Free American novelists Essays and Papers

In 1820, Cooper published his first literary work, Precaution, on a challenge from his wife. This novel was a disappointment to Cooper. He published his second work of American Literature, The Spy, and a year later in 1821. This novel was modeled after Sir Walters Scott’s Waverly, with the exception that it was set during the American Revolution. The Spy brought Cooper international recognition and wealth. Cooper’s third novel, The Pioneers, was the first of five novels of a series that made up the

Minorities in America as Portrayed in My Name is Asher Lev, Joy Luck Club, and Black Like Me Conflicting values are a constant issue in society. In diverse civilizations minorities become out ruled by the majority. In Twentieth Century American culture there are many difficulties in existing as a minority. The books My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok, and the Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, portray the aspect of being torn between two cultures as a conflict for today's minorities. Black Like Me

Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers The North wind is blowing in Dickson County on this cold, March morning, and in Susan Glaspell’s, “A Jury of Her Peers,” murder bring together a group of men and two women, with two separate agendas. The men’s group who includes: Mr. Hale; a witness, Mr. Peters; the sheriff, and Mr. Henderson; the county attorney are persistent in finding evidence to ensure a conviction of Minnie (Foster) Wright; wife of the victim, John Wright. However, the two women: Mrs

Ambiguity in literature after World War II reflects and explores issues of self and society. These two ideas often work against each other instead of coexisting to form a struggle-free existence. J. D. Salinger, Sylvia Plath, and Richard Heller illustrate this struggle with their works. These authors explore ambiguity through different characters that experience the world in different ways. Identity, while it is an easy concept, can be difficult to attain. These authors seek out ambiguity with

Annotated Bibliography Crash Course. “Holden, JD, and the Red Cap- The Catcher in the Rye Part 2: Crash Course English Literature #7.” Youtube. Youtube, 17 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. Crash Course is a Youtube channel that explains a plethora of topics that range from history to astronomy. John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars, takes over the literature section and gives insight to the deeper meanings of many influential books, such as The Catcher in the Rye. In this second part of

Comparing Relationships in Susan Minot's Lust and Coraghessan Boyle's Carnal Knowledge "After the briskness of loving, loving stops"-Susan Minot This quote from Minot summarizes the love affairs in her short story "Lust" and T. Coraghessan Boyle's short story "Carnal Knowledge." The protagonists in these stories go to great lengths to please their significant others hoping to find loving, fulfilling relationships. They make sacrifices and relinquish certain degrees of power to find happiness

Lessons in Self-Acceptance: A Comparison of This Boy’s Life: A Memoir and In the Time of the Butterflies Human beings continually strive for perfection, while never actually reaching it. It is this Sisyphean task that burdens souls with the great pressure of being flawless. However, when an individual is able to combat this weight by accepting their flaws, only then are they able to be truly happy. In This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff, and In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez

In “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, the children who live in the ghetto in New York go on a trip with their teacher, Miss Moore, to another part of town .When they get there, they visit a toy store. Miss Moore hopes that the students learn a lesson from the visit and skills she tries to teach them in the store. The theme of this short story is Poverty and Wealth .The teacher wants her students to make inferences about ghetto life and the upper class people who can afford the high cost of toys.

The Power of Personality in Toni Cade Bambara’s The Lesson Developing character is something that comes with time. I believe that there are three major things that effect how people develop their character—where they are from, which includes their financial status; how they are raised; and the character of the people that  have had the most influence on their lives. Sylvia, in Toni Cade Bambara’s "The Lesson," is very much influenced by all of these factors. Sylvia’s living in the slums and

Control in Crews's Body and Cheever's Five-Forty-Eight Harry Crews's Body and John Cheever's "Five-Forty-Eight" offer characters whose lives lack control. Although Crews's Bateman is a perfecting, attractive, and popular body builder, his life does not satisfy him. However, from the outside Bateman appears happy and content. On the other hand, Cheever's Ms. Dent is skinny, shy, emotional, and disheveld. Her description reflects the unsteadiness and the insecurity in her life. Although Bateman's

Comparing Love in Somnambulism and Charlotte Temple In today's terms, love is an exciting, joyous, and uplifting experience to those who are fortunate enough to find it.  Literature from the late 18th century expresses a completely different view, however.  The literature of Susanna Haswell Rowson and Charles Brockden Brown show the 18th century view of love as something to be mistrusted, detrimental to the spiritual and moral well-being of those who are "in" it, and above all, show that it

The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara is a short story about a group of kids who travel to the upscale part of town to get an idea of how inequality really is within society. A lady that goes by the name Miss Moore totes around these children, and the day trip to the upscale part of town was to be a lesson to the children that society is full of unfairness and inequality. The point that she was trying to make in my opinion is that if you want to have the ability to afford glamorous items of that nature

In O’ Pioneers by Willa Cather many of the characters go through hard times. Cather shows different ways people in this have showed their emotions in the philosophical ways naturalistic, romantic, and realistic. The first one being one of the main characters fathers, Alexandra Bergson who is a girl that can show emotion but acts tougher than than her looks make her. She is a hard worker who eventually has to take over her father's farm when he dies because of how much hes tried to make an impression

The Theme in The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara The theme in "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara appears to be a lesson on Social Class and having a choice which society you choose to live in. Miss. Moore who takes on this responsibility to educate the young ones has more then a lesson to teach, but a challenging group of city kids to come by. Sylvia and Sugar which seems to be the leader of the group of neighborhood kids gives Miss. Moore that challenge and not give her the satisfaction

Western Nature in Literature Nature is a major theme throughout all of the stories we have read so far this semester, weighing in heavily in the subject matter of each novel. Despite this common thread, nature is handled quite differently in each story, with obvious varied effects in the story. Willa Cather uses the nature of the southwest as an overwhelming presence that stuns any who approach it, while John Steinbeck uses nature with his characters as one would use water with a goldfish

Little Things Mean a Lot in Trifles Susan Glaspell's play, Trifles, explores the fact that women pay attention to the little things that may lead to the solving of a bigger problem. Why are women so into the little things? The attention to detail seems to be the starting point to solving the bigger problem. Think of the little things as pieces of a puzzle. When the small pieces come together you see the bigger picture. In the play Trifles the men seem to think the women only worry about the little

Mary Catherine Bateson's Improvisation In a Persian Garden, Annie Dillard's Seeing and Leslie Marmon Silko's Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination This paper will analyze Improvisation In a Persian Garden (Mary Catherine Bateson), Seeing (Annie Dillard), and Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination (Leslie Marmon Silko). Going through the Purpose, audience, context, ethics, and stance of each author’s piece. All three stories show the reader what each author sees. All three

Dignity and Respect Many people try to escape the prison that suppresses them, but fail to because of their moral obligations to themselves and others. Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, Ernest J. Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, portray the struggles one acquires through their own conduct. Ethan in Ethan Frome, Grant in A Lesson Before Dying and Hester in Scarlet Letter each try to elude their life dilemma’s, but are hindered due to their obligations. Ethan is obligated

In his article “Horatio Alger”, Harlon L. Dalton believes that Horatio Alger’s views on success are false. Alger indicates in his article “From Ragged Dick” that success can be achieved through hard work and ambition alone. Additionally, in “Ragged Dick”, Alger rescues the son of a white man, who then offers him a job paying three times the amount he would normally make. However, Dalton claims in “Horatio Alger” that race and other factors determine how successful a person can be. On the other hand

The Darkness of the Humankind and A little Girl’s Life Journey In “The Minister’s Black Veil” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne the main character is a clergyman named Parson Hooper. The minister’s life was surrounded by a very crude society. He was being rejected by his townspeople and goes through undesirable moments to achieve his initial intention. Throughout the story, the narrator focused on what the black veils represented to the Puritan. The veil overall shows dark parable of the Puritan’s stress