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

85147 total results

Betrayal in The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner (780 words, 3 pages)

Sound and Fury Q3 2007 BetrayalIn The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner parallels the fall of the Compson family with the familys betrayal of their only daughter, Caddy. As Caddy matures and searches for her own path, she receives only criticism from her family, as opposed to support. The familys ... Read More

Setting in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (731 words, 2 pages)

SettingThe Great Gatsby takes place in the 1920s in New York, specifically in East Egg and West Egg, separated by the Long Island Sound, a great body of water. With East Egg more fashionable than West Egg, both Eggs attract millionaires to these affluent parts of New York. F. Scott ... Read More

Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (690 words, 1 pages)

Racism in Innocent EyesAccording to the Declaration of Independence, all men are created equal. This right was created to ensure fair trials in the American Court System whether one is of black or white skin, the right remains the same. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the daily ... Read More

The Influences of Huckleberry Finn on the Society (1393 words, 4 pages)

The Society and Influences of Huckleberry FinnThe word family can mean different things to many different people, though Dictionary.com defines this word as a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not the traditional family. However, this definition does not ... Read More

Diction in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (740 words, 2 pages)

DictionF. Scott Fitzgerald employs informal diction in The Great Gatsby by writing through the eyes of Nick Carraway he accomplishes this through simple dialogue as well as thorough yet straightforward descriptions of the characters and setting. When seeing Gatsby for the first time, Nick depicts his image, describing his smile ... Read More

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor (1660 words, 5 pages)

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a short story written by Flannery OConnor. In most stories of Flannerys, she often includes a character that suffers from some sort of spiritual blindness. These characters are often not your usual suspects. They often do appear to be following what is ... Read More

Power Relations in Being There by Kosinski (832 words, 4 pages)

Power Relations in Being Thereby KosinskiPower is the central element in all social relationships. We need and want power to realize ourselves be the people we want to be and influence the others and their decisions. As all sources of power are essentially limited, every single attempt we make to ... Read More

The Importance of Good Work (509 words, 1 pages)

The Importance of Good WorkWork is necessary for anyone to live a happy life. This is stressed in the novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. In chapter 13, the March girls and Laurie discussed an idea that they referred to as their castles in the air. Their castles represented ... Read More

Puppy by George Saunders (349 words, 1 pages)

PuppyGeorge Saunders is an outstanding fifty five year old American writer. His credentials speak for himself as he has won the National Magazine Award for fiction four times, came in second place for the O Henry Awards in 1977, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2013. ... Read More

Tenth of December by Saunder (416 words, 2 pages)

Saunders Tenth of DecemberSaunders is not only trying to attack the upper class in this book. Their explains that while Saunders constantly makes fun of the people that are portrayed through certain characters, he does understand their situation and their real troubles do matter to him (par. 13). Saunders has ... Read More

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (366 words, 3 pages)

NameTutorCourseDate Ethan Frome Silver - Ungrateful, Impulsive, Cruel Character Within Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome novel, Mattie Silver is ungrateful,impulsive, and cruel. Silver is ungrateful because she hurts Zeena who is abenefactor. Silver is also impulsive she quickly decides to commitsuicide. Further, Silver is cruel she asks Ethan Frome to end ... Read More

Idiosyncratic Behavior of Emily in Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily (592 words, 1 pages)

Rose For Emily In the short story of William Faulkner A Rose for Emily, he gave great emphasis on the idiosyncratic behavior of the main character named Emily Grierson. In mere looking at Griersons behavior, it would be easy to conclude that she is having a psychological problem. In fact, ... Read More

An Analysis of Characters in Doubt, a Play by John Patrick Shanley (378 words, 2 pages)

Doubt EssayThroughout the course of the play, Doubt, there are many instances in which characters, mainly Sister Aloysius, has to protect Donald Muller from the actions of other characters and the environment that he is placed into. Since there was only suspicion of the action and no actual proof, Sister ... Read More

Satire in Puppy by Saunder (306 words, 1 pages)

Saunders PuppySaunders use of satire to criticize the upper class is in many of his stories in Tenth of December, specifically Puppy. Satire is used when Marie notices the store clerks son, Bo, chained and harnessed to the tree in the backyard. This use of satire is to attack the ... Read More

A Biography of Edgar Allan Poe an American Poet and Writer (831 words, 3 pages)

Edgar Allan Poe (19th of January 1809 to 7th of October 1849) was an American poet and writer in the American Romantic movement. He was, and is known for his very distinctive writing style. Hes one of Americas most known writers and he still fascinates people today, with a lot ... Read More

An Analysis of Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway (2043 words, 6 pages)

18 October 2013English 124A Role Model for Women of the 1920sHer noble name seems to emit controversy and her character emits complexity. Lady Brett Ashley, the only significant female character in Hemingways The Sun Also Rises, has a very poor reputation among the literary crowd it seems. She is widely ... Read More

Slavery and Racism in American Literature (504 words, 2 pages)

How Fair Life WasEver since I was little, I've been taught about slavery and racism each one of my teachers from 1st through 10th grade taught me something different about the two. What all of my teachers failed to stress was that these people were treated the way that they ... Read More

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner (882 words, 5 pages)

In the short story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner the narrator tells about the death of Emily Griersons death. Emily who was once the towns icon died everyone in the town is attending her funeral in her home that no one has entered in more than ten years. ... Read More

A Comparison of Household Income and Graduation Rate (1166 words, 5 pages)

Household Income vs. Graduation Rate How does society define a person that is successful? Many would suggest it is by the level of their happiness, financial status, or accomplishments. But how does one get to the point where they have achieved everything they need to be successful? It is no ... Read More

The Mystery of Emily in A Rose for Emily by Faulkner (2446 words, 11 pages)

IntroductionThesis Statement In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner uses character development, setting, and rhetorical devices, to express the mystery of Emily and the somewhat bad vibe the townspeople have towards Emily.IntroWilliam Faulkner BiographyFaulkners Use Of Setting, Symbolism, and CharacterizationSetting SimCity-styleMississippi, YoknapatawphaThe main reasoning behind Emilys attitude and actionsThe town of ... Read More

Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway (478 words, 2 pages)

Hills like White ElephantsIn what ways could you categorize this story as a minimalist work? Hemingways classic short story Hills like White Elephants seems to be basically a realistic description, but is highly symbolic.The Structure of this story is minimalist, as it leaves out details that arent really needed to ... Read More

The Autobiographical Narrative in Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan (886 words, 3 pages)

Fish CheeksIn the autobiographical narrative "Fish Cheeks," Amy Tan contrasts her perspective at a Christmas dinner with the other individuals at the same Christmas dinner to highlight her cultural shame.The embarrassment Tan feels of her culture is a main perspective depicted throughout this narrative. Everyone at the dinner has a ... Read More

Literary Analysis of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky (590 words, 2 pages)

Literary analysis of The Perks of Being a WallflowerThe novel that I have read is called The Perks of Being a Wallflower and was written by Steven Chbosky (January 25th ,1970-). It was actually published in 1999, and is a coming of age novel which means that it focuses on ... Read More

Personal Interests Help to Transcend Social Differences; The Harry Hastings Method (461 words, 3 pages)

NameTutorCourseDate "The Harry Hastings Method" - Personal Interests Help to Transcend Social Differences Warner Law uses "The Harry Hastings Method" story to show thatpersonal interests cause individuals to transcend existing socialdifferences. To this end, to ensure that she obtains a romantic partner,Susie Plimson disregards the fact that the narrator is ... Read More

An Analysis of Diction and Character in Shoulders by Naomi Shibab (481 words, 2 pages)

Diction and Character in Shoulders by Naomi ShibabIn Shoulders, the speaker tells us about a man he sees on the street. The man is carryig his son. The poet suggests that for the good of mankind, we all should handle the next generation with great care. The boy is the ... Read More

An Analysis of Racism in The Help (579 words, 2 pages)

The discussion question our class picked was, Do you think that had Aibileen stayed working for Miss Elizabeth, Mae Mobley would have grown up to be a racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent or taught? I think the easy answer would be to say that Mae ... Read More

Humanity in Raisin in the Sun (897 words, 3 pages)

A Dreamer's RecluseSome see it as a sign. Others see it as worthless. It has been explained asa way for humans to review their lives but also as a spiritual window toanother world. It is perhaps one of the most intriguing things abouthumanity due to how none can explain why ... Read More

An Analysis of the Passion for Reading in One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora Welty (674 words, 2 pages)

The Passion of ReadingUntil I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing. Harper LeeHarper Lee once compared reading to as much a necessity as breathing. Similarly, Eudora Welty, a renowned writer, also very much considers books to be a necessity in her ... Read More

An Analysis of Theme in A Clean, Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway (519 words, 2 pages)

Theme in "A Clean, Well Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway Theme is the idea found in a work of art, that is related to the realworld. It differs from the subject in the aspect that subject is what wethink the work is about whereas the theme is what the work ... Read More

An Analysis of Antagonist Forces in A Worn Path by Eudora Welty (469 words, 2 pages)

Antagonist Forces in "A Worn Path" In Eudora Welty's short story, "A Worn Path", Phoenix Jackson, who isan old and poor lady, taking a journey to bring medicine to her grandson,faces many obstacles along the way. Following the traditional plot pattern,these obstacles get harder and harder as the story progresses ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples