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

85147 total results

Valuation of Money in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (670 words, 3 pages)

Contrast in the Valuation of Money by the BourgeoisieMany of the wealthy, upper class individuals in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald lust for wealth and have a personality fundamentally enabled by the vast sums of money they have access to. The enterprising individuals who made their own money ... Read More

The Portrayal of Transcendentalism in Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1227 words, 4 pages)

The Portrayal of Transcendentalism in "Grapes of Wrath" Characters The characters in Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck exemplify thetenets of transcendentalism that Emerson and Thoreau present in passageslike Self-Reliance. This naturist idea of relying on an inner voice tobecome self reliant through life, and being able to overcome adversity ... Read More

The Destructive and Short Affair Depicted in The Storm, a Short Story by Kate Chopin (384 words, 1 pages)

The Storm starts out by introducing the reader to a father and son at a store when they note a storm is making its way toward them. Because of the storm, they are forced to take a shelter. Calixta, the wife and mother, is mentioned as the two wonder what ... Read More

Positive Stance on Robotics Reflected in His Characters in I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (833 words, 3 pages)

Asimovs Positive Stance on Robotics Reflected in His CharactersIn I, Robot, Isaac Asimov writes about laymen, scientists, and robots, whose views and actions each support different aspects of Asimovs own positive standpoint on technological progression. Whether it is Michael Donovan and Gregory Powells pragmatic attitude towards the robotic dilemmas they ... Read More

The Grotesque Nature of Wing Biddlebaum in Hands by Sherwood Anderson (380 words, 1 pages)

The Grotesque Nature of Wing Biddlebaum in HandsIt takes very little for a person to become a grotesque. According to Anderson, a grotesque is one who seizes a truth and attempts to live solely by it, and by doing so ruins his life. For Wing Biddlebaum of Hands, his truth ... Read More

Influence of Culture on Perspective in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1090 words, 5 pages)

Influence of Culture on PerspectiveAn individuals cultural identity, such as their family, religion, language, or government, will always affect and influence their perspective of the world and other peoples around them. Whether or not people realize that their cultural identities influence people around them, everyone is affected by other peoples ... Read More

Review of Sarah B. Pomeroy’s Book The Murder of Regilla (2056 words, 8 pages)

Review of The Murder of Regilla by Sarah B. PomeroyMurder mysteries are all around popular culture today in the 21st century. Dozens of shows regurgitate the events, investigation, and prosecution of such offenders so often its almost hard to miss. Along with that, one can easily tune in to famous ... Read More

The Message in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (776 words, 3 pages)

Huckleberry Finn MessageThe main characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn provide an insight on the apparent foolishness of society. Each character has a distinct personality that draws out some flaw in society, specifically hypocrisy and gullibility. Huck and Jims circumstances create situations that place both of them in danger, ... Read More

An Analysis of Invisibility in the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (587 words, 2 pages)

Tone Of InvisibilityInvisibility has been described as adventurous in many a heroic tale. It has been lonely, sneaky, and peaceful, perhaps invisibility is all of these things and more at the same time. It may respond to the specific situation and, depending on what is happening, adjusts itself for the ... Read More

Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress (1489 words, 5 pages)

In Nancy Kress's novel Steal Across the Sky the future is marked witha great religious and scientific discovery. A secret kept from the humanrace for thousands of years by mysterious aliens known as "Atoners" hasanswered the long unknown question of, what happens after we are laid torest? The novel is ... Read More

Feminism in Women in the Nineteenth Century by Sarah Margaret Fuller (1321 words, 5 pages)

Literary Interpretation Women in the Nineteenth Century by Sarah Margaret Fuller, was at thetime it was written, the most profound and extreme paper on feminism in theworld. Her transcendentalist view of the improvement and self-bettermentof the human race, and mainly the female species was so radical that itcould not go ... Read More

The Issue of Censorship in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1064 words, 4 pages)

Censorship is something that is a huge deal in society today,everyone rambles on about freedom of speech vs. infringement of othersrights. However, as a society, the censorship of any material is bothunjust and counter productive if we want a more informed future. In 451,Bradbury shows how the censorship of material ... Read More

The Portrayal of Characters in Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1562 words, 6 pages)

In Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, the portrayal of certain charactersand events are artfully crafted to be satirical. In particular, Vonnegutsatirizes groups that we put ourselves into to feel like we are part ofsomething. All the silly teams and clubs that we build into our lives tomake us feel like ... Read More

Women’s Dependence on Men in A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (509 words, 1 pages)

In A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, he discusses how women depended on men to provide for them in the 1948. For example he shows this on page 165 when Stella stays with Stanley despite her sisters , Blanche, remark against him in order to continue her life ... Read More

The Use of Symbolism in the Short Story The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe (938 words, 2 pages)

An Overview of Madness and DarknessIn The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, an unnamed narrator finds himself in the midst of a dark descent during his visit of an old friend, Roderick Usher. Usher needs help for a mental disorder which oppressed him (298). Despite ... Read More

The Chaos Theory in the Novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1551 words, 5 pages)

"At the earliest drawing of the fractal curve, few clues to the underlying mathematical structure will be seen." This is one of the many quotes used by Dr Ian Malcolm in the novel, Jurassic Park, written by Michael Crichton. The quote, and many others in the story, addresses one of ... Read More

The Afterlife in the Poem Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant (1553 words, 5 pages)

Calm DeathThe afterlife is an abstract concept which delves into the realm of faith. The concept allows people to trust death, it allows people to accept death. In Thanatopsis, a poem by William Cullen Bryant, he attempts to ease the pain of death by explaining that death is a natural ... Read More

The Concept of Selfishness in the Short Story The Five Forty-Eight by John Cheever (321 words, 1 pages)

In the short story The Five Forty-Eight by John Cheever, Mr. Blake is most accurately characterized as selfish concerned chiefly or only with ones own welfare and well-being. When he put on his clothes again, an hour or so later, she was weeping. He felt too contented and warm and ... Read More

The Character of Brenda in Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth (844 words, 4 pages)

The Character of Brenda in Philip Roth's Goodbye, ColumbusBrenda Patimkin is a Jewish girl who is brought up in an upper-class society and is a student at Radcliffe. Her parents are wealthy and live in the New Jersey suburbs of Short Hills. She meets a 23-year-old graduate of Newark College, ... Read More

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (985 words, 3 pages)

How high do you think your chances of survival would be if you wereplaced in an arena full of tributes ready to kill you? In Suzanne Collins'book The Hunger Games, District 12's tribute, Katniss Everdeen, has tofight for survival in a deadly game known as the Hunger Games. The skillsand ... Read More

An Analysis of the Book Unreliable Truth by Maureen Murdock (608 words, 2 pages)

Unreliable Truth PaperUnreliable truth by Maureen Murdock was a very captivating book to read. It did a good job of grabbing the readers attention and I felt like I was Murdock at whatever time and place she was in the book. There were several key points that stood out to ... Read More

The Inappropriate Acts of the Characters in the Stories Within The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff (1892 words, 6 pages)

The Night in Question Paper 2 In some of the stories within The Night in Question there arecharacters who act in ways that might lead to job dismissal,disappointment, or act in ways that might even endanger their lives. In oneof the stories, "Mortals", it's implied the main character has grown ... Read More

The Themes of Racism and Fear of the Unknown in the Novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1042 words, 3 pages)

To Kill a MockingbirdThe theme that People often fear what they do not understand can be seen developing throughout the story in Scouts eyes. The theme can be shown developing throughout the story from the beginning, middle, and end with different things such as character quotes and actions. An example ... Read More

An Analysis of the Character of Troy Maxson in the Play, Fences by August Wilson (1737 words, 6 pages)

Fences Character Analysis Troy MaxsonEvery individual in society encounters a series of conflicts within their life that they must overcome in order to progress within that society. In the play Fences, written by August Wilson, the protagonist Troy Maxsons an inability to progress during his youth because of his place ... Read More

An Examination of the Social Pressures and Expectations in the Development of the Characters and the Influence on the Changes of the Characters in The Tattooed Soldier (356 words, 1 pages)

The Tattooed Soldier Environmental Psychology Essay OutlineWhat social pressures or expectations play a major role in thedevelopment of the characters, and how have they influenced change in those characters?I. Intro Rough Thesis Their new environment, and all the factors within it, such as their changed conscious thought and social facilitation, ... Read More

The World of America in Ray Bradbury’s Novel Fahrenheit 451 (989 words, 4 pages)

Technological Dependency A Disquieting Truth We Must Face In celebrated 20th-century American author Ray Bradbury's novelFahrenheit 451 the reader is introduced to a futuristic, war-obsessed anddumb-downed America that belittles intellectualism and free thought.Bradbury, with a deft hand, details the significance of a society that hasgiven up thinking in favor of ... Read More

The Role of Character ‘Emily Webb’ in Portraying Unimportant Things in the Play, Our Town (737 words, 2 pages)

Its the little things that count is a timeless quote. Its been around for ages, and anyone whether they are the average person or a king have heard of it. One theme in the play Our Town is about exploring this idea. It encompasses and explores the feelings daily life, ... Read More

The Italian Experience of Gerlando During His Visit to Italy in the Novel, Mount Allegro by Jerre Mangione (360 words, 2 pages)

Analysis of Jerre Mangiones Mount AllegroTowards the end of the novel Mount Allegro by Jerre Mangione, the novels Italian American protagonist Gerlando visits Italy so as to get a first hand taste of his Italian heritage. At one point during his visit, Gerlando witnesses a street party in a Sicilian ... Read More

Living as a Puppet According to the Excerpt Communism is Just a Red Herring from Anthem by Ayn Rand and the Poem, Invictus by W. E. Henley (318 words, 2 pages)

English EssayImagine if we lived in a world where the government controls what you watch, what you say, even what you listen to. Strict authority affects the way that people can express themselves, and I am against it. I will explain further using information from Communism is Just a Red ... Read More

An Analysis of the Literary Work The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (970 words, 4 pages)

The lotteryThe literary work that was chosen to be analyzed is The lottery by Shirley Jackson. This literary work follows the events that occur during, before, and after a yearly lottery is held in a village like establishment. All of the villages gather together to draws pieces of paper for ... Read More

American Literature Essay Examples