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

85147 total results

A Character Analysis of Santiago as the Epitome of Code Heroes in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (925 words, 3 pages)

A Code HeroWhen pondering the daunting uncertainties of life, a man can only be sure that it will ultimately end in failure, for death awaits him at his journeys end. Moreover, the evil and loss that run rampant in the world fill his voyage with pain, threatening to strip him ... Read More

An Analysis of the Symbolism in the Novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1746 words, 6 pages)

The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorns writing style has garnered much fame for its effective use of symbolism. None of his works captures this quality better than the novel The Scarlet Letter. The renowned scarlet letter A serves as the main symbol in the piece. Throughout the course of the novel, the ... Read More

An Analysis of the Philosophical Notions in the Novel Light of August by William Faulkner (2106 words, 8 pages)

Light of AugustCritics of William Faulkner have often identified elements of well-known philosophical notions in his acclaimed novel Light in August. These ideas include Jeffersonian agrarianism and pragmatism, but no views are more clearly represented and more often overlooked in Faulkners piece than those of transcendentalist philosophers, particularly Ralph Waldo ... Read More

An ANalysis of the Scene in Which Hester Removes Her Scarlet Letter in the Novel the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (683 words, 3 pages)

The Scarlet LetterThe scene in which Hester removes of her scarlet letter represents the climax of her internal struggle between her inner and outer self. Through this scene Hawthorn illustrates that one must be able to live freely within his community in order to truly live. Pearl, the only character ... Read More

The Element of Dark Romanticism in Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee (1525 words, 6 pages)

Annabel LeeIntroductionResearch question How does Annabel Lee show the element of Dark Romanticism?Annabel Lee is one of the literary pieces of work done by Edgar Allan Poe in 1849 just a few months before his death. Consequently, he was an American poet, critic and editor under the American Romantic Movement ... Read More

The Main Character’s Life Transformation in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees (900 words, 4 pages)

Life TransformationsIntroductionThe bean Trees is actually the first and prolific literary piece of work done by an American writer, Barbara Kingsolver. The novel opens in a rural setting of Kentucky where the main character, Taylor Greer nicknamed as Missy introduces the piece of Kingsolvers piece of work as a protagonist. ... Read More

A Biography of Stephen Crane an Author (2500 words, 9 pages)

You cant do it by rule any more than you can learn to dance by rule. You have to have the itch of the thing in your fingers, and if you havent well youre damned lucky, and youll live long and prosper, thats all.Stephen CraneStephen Crane once spoke these words ... Read More

Alice as the Worst Grotesques in the Book, Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (557 words, 3 pages)

Sherwood Andersons Winesburg, Ohio is a book that creates a community through the portrayal of many individual characters that reside in the town of Winesburg the citizens of the community are connected through a commonality in the environment. The citizens chronicled in Winesburg, Ohio happen to all be what Anderson ... Read More

Themes of Government and Individuality in Kurt Vonnegut’s 2BR02B and Cold Turkey (949 words, 4 pages)

Kurt Vonnegut was born in 1922, in Indianapolis. In his 50 years of writing, he published 27 works from novels to short stories. Vonnegut used very straightforward and direct writing to talk about complicated topics, making his writing very intriguing and almost mysterious. In two short stories, 2BR02B, and Cold ... Read More

An Analysis of the Short Story Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne (508 words, 2 pages)

The short story, Dr. Heideggers Experiment, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a clear example of the literary time period of romanticism because of the abstract concepts that it contains. In this story, Dr. Heidegger proposes an intriguing experiment to four of his old friends, to which his friends immediately agree. He ... Read More

Mark Twain’s and Steve Haruch’s Commentaries on Racism (900 words, 3 pages)

One SpeciesIt is difficult to imagine that just over a hundred years ago, African Americans were in shackles and under the control of other human beings. Even one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, owned slaves himself. But in 1865, slavery was legally abolished and with it, racism began to ... Read More

An Analysis of Grendel by John Gardner (4715 words, 15 pages)

Grendel CommentaryGrendel by John Gardner is a retelling of the epic poem of Beowulf told through the perspective of that storys antagonist --- Grendel. Now serving as the protagonist of Gardners rendition, Grendel tells a tale that reflects new themes as well as some that can be found in Beowulf. ... Read More

The Fight for Daisy’s Love in the Great Gatsby, a Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1102 words, 3 pages)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli.The Great Gatsby. New York, NY Scribner, 1996. Print.ISBN 0-684-80152-3SummaryThe Great Gatsby chronicles the story of the character Jay Gatsby from the point of view of Nick Carraway. The story takes place on the east coast in the 1920s, a time where the economy ... Read More

Experience, Beliefs and Racism: Why Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Should Be Read in Schools (1557 words, 5 pages)

Experience, Beliefs, and Racism Why Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Should be Read in SchoolsMark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn addresses an extremelyimportant topic. Racism has always been a huge problem and continues to beeven today. The biggest problem is that racism is such an uncomfortabletopic that people are rarely given ... Read More

The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne: Narrator’s Values (388 words, 2 pages)

Narrator's Values The Narrator's values can principally be derived from the descriptionof the patriarch of the Custom-House. He believes that intellect andmorality are the primary attributes that make someone human, as seen by hisdescription of such a person lacking those qualities as animalistic.Furthermore, the Narrator thinks lowly of the lack ... Read More

The Consequences of Overexposure: The Use of Light in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald (1696 words, 6 pages)

The Consequences of Overexposure The use of Light in The Great Gatsby In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests thelimitations of the American Dream. He implies that by spending too longtrying to follow a dream towards greatness, a person can get stuck in themoment when that dream ... Read More

A Comparison of the Types of Personalities in the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Miller and Flannery O’Connor (775 words, 2 pages)

You Cant Imagine a New Color The way one views and understands things is colored by their personal beliefs and ideas. The same is true for the things one reads. My interpretations and opinions of characters were affected by my preconceptions. I was unable to view each character with a ... Read More

Noah Joad as an Outsider in the Grapes of Wrath, a Novel by John Steinbeck (853 words, 1 pages)

Fractilic OutsidersWith light, there is shade. With inclusion, comes exclusion. Having outsiders is what creates insiders. Even in groups of outsiders, there are outsiders the outside of an already outcast group. Similarly to a fractal, this pattern repeats endlessly, getting smaller and smaller each time. Without outsiders, there could never ... Read More

The Conflict between Randle McMurphy and Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a Novel by Ken Kesey (1614 words, 5 pages)

Ingenuity Breeds InsanityIn the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, author Ken Kesey portrays the conflict between Randle Patrick McMurphy, a confident rebel who enters a mental hospital, and Nurse Ratched, who holds dominant control in the institution. By protesting the oppressive rule of Nurse Ratched, McMurphy quickly wins ... Read More

Pearl’s Lawyer: On the Removal of the Scarlet Letter from Hester Prynne (861 words, 4 pages)

Pearl's Lawyer On the Removal of the Scarlet Letter from Hester PrynneAs one of Pearl's lawyers, I represent Pearl in advocating against theremoval of the "A." Since the time she was a small child, Pearl has had afascination with the scarlet letter. Even when she was a baby, she wassimply ... Read More

Jesse Ball’s The Way Through Doors: A View of the Fiddle (686 words, 2 pages)

AP Practice Essay In this passage from Jesse Ball's The Way Through Doors, the impliedauthor takes a rather pessimistic view of the fiddle. He believes that manyof the indoctrinating qualities of humanity that justify cynicism come byway of the fiddle. The image of a fiddle is naturally very comforting. As ... Read More

The Theme of Self-Reliance in the Character of John Proctor by Arthur Miller in the Crucible (636 words, 2 pages)

By the end of The Crucible, John Proctor has become a self-reliant man, knowing that he will be hated by the towns people, but completely satisfied with his actions as they are his version of righteousness and holiness and he believes that he has the possibility of salvation and greatness. ... Read More

The Burden of Love in the Characters of Guitar and Milkman in the Song of Solomon (1009 words, 2 pages)

How Much Can be Carried?Is it possible to love too much? In Song of Solomon, love and the burden of love is the primary influence on many of the characters actions. To start, we can take a look at Porter, one of the members of the Seven Days, an organization ... Read More

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: The Use of Minor Characters to Accent the Author’s Views on Racism and Injustice (856 words, 3 pages)

Many authors use minor or younger characters to convey the message of their writing to the readers. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee, uses this technique very elegantly. She uses the innocence of the children to accent her point about the racism and injustice that exists in ... Read More

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn: Marx’s vs. Cox’s Interpretation (519 words, 2 pages)

Marx vs. Cox I agree more with Cox's interpretation of the ending. It seems to mevery unlikely that Twain would choose to write an ending that underminesthe whole meaning of the book it must have some sort of meaning. First, Cox asserts that Huck decides to free Jim simply because ... Read More

The Use of Shallow Feelings in the Giver by Lois Lowry and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut (511 words, 1 pages)

To make a perfect society, anger and jealousy would have to be eliminated, and have only shallow emotions left. Then the people would have to be altered emotionally and have different attitudes. There would need to be no extreme emotions and there must be no pain and understanding of the ... Read More

An Analysis of Peekay’s Camoflauge in The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (305 words, 2 pages)

The Power Of One Journal Response 2 All his life, Peekay has learned to survive by blending in, and whenhe arrives at his new home in Barberton he is prepared to do the same.However, in this new environment the meaning of "blending in" hasdrastically changed. Peekay is suddenly thrust into ... Read More

The Realization of Franny in the Book Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (323 words, 1 pages)

Franny and Zooey Journal ResponseIn Franny and Zooey, Salinger writes about a conversation where Zooey reminds Franny of her past disagreements with Jesus. Through this detail, Salinger is able to prepare the reader to understand the meaning of the novels conclusion, in which Franny comes to the realization that she ... Read More

The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald: A Rose by Any Other Name (1383 words, 4 pages)

A Rose By Any Other Name The wealthier people of The Great Gatsby clearly adore their flowers.Bright and vivid roses, orchids, and flowers of every shape and size adornTom's lakeside mansion and decorate Gatsby's wild weekend parties. Like theperfect flowers all around them, the rich inhabitants of the Eggs alsoappear ... Read More

The Situation of Franny in the Book Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (347 words, 2 pages)

Franny and Zooey Page 91-119 Journal ResponseWhen Zooeys private war against narcissism is brought up, I think that it is referring to how he hates so many people around him are egotistical and cant stand it. He tried to avoid it as much as possible since he has learned to ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples