American Literature

 We live our lives as stories  or as narratives as literary scholars prefer to say. The fictional stories that become part of our cultural fabric and social mythology both reflect our lives the plots of novels and storied lives of fictional characters influence our lives and resemble them too. We have much to learn from closer study of literary narratives. Stories edify us. (Rodden, 2008, p. 149  150). A justification of literary studies depends in the final analysis of illustrating...

Reading is important for people of all ages. Children who do not get a good start in reading may never learn how to embrace the written word. Comics and Graphic Novels can be good ways to kick start the love of reading for children of all ages. Skills in interpreting literature as well as understanding the new types of media in todays society. Teachers who can embrace this new type of media will have an advantage in helping their students embrace the world of literacy.  Comic Book and Graphic...

Poets have always drawn inspiration from elements of life around them for their works of poetry. Ancient poets wrote long pieces in praise of ancient gods and goddesses or documenting the travails and triumphs of war heroes of the day. Romantic poets filled volumes with odes to the woman that was the object of their desires, composing entire poems in praise of one single aspect of her being. Some of the most famous poems of all time have been written about love, the relationships between men and...

J. Maarten Troosts Lost on Planet China is generally a travel narrative. However, this travel narrative is also a mix of various themes or issues about China including culture, politics, business, globalization, travel tips, and so on. From the culture of the material and non-material culture of the Chinese people, the history of the Chinese people, to the place of China and the countrys role in shaping international trade and relations, Troost has managed to create a humorous, thus entertaining,...

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is perhaps one of the greatest novel created in modern literature. It is an intense story which tackles the relationship of mothers and daughters divided by the old and the new. The story revolves around four Chinese women who took their dreams to America in order to leave their old ways in China. As they reach the land of milk and honey, they try to raise their daughters with the mixture of strength of the traditional Chinese way and the liberties introduced by the...

    Fanny Ferns A Law More Nice Than Just tells about the self-serving and oftentimes weird nature of some of our laws. It could just be considered as a small case of weird clothing laws, wherein women at those times were not allowed to wear mens apparel. However, it could also be viewed in a much different light men who made such laws somehow made them in their favor. Gender bias was a commonplace at those times that it wouldnt really be a shock to encounter such laws forbidding...

The struggles by the government to convince the public to accept a strong but centralized form of government led to the publishing of federalist essays. The interpretation of the American constitution is mainly based on the provisions of the federalist papers. Written in the late eighteenth century, the papers are mainly a philosophical expression of the ideas and implication of the American constitution. The sole aim the federalist papers were not only to realize ratification but more so to form...

This paper draws on linguistics and sociolinguistics in an effort to accomplish three broad goals. The first is to help illuminate the nature and scope of gender itself the second is to highlight the various theoretical approaches (past and present) which search for differences between male and female speech patterns, and the third aim is to evaluate these theories on what light they have shed on the ongoing interplay between language and gender. Early researchers, in an effort to put forward their...

While some political analysts of the period and historians since have argued that Roosevelts pull away from the lawful isolationism following World War I was a matter of political maneuvering that directly resulted in the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent loss of American lives, still others view it as having been a necessity for the security of the world. In his essay, Charles Callan Tansell embraces the isolationist view point that the actions of Roosevelt not only led to the American...

Walt Whitmans poetry, from the very start to the finish, of Leaves of Grass, was known for its empathetic tone. The Sleepers, very much a part of the first edition of the book, turned out to be an extremely important poem in the edition. In a style thats simple, yet lyrical in its beauty, Whitman puts together disparate images and makes them come together for the reader, in what one can easily call a dream of a poem. The piece displays a poet that has evolved tremendously in his writing, and is...