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

85147 total results

The Struggle to Fight the Minimum Wage in America in Nickel and Dimed, a Book by Barbara Ehrenreich (383 words, 1 pages)

In the book, Nickel and Dimed' by Barbara Ehrenreich having to see the economy of the United State working in minimum wage have brought many consequences in life that many people are struggling to find a good paying job. In fact, Ehrenreich decided to join the lower class people to ... Read More

The Hardships and Sadness in the Life of Edgar Allan Poe as an Inspiration for the Creation of His Works (444 words, 2 pages)

Edgar Allan Poe is most known for his unique style of writing mystery and suspense, creating a pathway for modern mystery and horror genres. Throughout his life he has encountered many hardships that inspired him to create such dark and mysterious pieces. In his younger years his mother died and ... Read More

The Traits of Selfishness and Greed in Reverend Parris From The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1086 words, 3 pages)

A Wormy Little MinisterHuman Nature has a tendency, a fad if you will, to display traits of selfishness and a me first, you later attitude. This sort of thinking often leads people to do unjust or politically incorrect things, and it gets them in trouble with the law, the government, ... Read More

The Theme of Finding Meaning Through Adversity in Black Boy by Richard Wright and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1929 words, 6 pages)

America Its Always Darkest before the Dawns Early LightAnything seemed possible, likely, feasible, because I wanted everything to be possible (Wright 72). Richard, the protagonist in Richard Wrights Black Boy, always thinks optimistically. Likewise, an air of faith and hope drives John Steinbecks Joad family through their problems on the ... Read More

Finding a Meaning in a Fight Against Time in A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (807 words, 3 pages)

Is the World Absurd?Throughout history, the perception of time has dumbfounded philosophers and baffled scientists. According to string theory, our particular universe consists of nine spatial and one temporal dimension. Where we as humans living on Earth categorize time into hours, minutes, and seconds, the concept of time extends far ... Read More

The Conflicts in the Life of Ethan in the Novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (812 words, 4 pages)

Three's a Crowd The Conflicted Life of Ethan FromeEthan and Mattie believed suicide was the solution for their dark despair instead, the failed attempt secured many years of agonizing entrapment. The years had worn Ethan down, as he looked as if he was dead and in hell now! (2). Life ... Read More

John Atkins’ Criticism and Analysis of the Work and Personality of Ernest Hemingway (3601 words, 13 pages)

In Art of Ernest Hemingway His Work and Personality, John Atkins addresses various criticisms of Hemingways writing style, as well as analyzes his various works as they pertain to his writing style. The book discusses matters that have agitated the mind and sensibility of Ernest Hemingway war, violence, The Lost ... Read More

The Annoying Voices Inside One’s Mind in Trouble With the Editor by Natalie Goldberg (741 words, 3 pages)

Struggling with the annoying voice inside the head is a common problem, which many people are facing every day, especially when writing. In other words, when writing, there are two types of personality in one mind appear one is an angel who helping create beautiful words, great ideas, and fabulous ... Read More

Self Understanding in The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (758 words, 4 pages)

Identifying the Invisible ManIt has previously been established that the African-American community found it necessary to extensively understand and manipulate double consciousness. Essentially in order to avoid further mistreatment, African-Americans would enact a faade while in front of a white man, although they themselves had a different concept of their ... Read More

A Character Analysis of Donald and Pete From The Rich Brother (1254 words, 4 pages)

Character Analyses The Rich Brother Some say that we find out who we really are under high stress or incredibly infuriating conditions. We dont know what it is but stress seems to strip away all of our inhibitions and show us the person inside without the constraints society places on ... Read More

The Abuse of Commodities in The Grapes of Wrath, a Novel by John Steinbeck (2355 words, 9 pages)

Abuse of the Commodity in The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck tells the story of a rural farming family, the Joads, who lose their home to foreclosure during the Great Dust Bowl. The bank and the unnamed corporation pay a man from the area to ... Read More

The Financial Struggles and Racial Oppression of an African-American Family in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1597 words, 5 pages)

A Raisin in the SunWritten by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, portrays an African-American family struggling to make their dreams a reality despite the financial struggles and racial oppression they have to battle against. The main characters are Lena (Mama), the matriarch of the family, Walter and Beneatha ... Read More

An Analysis of the Rhetorical Devices in the Speech of Edward R. Murrow (722 words, 3 pages)

Rhetorical Analysis Essay on Edward R. Murrow's Speech Edward R. Murrow many rhetorical devices to show that writers often write about entertainment rather than give people real knowledge of what is going on in the world. Many writers simply write about random things than allowing the public to learn of ... Read More

An Analysis of When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka (1683 words, 5 pages)

Reading Response for When the Emperor was Divine by Julie OtsukaWhen the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka is a very interesting and touching story told through the emotions of a Japanese American family. This is a novel about how the family struggled to be equal after being sent to ... Read More

The Theme of Betrayal in East of Eden, a Novel by John Steinbeck (1313 words, 5 pages)

Betrayal, common between young adults, seldom actually happens between teens. Often, the emotional baggage of jealousy between friends and family leads to in-fighting, but seldom betrayal. Yet betrayal does occur at times, and in John Steinbecks novel East Of Eden, betrayal forms a central theme between characters. Early on, Charles ... Read More

An Overview of Writing Style’s Stephen King Used in under the Dome (1606 words, 5 pages)

In the novel Under the Dome Stephen King, a late 20th century writer, analyzes how some people take advantage of situations to benefit themselves and to achieve power in a closed community.Kings writing method and locations in his books were influenced by his upbringing in the New England area. As ... Read More

The Change of a Character’s Behavior Based on the Characteristics of the Society That They Live In in the Novella Maggie the Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane (900 words, 3 pages)

Based on the novella Maggie the Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane explains through color and animal imagery that a characters behavior can change based on the characteristics of the society that they live in. Colors can explain the mood of the scene while animal descriptions can help the reader ... Read More

The Struggle of a Japanese-American Family in the Novel When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka (872 words, 3 pages)

The novel When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka is a very touching story told through the emotions of a Japanese American family during World War ll. This novel is about how the family struggled to be equal after being sent to an internment camp after Perl Harbor. The ... Read More

A Comparison of The Indian Camp by Ernest Hemingway and Rain Music by Longhang Nguyen (652 words, 3 pages)

The Indian Camp And Rain MusicThe Indian Camp by Ernest Hemingway and Rain Music by Longhang Nguyen stories have many differences and a few similarities. The ways these stories characters lived were different, depending on their nationalities, the different places the people lived in, the environments, and relationships between their ... Read More

The Change of Direction of Strether in the Novel The Ambassadors by Henry James (877 words, 2 pages)

Throughout the second part of The Ambassadors, Strether seems intent on staying in Paris. He is so focused on this desire that he even urges Chad to stay and promises Madame de Vionnet that he will work to keep him there with her. However, at the very end of the ... Read More

The Allegory in the Play The American Dream by Edward Albee (552 words, 1 pages)

As Grandma announces soon after his entrance, the Young Man is the personification American Dream. His self-description as an aesthetic "type" is a self-consciousperhaps even embarrassedreflection on the allegorical intentions of the play.Albee's allegory of the American Dream is certainly strange. The American Dream does not appear as that which ... Read More

An Analysis of the Book The American by Henry James (981 words, 2 pages)

On a basic level, James employs copying and copycatting throughout the novel to hint at the dishonesty, ambition, ambiguity, or hypocrisy of individual characters. Nomie, a beautiful but heartless creature, spends hours copying paintings at the Louvre and acquiring the perfect manners of her more affluent sisters. The weak and ... Read More

The Theme of the American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1168 words, 4 pages)

A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is ones conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be ... Read More

Realism and Romanticism in the Novel All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (715 words, 2 pages)

The American conception of the West is a romantic ideal born of a profoundly unromantic reality. It has been the self-appointed role of contemporary scholarship and culture to reach past the popular vision of America's westward expansion and settlement--a vision shaped and colored by hundreds of Western movies and their ... Read More

An Analysis of the Life of Rufus in the Novel Kindred by Octavia Butler (582 words, 2 pages)

Life for Rufus in KindredAt the start of the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler, Rufus is portrayed as a son of a plantation owner. Rufus grew up without being educated because factors like distance from schools removed the need for schooling in the South. Only the wealthy could afford private ... Read More

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise: The Heart of the Book (346 words, 1 pages)

The heart of a story is the intangible, emotional undercurrent in which the author conveys emotion and meaning of the piece of writing as a whole without deliberately and directly stating the mood they are trying to spin with the drama and plot line. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the heart ... Read More

The Theme of Family Love in the Novel Kindred by Octavia Butler (373 words, 2 pages)

Most Noticeable Theme in Kindred In the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler, there are many themes that are presented throughout the novel. Some of them are race, power, and violence. Family love, though, seems to show the most throughout the novel. Family bondage is important in the novel because it ... Read More

An Analyis of the Dilemma of Quitting or Not to Quit in Pursuit of Perfection by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (600 words, 2 pages)

The author of The Pursuit of Perfection states, To quit or not to quit that is the question. Heshe are referring to Vince Lombardis quote, Winners never quit, and quitters never win. The authors dilemma is questioning the act of quitting, which is usually seen as being weak by individuals ... Read More

An Analysis of the True American Society in the Great Gatsby, a Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1315 words, 4 pages)

After an inspiring victory across the Atlantic Ocean in World War One, the United States stood as a beacon for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As one of the few countries left physically unscarred by the brutal warfare, many foreigners viewed America as an oasis from all the ... Read More

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Pioneers, a Novel by James Fenimore Cooper (1654 words, 6 pages)

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." Self Reliance "James Cooper's most obvious problem was the sheer magnitude of hisfather's achievement" (Motley 44). To confine James Cooper's life story toone of a man attempting to fill his father's ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples