American Literature Essay Examples - Free Research Paper Topics on StudyDriver.com

The Main Character of the Play is the Death of the Seller

Death of a Salesman is a story that follows and mainly the main protagonist, a husband, father of two boys, and salesman, Willy Loman. The play’s name has a double meaning, the death being physically real as well as metaphorical. The play is split into two acts and is followed by a requiem. The play is displayed over the course of around twenty-four hours. Starting late on a Monday evening, transpires into the following day, Tuesday throughout the whole day, […]

Totem by Thomas King Analysis

Each story has its own significance behind it as does the Thomas King short story “Totem”. In the “Totem” the totem shaft is emblematic of native individuals, their specialty, and culture from Western Canada. Native individuals previously had their own administration and general set of laws organized when European pilgrims showed up in Canada and began settling down on Atlantic Canadian regions. Notwithstanding, European pioneers purchased their own administration and overall set of laws with them. Thus, it began struggle […]

The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window

Bliss Harjo’s “The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window,”with its reference point in the contemporary metropolitan climate, grieves the feeling of destruction, underestimation, and individual dejection that emerges when ladies are uprooted from their profound home. Simultaneously, the sonnet urges perusers to recognize the existences of those people living in neediness in a bigoted culture who some way or another get by notwithstanding inconceivable chances. The sonnet starts with a depiction of a lady’s hands squeezed to the substantial […]

The Devil and Tom Walker Romanticism

Washington Irving’s “Devil and Tom Walker” incorporates genuine instances of sentimentalism, like heavenly associations among images and nature, the significance of inward substance, individual center, etc. In the story, Tom Walker is a childish individual who is more worried about cash than anybody, including his significant other. At some point, when he meandered about in the forested areas, Tom Walker saw the devil, and the devil agreed with him to supplant his spirit with the fortune covered in the woodland. […]

Imagery in the Veldt

These days, innovation plays a vital spot. It makes individuals ready to shop at home, keep association with our companions simpler. Quick version, individuals currently can’t live without innovation. The family in the story purchased a high-innovation nursery infantalized them and kill them all. Through “The Veldet”, composed by Ray Brabury, the writer utilizes foretelling, symbolism, and analogy to tell perusers that innovation is valuable, yet in addition hurtful. Through the use of hinting, the creator tells the two guardians […]

Hills Like White Elephants Literary Analysis

Hills Like White Elephants was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1938. It is an enigmatic narrative about abortion. The story is about a man, identified as the American, and a girl. The American is trying to convince the woman to have an abortion. Jig, the girl in the short story, is socially and financially dependent on the American. Jig’s inferior position to the man is further demonstrated by her inability to speak Spanish. The couple has had an untroubled relationship […]

Tragic Hero John Proctor

John Proctor, a person in the play composed by Arthur Miller, The Crucible could be portrayed as the disastrous saint. As indicated by the scholar Aristotle, a deplorable saint goes through an inversion of fortune from satisfaction to hopelessness caused because of some blemish or mistake of judgment on his part. This defect or mistake when joined with sick destiny or some bad outside impact brings about misfortune. In this play, John Proctor’s blemish was his desire for Abigail Williams […]

How are Jem and Ralph Similar and Different?

Ever read two books and found some similarities and differences between characters or themes? Well, To Kill a Mockingbird character Jem and Lord of the Flies character Ralph have some things in common and some differences. To give a little insight into these novels, To Kill a Mockingbird is a story through a young girls eyes who witnesses her father defend an innocent black man accused of raping a white women during this time people were very racist; in Lord […]

Loneliness in “Of Mice and Men”

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, it depicts dejection since it happens against the background of The Great Depression, and this influenced the characters; Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s significant other. The transient laborers never truly remained in one spot sufficiently long to have a long-lasting relationship with others. A considerable lot of the characters confessed to experiencing forlornness that it influences the practices of the characters. One trademark that characterizes Candy is that he knows to stay out of […]

Ernest Hemingway’s Short Story a Clean Well-Lighted Place

The end of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, A Clean Well-Lighted Place is significant to the story on the whole because it vaguely but poignantly describes the personal and existential sense of self that defines the human condition for some. Hemingway accomplishes this through expert use of short and vague transitions and parallels between the older waiter and others in the story. One of the hallmarks of Hemingway’s writing style is this extreme conservation of words to the point of deliberate […]

The Woman’s Image in Confessional Poetry of Sylvia Plath

Abstract The woman’s image in confessional poetry of Sylvia Plath shows her anxieties, and pictured at first as a stereotype woman, a wife a mother judged and controlled by men. Then she tries to break those images and stripe herself from any label or identity created for her even though she is lost and confuse of her true identity. But at last she evolves from the ashes of confusement in to a free, powerful woman who is true to herself […]

Short Story Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

Elaine Potter Richardson is a Caribbean American writer, born May 25, 1948 in St. John’s, Antigua. At the young age of seventeen, Elaine left her home in St. John’s to live in New York City. According to the Britannica, Elaine worked as an au pair before winning a photography scholarship in New Hampshire. In 1973 Elaine took the name Jamaica Kincaid, she did this, so she could remain anonymous in her writing. After submitting articles to The New Yorker for […]

Simple Living: Live Like a Weasel

Annie Dillard is an American creator who is well acknowledged for many of her works. In Dillard’s essay, “Living Like Weasels” she recounts the brief war of words she had with a weasel. The essay is divided into six sections. Each section pertains to a specific idea that Dillard is trying to convey. The first section is in simple terms used to give the readers historical past statistics on weasels in general. Dillard focuses on their sturdy instinctual conduct that has […]

A Comparative Analysis of Two Poems: “To his Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell and “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold

Poems, even if from times, can have some similarities as well as differences. These could be found throughout the literary elements, meaning, and even just the story of the poem itself. Two poems, “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell and “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold, are written in different literary time periods, yet they both have similar structure and literary elements; maybe though, used for different reasons and or purposes. ?In reading the title, “To His Coy Mistress”, we […]

James Baldwin African-American Essayist

James Baldwin was an African-American essayist, playwright, and novelist who was born in New York City in 1924. When he was a child, he lived in New York with his mother, step-father, and younger siblings. He looked up to his step-father, who he regarded as his real father because his biological father left his mother before he was born. His step-father was a minister, so when Baldwin was young, he served as a youth minister. Baldwin attended high school in […]

Why is Game of Thrones Worth to Watch?

The fantasy drama, ‘Game of Thrones,’ captivated viewers with its characters and plot twist. But where did George R. R. Martin find the inspiration for writing the series, “A Song of Ice and Fire”? Two out of the many inspirations he had were, Shakespeare and the War of the Roses. Shakespeare and Martin share many themes in their works, most notably is the greed for power and the value of honor. The historical conflict of the War of the Roses […]

Have you Ever yourself Tried to Convince Someone out of their own False Belief

Have you ever been so in deep in denial that even when everyone around you tried helping you out of that hole you dug yourself into you still can’t seem to face the truth? Have you ever yourself tried to convince someone out of their own false belief? We are all victims to our own minds sometimes. We allow our brains to reminisce on what we want to believe instead of acknowledging the facts of the situation. In this essay, […]

Make Hay while the Sun Shines

In the movie Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating teaches his students to seize the day. While showing them a picture of some alumni on the walls of the academy, he draws them in close to hear their legacy, “carpe diem, seize the day.” The lesson being that time passes by quickly and all too soon life is over. Therefore, we should take advantage of every opportunity, every passing day, and each passing hour. This theme in the movie reminds me […]

“Dead Poets Society” by N.H. Kleinbaum

The book takes place in 1959 at the best private school in the United States. In the book we then follow the students Todd, Neil, Knox, Richard, Steven and Pitts. When the school term started, the class got a new English teacher, Mr Keating, who was very keen that the students go their own way and follow their own dreams and not the dreams that others want them to have. The students quickly took after Mr. Keating and his way […]

Occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge

Ever wind up in an astonishing circumstance, wanting it to be just a bad dream you would long wake up from, simply to understand its reality which is fixed because of an uncontrollable situation? In the short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” author Ambrose Bierce begins with the main character Peyton Farquhar who is being prepared to be hung by Union Soldiers. The story penetrates into his mind and reveals his reflect before his death. Bierce makes him […]

Amy Tan’s Short Story Two Kinds

In Amy Tan’s short story Two Kinds, the story describes a conflict between the narrator, a Chinese American girl and her mother a Chinese immigrant. The narrator is caught between two cultures and her mother’s traditional beliefs on how to raise a daughter in the United States, which can cause their relationship to be dysfunctional. In Amy Tan’s short story Two Kinds, the author used the story to tell a story of her own family. Many of the characters in […]

“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan

‘Two Kinds” is an allegory story, toned in a melancholy characterisation to either sympathise with the mother or the daughter telling the story, the author set the background of the story from folklore to quintessential compelling story theme on motherhood, ‘Chinese immigrant who came to America ‘in 1949 after losing everything in China.” Suyuan having survived the untimely death of ‘her first husband, and two daughters “ twin baby girls” in China. She ‘knew there were so many ways for […]

Conformity in Asian Culture Based on “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan

Amy Tan’s ‘Two Kinds” is a short story about the relationship between a Chinese-American mother and her American daughter. Two Kinds is a chapter from Tans book, ‘The Joy Luck Club”, which is made up of sixteen stories about Tan growing up in America with a mother from ancient Chinese customs (Tan, 189). In this chapter, Tan describes her childhood not with emphasis on cultural differences, but as a girl trying to find herself all the while in constant conflict […]

The Merchant of Venice and Bassanio Portrays

In the play, The Merchant of Venice, the character that portrays the most evil behavior is Bassanio because he takes money from Antonio to win over Portia, only wants to marry Portia for her high status and money, and gives away the marriage ring that he receives from his wife. Bassanio portrays evil behavior throughout the play, but particularly in the beginning. Bassanio is in search of love, but most importantly, money. Since men from all over the world fight […]

Much Ado about Nothing Critical Review

Some will discredit the importance of a valuable, thought out, and auguring title. However, Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” provides all evidence needed to disprove these claims with its alluring use of symbolism in its name, which intertwines with the book in more ways than one. In William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” miscommunication, confusion, trickery, and voyeurism run rampant as consistent motifs in the plot. This is not unintentional, however, as is illustrated in the play’s title. The word […]

Robert Brownings “My Last Duchess”

Published in 1842, “My Last Duchess” opens the reader to the mysterious story concerning the relations between sixteenth century’s Duke of Ferrara and his first wife, Lucrezia De’ Medici. (Guthrie.) Criticizing this literature under a feminine eye allows the audience to recognize the unjust treatment and high expectations of women. Robert Browning aims to portray the mistreatment and neglect of women during this period while also creating an image of an egotistical power-seeking male character. Duke Alfonso II married his […]

“My Last Duchess” Characters and Plot Analysis

“My last Duchess” is one of the famous work form the England poet Robert Browning, the poem was published in 1842 and it present a real picture in the Victorian era which is a very representative work in ironies dramatic monologue. The poem sued a monologue of a Duke to telling people about the death with his last duchess. First, his talks about his duchess’s personality, He hate her gentle and polite behavior. Second, he is jealous that she is […]

Miguel De Cervantes: the Greatest Writer Biography

Miguel de Cervantes (1547 [assumed] – 1616) is said to be one of the greatest writers in Spanish history. His greatest book, Don Quixote, tells the story of a senile old man who goes on great adventures in his head all to find his long lost lover, Lady Dulcinea. It has been translated into over 140 languages and dialects, second only to the Bible. Before he had written Don Quixote he was also a Soldier in the Spanish Navy Infantry […]

Washington Irving Works Analysis

Most people think of the characters from the short stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” when they think of Washington Irving. They envision a headless horseman with a pumpkin for a head riding his ghostly horse through the forest or maybe a little old man waking after a long, deep sleep with a very long, fluffy, white beard. While those are the stories he is best known for; there is much more to the works of […]

The Unpaved Path for Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie was born on October 7th, 1966 on an Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He is a member of the Spokane tribe which is a major influence on his work and his first hand experiences has made him a notable author. In his early life, he was operated on to treat hydrocephalus that he was born with and had a slim chance of survival. However, he did not let this condition bring him down, “Though he lived through the […]

American Literature Essays