willys relationship with his brother, his affairs, and his ... Read More

The Power and Control Given to the Powerless by the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible by Arthur Miller (569 words, 2 pages)

The Salem Witch Trials were of a time where any accusation of witchcraft was taken as evidence to the right to persecute. With having that the law of the land, many of those who were once powerless, were then empowered with a voice to charge any individual of witchcraft they ... Read More

The Readers’ Distaste and the Narrator’s Sympathy for the Character of Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (509 words, 3 pages)

Some WomanThe language of The Great Gatsby guides the reader to the conclusion that Myrtle Wilson is obnoxious and does not know her place. While Fitzgeralds narrator does respect Myrtle and acknowledge the difficulty of her situation, he joins the majority in disapproving of Myrtles invasive personality and affair with ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples