American novels Essays

  • The Quiet American- Film and Novel

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    Philip Noyce's adaptation of Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American to film was a large success. It stayed true to the script, and kept the basic essence of the characters; pulling them from the pages of the book and creating them visually into marvels on screen. The earlier film made on the book was made in 1958 by Joseph Mankiewicz. Fowler was played by Michael Redgrave, with Audie Murphy as Pyle. This version was forced to reverse Greene's political stand taken in the book however, meaning it

  • The Modern American Novel

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    the first Modern American Novels, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, and compares it to a later Modern American Novel, The Sun Also Rises. Not only are the societies depicted in the two novels utterly dissimilar, the way in which the works are written shows major changes in the field of literature. What is it that connects the beginning of the Modern era to the end? In their novels, James and Hemingway say similar things about the Modern American male and female. In both novels, the masculine

  • Case Study Of Amitav Ghosh's Novel Of Indian-American Diasporic Literature

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    Conclusion According to Tanveer Hasan in his case study of Amitav Ghosh’s novels of Indian-American Diasporic Literature, One might argue that there are instances in the characters created by Ghosh who cling to memories more than they cling to their sanity. One cannot of course deny the important role memories have to play in framing or reframing the psyche of an individual, par when they have undergone a harrowing experience such as ‘cultural displacement, factional uprooting, secession claims

  • Gish Jen’s novel Typical American

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gish Jen’s novel Typical American A mother drives her three kids to soccer practice in a Ford minivan while her husband stays at the office, rushing to finish a report. Meanwhile, a young woman prays her son makes his way home from the local grocery without getting held up at knife point by the local gang. Nearby, an immigrant finishes another 14-hour shift at the auto parts factory, trying to provide for his wife and child, struggling to make way in a new land. Later, a city girl hails a cab

  • Edward Lansdale was a Character in Novels, ‘The Ugly American’ by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer and ‘The Quite American’ by Graham Greene

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    character in two opposing novels, ‘The Ugly American’ by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer and ‘The Quite American’ by Graham Greene. The two novels differed in not only in that they represented different opposing facts about the role of Lansdale in the Cold war, but also in the perspective the authors took in describing the cold war character and the role of the United States in America. Burdick and Lederer portrayed Lansdale as Colonel Edwin B. Hillandlale in ‘The Ugly American’ and presented him as

  • Should The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Be Considered a Great American Novel?

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    literature, but it should not be considered a “Great American Novel”. I do believe that the novel is eye-opening to the horrors of being an African-American child during the 1940’s, but that these awful situations are not enough to make it a “Great American Novel”. This novel is supposed to become reality for the reader, which is successfully done, except when there are coincidences that occur seemingly to drive whatever plots, if any, that the novel contains. In Huckleberry Fin by Mark Twain, the writing

  • Analysis Of The Graphic Novel American Born Chinese

    2022 Words  | 5 Pages

    When first gazing at the graphic novel American Born Chinese, one‟s first instinct might be to classify it as a graphic novel made for young adults to read. Although this predictable reaction can be supported by the graphic novel‟s content and structure, a closer evaluation of the book allows the reader to see many mature and complex ideas emerging from under the surface. One of the most obvious of the ideas is racism. Jin Wang, the protagonist who tells the story, has to cope with life in America

  • The Significance of Nicknames in Italian-American Culture and the Novel Christ In Concrete

    2050 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Significance of Nicknames in Italian-American Culture and the Novel Christ In Concrete Nicknames. They are something that everyone is familiar with in one way or another. However, most people have little, if any, personal experience with nicknames. In Italian-American culture, nicknames play a major role in everyday life. Nicknames are formed with a certain unspoken format, and they have a particular importance. In Italian-American culture nicknames, even though to others they may seem

  • Social Injustice for African Americans in Toni Morrison's Novel, Jazz

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Injustice for African Americans in Toni Morrison's Novel, Jazz Jazz, a novel by Toni Morrison, explores many different aspects of African American life in the early part of the twentieth century. This novel tells a story of the difficulties faced by black families living in the United States. Toni Morrison describes in detail a few of the upsetting situations they had to face. She also subtly throughout the book places one or two lines that tell a tale of injustice. Jazz is a novel filled with many

  • How To Write The Great American Novel By Sherman Alexie Summary

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    and most sensitive light? This has been a difficult task for writers for centuries. Sherman Alexie’s “How to Write the Great American Novel” is an almost how-to poem for such a task. The guidelines presented in this poem have carried over to several Native American novels. The guidelines can also be used to show how the larger American white population views Native Americans. But before one begins to consider Alexie’s guidelines, we first have to consider the level of seriousness the poem gives itself

  • Democracy An American Novel, by Henry Adams

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the late 1800’s, Henry Adams wrote Democracy An American Novel, in which he portrayed Washington society through the eyes of a wealthy young widow, Mrs. Madeline Lee, who is looking for the basis of American governmental power. In her search for the basis of power, Mrs. Lee encounters many facets of Washington society, such as the types of people who control the government. The novel moves beyond a simple plot and story and includes portrayals of the basic Washington types of people, Washington

  • 20th Century Latin American Literature

    3309 Words  | 7 Pages

    20th Century Latin American Literature Global literatures in English have always played a key role in developing international understanding and appreciation for the social realities and cultural developments beyond Western lifestyles and familiarity. For anthropologists seeking to perceive the social realities of 20th century Latin America, the work of popular authors and novelists of this century is invaluable. Popular authors are the modern mouthpieces of the people and societies who read

  • Theme Of The Tortilla Curtain

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel The Tortilla Curtain there is a lot of themes, some of the themes are Racism and The American Dream. Racism is an important theme because of how T.C Boyle portrays racism towards Mexicans and immigrants by such acts like building the wall around Arroyo Blanco and when Jack Jardine Jr. seeks and destroys the Ricóns camp and then proceeding to vandalizing people’s property and then framing the Mexicans. The American Dream is a huge theme not just for the immigrants, although that is where

  • Symbolism in The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    Symbolism in The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby is a classic American novel, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1927 about corruption, murder and life in the 1920’s. The true purpose for a writer to compose any piece of literature is to entertain the reader, and this writer does this to the best of his ability. In this well-crafted tale, Fitzgerald presents a fast moving, exciting story, and to any typical reader it can be enjoyed; however, if the reader takes the time

  • The Power of The Bluest Eye

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The vitality of language lies in its ability to limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers". The "vitality of language" of which Morrison speaks, may very well be the soul of the American novel, or at the very least, the soul of Morrison's novels, such as Sula, Beloved, and The Bluest Eye. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison uses her ability with language to take her readers into the black community in Lorraine, Ohio, and into the various levels of that society

  • James Fenimore Cooper

    2744 Words  | 6 Pages

    James Fenimore Cooper was one of the pioneers in American novel writing. Cooper used the life and things he had experienced and turned them into best-selling novels that have held up throughout the years. He became famous with the publication of the wilderness adventures. Along with the success these books brought, so to came some criticism. To truly understand Coopers books you have to delve deeply into them and know from where he got the ideas for the stories. James Fenimore Cooper was born in

  • Use of Symbolism in Joseph Heller's Catch-22

    1760 Words  | 4 Pages

    by working at this company. He sneezed three times. There was only one catch, and it was Catch-22. Catch-22 was written in 1961 as a first novel by Joseph Heller, a former army bombardier who got combat experience in World War II from his base on the island of Corsica. Catch-22 became a classic American novel. Heller went on to write several other novels deriding bureaucracy and the military-industrial complex. Catch-22 follows the exploits of an Army bombardier during World War II. John Yossarian

  • Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dead and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five That we, people, are "bugs in amber" is one of the main themes of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five; or Children's Crusade. Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is, in my opinion, very similar to this book. While Slaugterhouse-Five is an American novel, a mixture of the author's Second World War experiences and science fiction genre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a British

  • Symbols and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    of society in the 1920's.  The colors which are spread throughout the novel are green, white, gold, and others. F. Scott Fitzgerald provides a social commentary on the 1920's in this novel.  The Great Gatsby is an important American novel and not just a mere historical document depicting life in the 1920's.  Like other writers of the 20's  Fitzgerald was fascinated by the spectacle of what had become of the American Dream and how it had become corrupted by greed andmaterialistic possessions

  • John Steinbeck's East of Eden - The Gift of Free Will

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    surface of literature and studying its effects in the course of my everyday life. Some books are easy to read quickly, enjoy, and forget, but others exert an influence that is not easily discarded or forgotten. In my mental library, the classic American novel East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, falls into this category. I believe East of Eden has helped shape me morally by illustrating the power of free will in a world caught between a constant battle of good and evil. I decided to read East of Eden