Category: American literature

‘Southern Gothic’ is a literary tradition that came into existence in the early twentieth century. It has its origin in the Gothic style, which had been popular in European literature for long time. Gothic writers were inventing desolate, upsetting scenarios in which mystery, secrets, sometimes supernatural occurrences, and protagonists’ extreme characteristics, were combined in order to create a suspense and involved reading experience. Southern Gothic writers were interested in exploring the antisocial behaviors that were often a reaction against a confining code of social conduct. They often hinged on the belief that daily life and the refined surface of the social order were fragile and illusory, disguising disturbing realities or twisted psyches.

William Faulkner traditionally stands outside this group of practitioners. However, “A Rose for Emily” reveals the influence that Southern Gothic had on his writing: this particular story has a gloomy and oppressive ambiance: a decaying house, putrefaction, and weird as elements used to highlight an individual’s struggle against an oppressive society in the South that is undergoing rapid change after the American Civil War.

Faulkner’s attitude toward the short story genre is not easy to characterize, even less to summarize. In his youth he wanted to become a poet and several times he described the short story as second only to poetry. He also brought to that genre the vision and skills that can be used to create the novels. Therefore, the content of Faulkner’s short stories and the types of characters upon which he builds them, their physical and social settings, and their themes, by use of dense and multilayered technic, are similar with the content and way of writing his novels.

Faulkner was a realistic writer during the period when he was writing his short stories. His primary interest was in the individual: the social forces that molded a human being and the attitudes that controlled his thinking and behavior. His stories sought to portray the struggle between the society and individual, the tradition and the present. He was trying to penetrate the individual mind and soul in order to discover the sources of the conflict in the psychological history of the personality, confronted to the heritage of the past, the society, and the familial relationships. During this period of his career, Faulkner’s fictions, long and short, probe into the past to discover the truth that explains the crisis of the present.

‘A Rose for Emily’ by William Faulkner is a short story published in 1933. It takes places in Faulkner’s fictional city of Jefferson, Mississippi, in the fictional southern county of Yoknapatawpha. Faulkner described the title as ‘an allegorical title, the meaning was, here is a woman who has had a tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute… to a woman you would hand a rose.’

It tells the story of Emily, a middle aged woman whose father and sweetheart died recently, her way of denying their deaths when they happened, the reactions of her fellow citizens, but ignoring the problem of her mental health deteriorating, figured in the text by different conflicts she had within the society.

This story follow the themes of Southern gothic, which explore the anti-social behavior of southern culture, their harmful behaviors such as the racist treatment of black people, and their attempt to act as if their daily life is unchanged by recent events. Emily’s situation becomes the town shameful secret that no one’s talks directly about.

By describing the past events after more recent ones, Faulkner shows how Emily’s past influenced her life. An overbearing father controlling her life and shown as powerful and in control of her: ‘We had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip.’

‘Rose for Emily’ moves forward and backward in time and is told through a third person narrator. However, toward the second party of the text, it sounds like a story being told by one of the neighbors directly to us.

The focalization shift can be seen from an external narrator describing through the voice of multiple characters the events as they happen directly: ‘But what will you have me do about it, madam?'(line 9-10) to an internal one that explains the events after they happened: ‘That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her (line 28) the narrator is like the voice of Emily’s neighbors. The story is told through a nonlinear fashion and by multiple tellers with the beginning of the story talk about event that happened after the events described at the end of the text.

Emily’s is described only from an external perspective, so we cannot be certain whether her acts of keeping the corpse of her father for three days and refusing to admit he is dead, is a conscious act of defiance against a town that pity the fall of her family from wealth, intentional refuse of all social changes and unacceptable reality, or is it just an example of the decaying of her mental stability.

In this short story we can also see that the narrators, though participants in some of the events described, are sometimes critical of the town and sympathetic toward Emily. A Rose for Emily, then, shows us not only the barriers to understanding and sympathy that lead inevitably to suffering, but also the means of overcoming those barriers through compassionate human sympathy, i.e., making the effort to understand another through understanding who they are rather than in terms of rigid codes of the conduct in the society.

To begin with, my insight paper let me first define the word Literature;

According to JOSHUA J. MARK, Literature comes (from the Latin word Littera meaning letters and referring to an acquaintance with the written word) such as poetry and prose in Western Europe prior to the eighteenth century, literature was a term indicated to describe books.

Technically speaking literature is composed of words from many languages that give information about what had happened before. Literature at some point has something to deal with our past. It can be written such as books or spoken (exchanging thoughts, ideas, and experiences) by simply asking our great ancestors about their past.

Literature plays an important role in our daily life because it gives us entertainment, hope, and above all moral lessons by reading or watching any literary piece. One good example of a literary piece where we can get a moral lesson is by watching a documentary film, where that particular film is relatable to what is going on around us. Sharing their good and bad experiences would help us change our perspectives in life. In this aspect, literature serves as an eye-opener to the society to where we belong.

Definitely, Literature would not exist without any language involved. How are we going to communicate without a language? How are going to write a certain book without a language? How are going to express our emotions, and feelings if there would be no language involved? Mostly how we are going to tell a story without a language? Language in Literature helps the readers viewers understand the content easily. As to what the definition of the literature mentioned above gives us a hint that literature is about letters a written words not drawings.

Why do we have to study Literature?

1. Literature tells us about the past
2. Literature gives us a better understanding
3. Literature helps us to learn other languages
4. Literature helps us to improve our reading and communication skills
5. Literature is considered to be a mirror of humanity toward other cultures.

Literature has a great impact on society because literature allows us to understand better the world we live in by reflecting on any literary piece that we had watched or read. As what others believe some books mirror society.

On the other hand, according to C.S Lewis literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides

There are different genres of literature such as:

1. Poetry
2. Prose
3. 3Drama
4. Novel

When we talk about poetry in literature the simple definition of this genre is that it evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound and rhythm.

The prose in literature serves as a literary device referring to writing that is structured in a grammatical way, with words and phrases that can make sentences and paragraphs.

Drama according to Merriam- Webster’s dictionary is a written work that tells a story through action and speech and is acted out. Another definition for drama from yourdictionary.com- drama refers to the performance of written dialogue and stage action.

Novel- is a book that consists of an invented prose narrative that contains more imaginary things rather than reality.

Others may find Literature as boring or not an interesting subject, but definitely they are wrong. Studying literature helps us to improve ourselves and appreciate our past. Students who read literature can find relief, inspiration above all a greater connection to humanity which will let them feel less isolated. Studying literature in a broad sense is a way where our imagination will explore the world of fiction, drama, and reality.

English literature unlocked up a society of innovation and inspiration and evolved the ability that is important as long as today’s worldwide domain. It is a possibility to find hence literature build a feeling of the globe between tale, poets, novel book and plays. It is as well a possibility to improve your own capacity to write, peruse, survey, and induce. English literature is written down in Britain English while American writings are written down in Western Hemisphere English. American literature is frequently noticed as an ample further practical in illustrating personality. At the same time, English writings are well known for its intelligence and drawing of the topic in story plot and portrayal.

Written works and produce in the Great Commonwealth and the pioneers of England are cited by the word of English writings while American writings mention written works and build in America. English author mainly highlights their kinds of literature and fashion, while American authors talk about American of its past and communal matter. Almost of all, they are the very same terminology. Complex and grammar are similar. That is, terms and sentences are the buildups of component bit in precisely the same method. There are variances in lexicon, but likely a tiny hundred at most away of a complete of a hundred thousand.

The variance at first be significant, but it is further ethnic. This is down to the standup of broad education and belief and changes in Britain’s thinking and does not unwelcome time declaim. English literature cites the review of work text from all over the nation, written in the English dialect. By learning a level in English literature, we will grasp how to study a mass of contents and write using some divergent way. Commonly, literature cites to some kind of text as well as tale, non-fiction, poem, and films, amid other structures. Although the literature is a go-for word, as the latest form for conveying layout different kinds of contemporary writings.

Literature is overall expounded as correspond with creative quality. But, further kinds of content such as feature, factual, song lyrics, and networked communication between books and another way, can now be review literature below the current grasp of the word. English literature scheme in most vital of the United State organization will mainly be learning of the conventional literary works. An English writings crucial will probably survey texts as well as poem, drama, and writing novels, maybe shortly awning more go for the structure of literature in its select track.

American literature comprises importance onset against the American paragon of ahead gaze bleakness and vitality in opposition to what is frequently portrayed as the affected. American writings are extremely essential for the education of every human as it divulges the literature and the past of the Land of Liberty. In addition, American writings read up on in other nations offer the chance to obtain to notice American literature, history, and pronounced text of the significant writers better. American writings describe the fundamental quality of all types of writings. It personifies the scheme of American’s and build definite places studied. It as well as inform stories of explicit personality of American’s have with their special culture.

This paper examines the genre of Native American captivity narratives and how the narratives influence the way the Natives are perceived. Some of the early captivity narratives depict Indigenous Americans as inhuman savages, while the more recent narratives, those in which the captives choose to spend the rest of their lives with their Indian captors instead of going back to their white community, are more likely to contain a positive perception of the American Natives. Although both men and women adopted this genre, it was mostly about women who were held captives by the Native Americans. The narratives gave women a place in American literature, as the narratives focusing on women’s experiences while in captivity allow for women’s storytelling at a time where this opportunity was otherwise unavailable. When men removed women from the writing and publishing of their stories, women could still rely on the captivity narrative genre to give them a voice and a place in literature. Narratives were used not only to warn the white colonists of the savagery of the uncivilized Indians but also to strengthen the hatred and separation between the English and Indian inhabitants of America. The anxiety of degenerating into savages that possessed the white colonists became a pressing reality, and that anxiety became even more frightful as captives’ adoption into Native American families emerged as a prevalent feature in narratives. The life of Cynthia Ann Parker is a great example of that matter. I will go into details about the story of her life, through her captivity narrative, after she was captured by the Indians and how it affected her and the way she portrayed the Native Americans in her narrative.

With the publication of Mary Rowlandson’s narrative of her ordeal while under the captivity of the Natives in 1682, captivity narratives became an integral part of American history. Before the end of the seventeenth century, American captivity narratives became recognizable as a distinct literary genre. Captivity narratives such as those by Mary Rowlandson and the reverend John Williams portrayed the white colonists’ extreme piety and fear of the Native Americans, whom they considered uncivilized enemies. On the contrary, the narratives by Mary Jemison and Eunice Williams, in both instances, they willingly choose to stay with their Native American captors, thereby challenging the superiority of European American culture. Despite there being a numerous amount of white captives who willingly stayed with their Native American captors and refused to be traded off to return to their white community, most of what was accessible to the public during this time were well-rehearsed stories about a joyous homecoming owing to the grace of God or, more tragically, a captive’s brutal death at the hands of the Indians. The Puritans tended to write narratives that negatively characterized the Indians. Both the women and the very few men that were captured had a puritan background controlling their thoughts on the Natives and influencing the way they portrayed them. The narratives reflected the white captives’ puritan beliefs. The whites considered this episode of being captured by the natives as a warning from God, and that the more they suffer, the more likely they will be rewarded with heaven. They concluded that God is their only hope for redemption. What is interesting about this genre is that we can trace how the whites chose to portray the Natives. This arouses the doubts of historians and anthropologists on the plausibility of their narratives. Most of the captivity narratives were considered factual, but close analysis reveals that they are not fully objective. However, it did provide an inside view of the Natives tribe life.

Captivity narrative gives voice to the voiceless, in both events and people it explores. A major outcome of the American captivity narratives is that it gave women a chance to speak and place their voices in American literature. This genre allows women to express themselves, regardless of the time it takes place, or who else was involved in creating the narrative and what the captive’s intention and purpose of writing the text is. Derounian Stodola claims that the captivity narrative genre is “arguably the first American literary form dominated by women’s experiences as captives, storytellers, writers, and readers”. Captivity narratives put words into the experiences of women which readers could apply into their daily lives, making the texts unique to each and every female reader. Women in captivity narratives were not treated the way a woman should be treated, even the fact that they publish stories of their lives and experience in capture is stepping outside normal women’s behavior in the white community. A genre catering to women, captivity texts were often best-sellers, able to connect with readers across the country, particularly female readers. The women in capture often experience a life and culture foreign to their own, an experience filled with cultural changes, divisions, and differences occasioned by the captives that they can share in their narratives. The narratives allow discussion of experiences which have a major factor on the analysis of American culture – control, fear, power, discrimination– that women cannot always fully share in other mediums. The captivity narratives set a story of transformation in writing, and therefore in history.

Stories of women who had been captured, acculturated, and chose to stay with their Indian husbands and families presented the greatest threat of all— that of miscegenation. Once this boundary had been crossed, political, ideological, and cultural boundaries had also been breached, putting America’s expansion mission at risk. The story of Cynthia Ann Parker can be used as a model to which we may apply the white captives’ adoption into Native American families and tribes. Cynthia’s first experience of oppression came as a child of nine when captured by a large force of Comanche warriors in an attack on Fort Parker, Texas, in 1836. Forced to live in an alien environment, she was initially physically and mentally abused and unable to communicate until she mastered the Comanche language. Her Comanche captors adopted Parker into their family, and when she matured, she married a Comanche man with whom she had three children. Seventeen years after her initial abduction, Parker encountered American traders interested in ransoming her, yet reports document that she rejected their offer and chose to remain with her adopted Comanche family (‘The Captivity Narratives of Cynthia Ann Parker’ by Treva Elaine Hodges). Twenty- five years later, this process was then reversed and virtually repeated through her recapture, along with her two- year- old daughter, by Texas Rangers in the Battle of the Pease River in 1860. Cynthia Ann had by then completely acculturated within the tribe and was a respected member, wife, and mother of three children. Snatched from her Indian family and adoptive culture, she was bullied and interrogated by the soldiers before her uncle Isaac Parker came to claim her and take her home. While traveling through Fort Worth she was photographed with her daughter at her breast and her hair cut short-a Comanche sign of mourning. She thought that her husband was dead and feared that she would never see her sons again. The second capture of Cynthia, this time by the whites, rendered her mute, her native tongue long forgotten. She was violently dislocated once more from her own identity. She was held against her will surrounded by a language she did not speak and culture she did not comprehend. Furthermore, Cynthia’s return to the white colonists’ community was celebrated throughout Texas as a politicized victory and a vindication of white settlement. Cynthia’s many years living among the Indian society meant that she was unable to readapt to her originating. Parker never fully reintegrated and repeatedly asked to be allowed to return to her sons and husband, but her requests were denied. Cynthia was not encouraged to speak publicly about her life among the Comanche tribe. It was believed, among the white community, that she had greatly suffered and was abused during her time with the Indians, and her so-called redemption from the uncivilized enemies was seen as a triumph. Her longing to return to her native family was painfully tangible, and yet her personal story was never told. Despite the celebration for her return to the white society, filled with cheers and publicity, Cynthia Ann Parker remained desperate and silence. Her recapture ironically replicates the silenced Native women’s experience when captured by white colonialists.

Captivity narratives – such as those by Mary Rowlandson 1682, Cotton Mather 1696-97, Susannah Willard Johnson 1796, the Reverend John Williams 1709, Mary Jemison 1824, Cynthia Ann Parker and Olive Ann Oatman – are examples of the sensational novel that sells due to the combination of women, rape, sex, violence, shocks, surprises… However, these Native American captivity narratives serve a directly political purpose and can be seen as a kind of political propaganda. What the narratives do not portray is the way the Native Americans were robbed of their homes, property, and lands by violence and manipulation. As a result, the Native Americans were displaced, suffered the loss of many families and tribal members, and were forced to choose between becoming forcibly civilized according to white cultural standards, or die.

‘The Awakening’ is a novel by Kate Chopin that was first published in 1899 and set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century. The plot circles around Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her views on motherhood and feminism. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women’s issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as controversial work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics. It is written in third person narrative to explore the ideology and thoughts of other characters around the main character, Edna Pontellier. The novel’s blend of omniscient narrative, and psychological complexity makes ‘The Awakening’ an idol of American literature.

I have always believed in equality, and that women should have the same rights as men, but that was not the case when the book was published, which is why it faced harsh criticism and controversy. ‘The Awakening’ has been a book that stands out to me as revealing what constraints society puts on women and the difficulties they face. We are quickly introduced to the character Edna, who is a 28-year-old woman whose father is a colonel, and she is also married to a man named Leonor Pontellier and had two kids named Etienne and Raoul, but she is not fully satisfied with her life. Edna’s need to be a separate person from her husband, society, and children has had an impact on my mindset towards women in a very positive way. It made me think about the amount of men who are possessive and controlling, and the same men still being upset about their women not wanting a relationship with them anymore, and it’s true that some men believe a woman must obey them whenever they want, for example, when Leonce saw Edna sitting on the porch outside at night, it was almost unnatural for Edna to deny her husband’s request of coming back inside, and Leonce saw it as a way of disrespect towards him. I am happy that more and more women stand up and express their opinion, meaning that women have started to become less intimidated by men which is something that should have always been a part and an act of human rights because we are all equal.

Women suffered crucial losses because of inequality, but it also makes the women who truly care and want to make a change in the world shine the most out of everyone else. Viola Desmond is an example of a self-empowered woman who faced inequality due to her skin color and gender, but fought her way through court and had made a respectable name for herself. In ‘Dark Paradise’, Auntie Glor possesses a nature that is tainted by the death of her grandson and her husband. Despite living through hardships, she endures and holds on to her faith in Jesus, believing that he helps those who walk the path of hardship and general inequality and sometimes an unfair life.

Edna spends most of her time with her close friend Adele Ratignolle, who constantly reminds Edna of her role as a wife and mother. At Grand Isle, Edna eventually forms a connection with Robert Lebrun, a charming, sweet, funny young man who actively seeks Edna’s attention and affections. The narrative’s focus moves to Edna’s shifting emotions as she reconciles her maternal duties with her desire for social freedom and to be with Robert.

Robert Lebrun is a very positive person, but the impact he had on Edna was very negative. Edna had finally found a man that interested her while still having a balance of seriousness and humor, and Robert had always had a crush on Edna and sensed that after spending time with her, she had also fallen in love with him. When they fall in love, Robert senses that if he were to be with Edna, trouble is going to happen between Edna and Leonce and obviously Robert is going to be involved as well, so he runs off to Mexico under the impression of pursuing a business venture. But he had not told Edna about this, which explains why Edna had a tough time getting over him. She thought maybe Robert would be different, he was taking her out on boat rides, to different cities and introducing her to new people. She felt comfortable with him and she had always known that Robert liked her, but to hide such an impactful event from Edna is what broke her. Leonce notices the changes that had been occurring with Edna, and confronts her about it, but as expected, he does not get a useful answer that would satisfy his curiosity as to why his wife is acting so strange. The Pontelliers go on a summer vacation to hope it would better the situation, and it somewhat did until it was time they head back to New Orleans.

When summer vacation ends, the Pontelliers return to New Orleans. Edna gradually reassesses her priorities and takes a more active role in her own happiness. She starts to isolate herself from New Orleans society and to withdraw from some of the duties traditionally associated with motherhood. Leonce eventually talks to a doctor about diagnosing his wife, fearing she is losing her mental faculties. The doctor advises Leonce to let her be and assures him that things will return to normal, so Leonce sighs in relief and hopes for the best. He talks about leaving for New York City for a business trip.

When Leonce prepares to travel to New York City on business, he sends his kids to his mother. Being left home alone for an extended period gives Edna physical and emotional room to breathe and reflect on various aspects of her life. While her husband is still away, she moves out of their home and into a small bungalow nearby and begins to explore her desires. We are introduced to a character called Alcee Arobin that Edna had met at a party, who she later begins an affair with, and it ends with them having sex later on. During this part of the book, Edna is a completely different person than when the book first began. Although it is a fictional novel, it is not out of the ordinary for something like this to happen, whether it’s the man or the woman in the relationship, cheating is mainly involved when a partner is not satisfying the other due to miscommunication, or if one is away for a big portion of the other’s life or whatever reason it may be. What Edna had done behind Leonce’s back was a very immature and childish attempt at exploring her desire andor sexuality, and could have been avoided if Edna and Leonce had communicated, but as I mentioned earlier, Leonce is off on business trips more often than not. Even Edna’s closest friend, Adele, believes so as well when she said: “It’s a pity Mr. Pontellier doesn’t stay home more in the evenings. I think you would be more—well, if you don’t mind my saying it—more united, if he did” (Chopin, 115).

Edna reaches out to Mademoiselle Reisz, a pianist whose playing is renowned but maintains a very average, healthy life. Her playing had moved Edna profoundly earlier in the novel, resembling what Edna was starting to look for: independence. Mademoiselle Reisz focuses her life on music and herself instead of on society’s expectations, and she is also a mutual friend of Adèle Ratignolle, who encourages Edna to conform. Reisz is in contact with Robert while he is in Mexico, receiving letters from him regularly. Once Edan had found out that Reisz and Robert were in constant contact, she started begging Reisz to tell her about what are in those letters, and she does, revealing and solidifying that Robert has been in love with Edna this entire time and he had only left purely to not start any problems with Edna’s marriage.

Edna was not shown affection very often when she was young, she and her sister had always fought and it always left Edna sad or even angry that a healthy relationship with her sister may never happen. This made me understand why Edna is too easily attached to people, Kate Chopin also said: “There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why —when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation. She could not work on such a day” (Chopin). This quote helped me understand Edna’s perspective on why she feels the way she does, and I know a lot of teenagers, especially high-schoolers, also get this sense of feeling down and not being able to process what is going on around them as I had gone through this myself, so it connects with reality in ways that make you feel like you are not alone; although it is a fictional character, still makes you feel like someone is by your side.

Per Seyersted wrote in 1969 near the beginning of the literary revival that ricocheted off of ‘The Awakening’ into its present place of importance in American literature, mentioned that part of what makes the novel not feel so outdated, although it was written in the late 19th century, is Edna Pontellier’s realization that “the physical component of love can stand apart from the spiritual one, that sensuous attraction is impersonal and can be satisfied by a partner she does not love”.

The actual awakening that occurs with Edna is a metaphor for exploring her desires and what she truly wants versus what she already has, and it is caused by society as well as nature since Edna always spoke about the sea being a peaceful place and almost like a ritual to awaken your inner self. It is a symbol of escape from current issues, but it is also a symbol of freedom where it allows you to express your true emotions with no judgement and criticism from other people. In a quote she says: “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. … And, moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul” (Chopin, 27).

Another symbol in Kate Chopin’s literary masterpiece that I have found interesting were Edna’s kids, and I have found out from research that people do not write or speak about them being almost like chains, grabbing Edna by her legs and forcing her to make sure they are always safe, well fed, and raised properly so they could figure out their lives. Edna’s love for them is shown frequently throughout the chapters, but Edna herself knows that she does not love them as much as she should, and she fully understands that they are an unavoidable part of her life. In one of the earlier chapters, Edna says: “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children, but I wouldn’t give myself” (Chopin, 69-70).

“Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her” (Chopin, 33). The significance of this quote ties in with her relationship and how she feels about her children. She knows as long as they are alive, she can never truly become herself since they are like chains, ready to hold her down whenever she tries to escape from them. I expected the ending would be different, perhaps she would go back to her old lifestyle and try to forget about Robert and her unsatisfied desires, but Edna fully committed to changing into a persona that she always wanted to be.

This ‘new persona’ of Edna stays with her until she commits suicide towards the end of the book, but she had already started a new life of her own, a life that will give her what she had desired. Ultimately, Kate Chopin’s ‘The Awakening’ is a book about a woman who tries to find her freedom and to explore the notion of desire, whether its sex, or emotional physical daily needs that she could not find in her husband and lovely kids, and going back on the symbol of her children as chains is also proven in this quote: “She sees no way for a mother to keep the freedom of her soul – no way, that is, except to dissolve her attachment to her children” (Chopin, 101). She understands that the kids are a burden that will always hold her back from achieving what she had always wanted because she understands how important a mother’s role is towards her children, but Edna did not get what she wanted so she chose her only way that she will find freedom and peace without and shackles or chains to hold her back, and that is by committing suicide and leaving all that she had once knew, behind her. She sinks in the sea, the same place that she had always found peace in, was the place that she had decided to take her life in.

Bibliography

1. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Penguin Classics, 2018.
2. Chopin, Kate, The Awakening, PBS Electronic Library, 2006.

‘A Painted House’ is a perfect representation of the common American lifestyle. It was inspired by the authors own childhood in the American South. It takes place in the south around the 1950s. This story is told through the eyes Luke Chandler, a seven-year-old boy. His memories and struggles are expressed in so many descriptive ways leading to the overall style of American realism.

This story introduces us to American views almost instantly. When we start learning about Luke, we see that he is a young boy in a cotton farming family that is struggling for cash. His parents and grandparents all live together. Their struggle to earn money is constantly shown throughout the story. Right at the beginning they are looking hard for workers. They need any help they can get to harvest their crops. Eventually they hire the Spruills and some Mexicans to help them out.

Luke’s parents show the American feel in many ways also. They have extremely high hopes for their kid. They want him to not have to live the life that they had to. In relation, I can see this in my own home with my own family. They hope he doesn’t have to farm and he can become a baseball player.

The story also has some stereotypical American characters besides Luke’s family. Cowboy is a violent Mexican worker, Hank from the Spruill family is a snotty, mean, and violent eldest son. Tally is the typical ‘dumb blonde’ and Luke’s major love interest. Luke’s Uncle Ricky is in the army fighting for America. Many other characters appeal to the overall feel, but this is just a small example.

This story shows Luke losing his innocence to the cruel real world. He sees people commit murder, which is way too much for a little seven-year-old. He witnesses and hears things a seven-year-old could not be prepared for. He then finds himself trying to keep all these secrets to himself. This leads to lots of deceit and stress for everyone involved. Luke always dreamed of playing baseball. He listened to St. Louis games on the radio all of the time. I can relate this to many children in America wanting to go on the professional sports. Luke is very relatable to the typical American child. Of course, besides all the lies and secrets that were forced into his life. He has many feelings that are relatable to even some friends I have. Anything from having a crush on a girl to working to impress his family, Luke is overall a pretty American boy.

American tradition is showed throughout the everyday events also. Sundays were the resting days. Also, they were the days everyone went to church. Saturdays were for town visits. The carnival came through, and a few other relatable events also.

Overall, American views and traditions are shown throughout this entire story. It is a story about farming in the south. A young boy with a crush who just wants to go play baseball gets his whole world changed after seeing a couple bad things. The relatable characters, events, and traditions; on top of the extreme details and descriptions, all help add the overall style of American realism.

History is not everything that happened in the past, just the important events which happened in the past. Written form of history is known as literature. Drama, poetry, and novels are the different forms of literature. The literature during the different eras portrayed the common problems that existed within the society during that particular time. Therefore, literature is a kind of reflector which reflects the society, and the captivity narrative is a genre within American literature which commonly refers to the written accounts of European settlers who were kidnapped by the Native Americans. And this paper analyzes the emergence of captivity narrative in the nineteenth century in a detailed way.

The Reflection of 17th Century Society in Literature

The 17th century literature represents the volatility in society, religion, and the monarchy of this period. It was marked as a period of the shift from an age of faith to an age of reason. Life of the English people was changed by the Christian missionaries and the Civil War. It exhibited the role of individuals in society, perspectives of faith, and social structures in England. Writers of this period influenced the masses through their own philosophies. Common themes of the writers of this period were love, religion, and political views.

Characteristics of American Literature

Both the British and American literatures shared the language and have undergone a great evolution. English literature is the heritage of the Old Europe. All literary works written in the English language about the British experience can be called as English literature. The American literature is a sub-genre of English literature and can be called as the New World’s free child. The themes, the characters, and the scenery of the American Literature are derived from the English literature. American literature, on the other hand, is written by the English adventurers and the colonists in the New World about the American experience.

English literature is often termed as British literature. British English literature can be considered as the mother of English language and literature. And the American literature is the rude son that does not want to obey her mother and changed the rules and regulations of writing according to their will. Life in America and Britain changed significantly after the industrial revolution. While British writers were more concerned about the industrial revolution, the American writers concentrated on the reaction of the people to American independence and slavery.

The Captivity Narratives in American Literature

Another significant genre in American literature is captivity narrative. It emerged with the settlement of North America at the end of the nineteenth century. Even though the captivity narratives were written by several writers, the genre commonly refers to the accounts written by European settlers who were kidnapped by the Native Americans. The classic US captivity narratives encounter the relationship between the European explorers, foreign invaders, and the Native Americans. The most basic narrative formula of captivity narratives is relating the torments experienced by a captive in the society whom they consider inferior. Such narratives were often used as propaganda to tell their sufferings in the captor’s camp. Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’s ‘Sovereignty and Goodness of God’ (1682) is perhaps called as the most famous captivity narrative. It describes the American woman who has been taken as a captive mercilessly by the voracious Indian savages assailing the reputable family. The main themes of this captivity narrative are trials of captivity, escape or rescue, and assimilation into a Native community. This narrative received an outstanding popularity in its time and inspired many subsequent writers. Her account has the conservative plot structure and talks about the stereotypical beliefs of savagery, civilization, and feminine purity like modesty, gracefulness, delicacy, civility, compliance, reticence, chastity, affability, politeness, and virginity.

Rowlandson’s captivity narrative was not the first captivity narrative. For more than a century before her account European adventurers from England, France, Portugal, and Spain had published more influential accounts throughout the New World. But centuries after Rowlandson, many writers added literary devices to enhance their captive experiences. To attract and seek the sympathy of the new audiences, the editors, publishers and writers fictionalized captivity tropes and sensational images to their works. Everyone used the captivity narrative to implement, condemn, and criticize the opposite groups of people through the works. For example, British colonial writers of captivity narratives debased the French in the mid-18th century, American writers degraded the British during the Revolutionary era, US writers used it to condemn US policies of Indian removal in the 19th century, and the Native writers used the themes and styles of captivity narration to scorn the US imperialism.

Kendall Johnson in captivity narratives says the armed ship owned and crewed by the private individuals or privateers were used by the government to attack and steal the ships at sea especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. Especially, the privateers in the North African coast of the Barbary States targeted American ships in the Mediterranean Sea. The American sailors moving through the islands of Southeast Asia feared to fall into captivity. As like African American slave narratives, the American captivity narrative patterns also echo the plots and dramatic accounts of transatlantic slavery. It also includes the stories of the Bible, Greek mythology, and the genres of autobiography like slave narratives, travel writings, and the novels. These genres had been shaped and reshaped into a literary legacy by many cross-references and mutual influences. Even the present-day authors and filmmakers use the themes of the captivity narratives of centuries past by reviving and revising the familiar narratives and stereotypes to special cinematic effects (Johnson).

Some other most important and often read captivity narratives were Captain John Smith’s ‘Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England’, and the Summer Isles’ (1624) and John William’s ‘The Redeemed Captive, Returning to Zion’ (1707), as containing the first American captivity narrative. The genre had a great impact of the Puritan society, as fiction, plays, and poetry prohibited there. The captivity narratives not only served as a form of entertainment, it also served as a tool of promoting the Puritan theology. Early Puritan captivity narratives, written by the authors like Mary Rowlandson, John William, and Cotton Mather made use of their narratives to urge social conformity. All these authors described the attack, abduction, forced immigration, agonies, tortures, adaptation among the Native American society, and return to the Puritan society. They framed their narratives around the beliefs of the Puritan society that God would punish the unruly people who were disobedient through capture, and would save them through His ultimate forgiveness and mercy to the person, who is faithful through rescue and return to their own society.

These narratives have an everlasting place in literature, history, and the study of indigenous peoples and their cultures. Captivity narratives were significant in the study of modern spiritual and religious movements, not because they provided the historical fact about Native American practices, but because they provided the readers with a scope of assimilating the changes in the popular mass culture. The British people who were captured during the exploration and settlement in India and East Asia also wrote their experiences in the form of captivity narratives, and they resembled a well-established genre in African American literature called ‘slave narratives’. The colonists in New England were frequently taken captives by Canadians and their Indian allies, Because of the competition between New France and New England in North America. Similarly, the Canadians and Indian prisoners were taken as captives by the New Englanders and their Indian allies. Ellen Campbell Rhodes in ‘The Adaptability of Women’s Captivity Narratives in American Literature’ quotes the words of Christopher Castiglia like this: “The captivity narrative gives a voice to the voiceless, both in the events and people that it explores. Even when men removed them from the writing and publishing of their stories, women could still rely on the genre to give them a voice, a place in literature. Women captives have consistently shown their ability to transgress and transform the boundaries of the genre in order to accomplish their own ends” (Rhodes).

The captivity narratives in American literature were stories of captured people, which stipulated the basic human qualities and emotions. The captivity narrative is so inherently powerful that the story naturally fits the terrorist kidnappings of the present-day society. Hostages such as captivities of English travelers or sailors by Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean can be seen in the preliminary version of the world literature. The popular romances like the rescues of fair damsels from rogue knights, ogres, trolls, ethnic others can also be seen in the narratives. In colonial North America, these narratives told the factual stories of real people. Sometimes the stories of the women captured by the Indians, their trials, sufferings, adventures; finally, their escape, redemption, or death were also told. Many of these narratives were formerly published in New England and later in the west.

The captivity narratives had its origin from the 17th century in the American literature, and the first famous literary form was by a woman’s experience. The earliest and popular was ‘A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’ (1682). It went through four editions in the year when it was published and became 15 when it was republished in America and England. It was considered to be the first American bestseller. It was the story of a woman called Rowlandson. She was the wife of a Puritan minister. One day she with her three children was taken hostage by Narrhaganset Indians in February 1676. The Narrhaganset tribe was an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. For a long time, the tribe was nearly landless, and so they worked to regain the federal recognition, which they achieved in 1983. While they were captured the six-year-old Sarah was wounded fatally in the raid on their village and died nine days later in her mother’s arms. The other two children were sold to different tribes, and Mary was made to travel with her captors, for about 150 miles north from her hometown before being ransomed by her husband after eleven weeks of captivity.

Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’s ‘The Sovereignty and Goodness of God’ describes the time spanned in the Native American camp and the twenty distinct ‘removes’, because she had been removed more than 20 times from each camp by the Indian captors. From each painful step in her life as a pious Puritan matron entering into the harsh world of the Narrhaganset, she found that her will to survive was stronger than her fear or grief. She helped herself with her endurance and ability to adapt by eating food which previously disgusted her, like raw horse liver and bear meat to survive in the new Indian Savages. She also learned to admit their humanity and to barter and bargain with them. Even after being ransomed, Rowlandson could not relive from her sufferings for several months in dreams and flashbacks. It took many days for her to recover and adjust herself in her own society. Slowly she began to realize how much her emotional expression and religious grace had changed, from the public acceptance through writing her story. Thus, by writing about her suffering and redemption, she re-entered the Puritan society in a new role.

Summary

In conclusion, the difference between British literature and American literature, the captivity narrative and the reasons for its emergence in American literature, have been analyzed elaborately in this paper.

Slavery is not just a word but a monumental period of history that caused severe pain for Africans and African Americans for financial and economic gain. The institution of slavery in colonial North America consisted of African culture, Christianity, and resistance. The treatment of slaves varied, but it was typically brutal. Whippings, beatings, rape, and executions were a terrible routine and the use of discriminatory slang from whites was not uncommon. The sexual abuse of women was high in the colonies and these relations resulted in an increasing large amount of mixed-race children born into slavery. Laws were also enforced that withheld slaves from learning to read and write. Few states even forbade blacks to associate with free Africans, drink alcohol, carry firearms, and leave the plantation without their owner’s consent. However, as time passed, enslaved blacks were able to adapt to their new lifestyle by constructing their own culture, but still adhering to traditional African customs. Unfortunately, modern American culture has disregarded the revolution of slavery, the treatment of slaves, and its impact on the world. Yet it did contribute to today’s economy, the revolution is still embedded in black individuals.

During the Antebellum period, enslaves black longed for ways to express themselves. Because reading and writing was prohibited, slaves adopted a strong oral form of expression. Storytelling, church, singing, and music were important forms of cultural expression that slaves created as traditions to escape the harsh conditions. These traditions became a primary mean of preserving slave history and cultural information. Storytelling, folktales, and music provided knowledge as literature was not acknowledged yet. Singing and worshiping was a way blacks could voice their grievances and channel their hardships within the slave community. Slave songs known as spirituals were early adaptations of hymns that slaves were taught during Sunday worship. Worshipping at church greatly became one of the few ways slaves were able to freely express themselves. Despite having to live with this dehumanizing practice, blacks still worshipped God and became Christian. On most plantations, Sundays were considered a rest day; therefore, as Christianity exceeded, slaves were allowed to worship, study Bible verses, and learn more about their religion. Their reality began to seep into narrative and their tales of freedom and salvation forged together to create new spiritual songs. These new hymns were able to teach and inform the younger generation of how to escape this tragedy. Even though there are a variety of interpretations of these spiritual tunes, people believed that slaves used them as instruction to runaway to the North. The famous song, ‘Wade in the Water’ by Ella Jenkins, was believed to be used to transmit secret codes to help slaves escape. Eventually, spirituals gained its recognition as some of the first forms of music to influence the 20th and 21st century.

However, during the 19th century, African American literature gained its fame as the more predominant form of expression. According to pbs.org, “literacy brought with it knowledge, inspiration, and sometimes the means to escape from slavery”. Writers were able to illuminate their concerns and ideas on religion, oppression, segregation, and freedom. Through slave narratives (autobiographies), short stories, poems, novels, and speeches, free and enslaved blacks were able to have a voice and eventually aid in the abolishment of slavery. Famous writers such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Paul Laurence Dunbar are a few out of many composers who earned their recognition for creating honest and engaging works during the antebellum period. Frederick Douglass is predominantly known for his slave narratives and for emerging “from slavery to become one of the great Americans of the 19th century”. In a journal article, ‘I Was Born: Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature’ by James Olney, he is praised to being the most famous African American slave narrator who went “beyond the single intention of describing slavery, but he also describes it more exactly and more convincingly than anyone else”. Harriet Jacobs was actively involved in the abolition movement where she supported fugitive slaves. Her book, ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’, was well recognized and played a crucial role in the fight against slavery. Paul Laurence Dunbar is credited to being the first African American poet to enhance the black experience to a broad audience. Black literature essentially became indirectly and directly intertwined with the legacy of the abolishment of American slavery.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African American writer who gained national recognition as the first black author to captivate the true reality and thoughts of slaves through the art of literature. He is well known for paving the way for many famous black poets and writers to begin discussing racism and discrimination within their works. Dunbar’s poetry influenced Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and James Weldon Johnson and continues to impact American literature today. His creations range far more than just poetry. He’s created novels, short stories, newspaper articles, and lyrics for Broadway musicals. Paul Laurence Dunbar was an innovator who aimed to use his voice and vision for his people in the various forms that literature offers. Throughout his writings, his desire to convey the hopes, ambition, and dreams of black people became predominant. He aimed to show the world the truth of who Africans and African Americans were. Quoting from the article, ‘‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Songs!’: Dunbar in China’ written by English Professor Xilao Li, he describes Dunbar’s use of poetry as a means “to express frustration and disappointment at the ways that his country treated fellow African Americans”. Dunbar voiced them as more thoughtful and creative individuals and less as a stereotype, which majority of the world saw them as.

An eye-opening poem, ‘We Wear the Mask’, by Dunbar conveys the use of a mask as a survival tool for black Americans. The lyrical poem was published in 1896 in ‘Lyrics of Lowly Life’ (Dunbar’s collection of his most recognized poetry), and rose his national recognition as the first African American literary poet. Stating from an article titled, ‘Intimate Intercessions in the Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar’ by Joanne Gabbin, Dunbar “ingeniously captures the ubiquitous racial patterns of masking, dissimulation, and double consciousness” as the central idea of the literary work. Even though race is not mentioned, the poem effectively describes how ‘we’ put on and accept wearing a mask that ‘grins and lies’. The key words such as ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘our’ refers to people, but specifically African Americans. They wear the masks to cover their grief and hopelessness as society wears a mask to ignore the issues slaves experienced. The use of imagery is presented thoroughly throughout the poem. For instance, the line, “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile”, shows how slaves looked to the rest of the world, but pain and sorrow remains embedded deep within themselves. Further on, the speaker uses the line: “Why should the world be over-wise, in counting all our tears and sighs?”. This rhetorical question forces the reader to ponder the condition of the world around them and perhaps expand the question from their point of view. The emotions towards salvation, oppression, and freedom are present, yet the world still seems to overlook them. Another anthologized poem by Dunbar, titled ‘Sympathy’, uses great symbolism and imagery on the brutality of slavery, racial segregation, and social discrimination. Within the literary work, Dunbar coined the phrase, “I know why the caged bird sings”, a line from which author and writer, Maya Angelou, titled for her autobiography. He used a variety of literary devices including metaphors, symbolism, and imagery to enhance the feelings and emotions of the enslaved. The repeated term ‘caged bird’ is portrayed metaphorically and symbolically throughout the poem. The lines, “I know what the caged bird feels”, “I know why the cage bird beats his wing”, and “I know why the caged bird sings” represents slaves pleading to be free.

Paul Laurence Dunbar also developed a poem, titled ‘Harriet Beecher Stowe’, as a tribute to the abolitionist woman who impacted the world through her book, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’. The poem praised Stowe for her bravery and strength to save the people from ignorance. Dunbar begins the poem with: “She told the story and the whole world wept”. He speaks on ‘the story’ as the story of slaves and their sufferings. The next line “at wrongs and cruelties it had not known” illuminates how the outside world was unaware of the conditions and treatments thousands of blacks encountered. Dunbar credits Stowe for having a ‘fearless voice’ by implementing the lines, “but for this fearless woman’s voice alone. She spoke to consciences that long had wept”. He praises her for her valorous voice for being unafraid to voice the harsh truth of slavery. To conclude the poem, Dunbar implements the lines: “Blest be the hand that dared be strong to save, – And blest be she who in our weakness came – Prophet and priestess! At one stroke she gave – A race to freedom, and herself to fame”. Even though the novel brought extreme debates and criticism to the forefront, Dunbar shows his gratitude to Stowe and applauds her for becoming the voice for the hopeless. He also recognizes her for achieving two goals: earning her fame as a writer and opening possibilities for freedom.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, an abolitionist and world-renowned author who gained her fame from her best-selling book, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, is widely known as one of the most influential women of the 19th century. She is also known for capturing the true reality of black slaves and educating the world, specifically Northerners, on the brutal conditions slaves faced. The best seller highlights the issue of slavery and the treatment African American slaves undergone. Stowe realized that most Northerners were unaware how brutal slavery was firsthand. The novel brought life to many Northern whites and more people began considering abolishing slavery. Through her infamous novel, Stowe aimed to personalize slavery for her readers. She wanted to educate the world about its harshness and hoped that her audience would rise against slavery as they understood the tough hardships African American families encountered. Many individuals criticized Stowe’s work as an inaccurate depiction of slavery. However, despite its criticism, the novel became a bestseller and was even published in an abolitionist newspaper known as, The National Era. This single work of literature became a beacon of hope for thousands of slaves and Stowe was now viewed as the savior of the suffering and oppressed.

Published in 1852, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, quickly became the most popular novel of the 19th century. Selling over 300,000 copies within the first year, the anti-slavery novel gained abrupt recognition as the most powerful book on the issue of slavery. It’s impact on American society eventually led to Stowe meeting President Abraham Lincoln. The book publicized the true horrors of American slavery and brought its attention to thousands of readers. John R. Adams—writer of the article – ‘Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)’, states the novel as “completely life-like to its original readers and completely unbelievable to many of them”. However, Stowe’s portrayal of slavery quickly created tensions between the North and South as it is claimed to have been the reason for the Civil War. In addition to her powerful outlook on slavery, Stowe was able to portray the anti-black community through the stereotypes of black characters by implementing discriminatory phrases such as, ‘Uncle Tom’, ‘pickaninny’, and ‘dark-skinned mammy’. The novel focuses on the hardships of the character, Tom, who was a slave and had been beaten and sold numerous times. However, despite Tom’s suffering, he remained faithful and stuck to his Christian beliefs which Stowe humanizes as one of the central themes of the best seller. Through his preaches, Tom inspired other slaves to acknowledge Christianity and even convinces two fellow slaves, Cassey and Emmeline, to escape. In the end, Tom is whipped to death after refusing to tell their whereabouts to his owner. As true and straightforward the anti-slavery novel may seem, it is roughly based on a real slave. Josiah Henson was a slave in Port Tobacco and Charles County, Maryland who – unlike Tom – was able to escape to Canada. He founded a settlement and a laborer’s school for refugee slaves, and eventually became an author and minister. In addition, Henson created his slave narrative, ‘The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself”, “where it sold 6,000 copies in 1852 and had been published in both America and England”, according to journal article, ‘Who Read the Slave Narratives?’ by Charles H. Nichols. He also went on lecture tours, spoke as an abolitionist throughout Canada and Britain, and even worked as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. By acknowledging the institution of slavery through the eyes of a slave, Harriet Beecher Stowe was able to construct an impactful message in ending of human bondage which was more than what a lot of people had done at that time.

American literature written on the institution of slavery and hardship slaves faced did not only impact the United States, but also made a change internationally. As mentioned previously, slave narratives had a crucial role in the abolishment of slavery as they established a voice when proving slaveholders’ claims to be false. Slave narratives were a form of literary writings that focused on the personal experiences of slaves and demonstrated that blacks were people who knew language and had the ability to compose their own history. They gave Northerners the opportunity to fully grasp slavery and better understandings of African and African American stories. Narrative described the stories of being sold, frequent beatings, severe living conditions, and the sexual abuse of women. This literary work became significant as a form of expression and allowed many famous abolitionists to spread their message. Writers including William Wells Brown, Solomon Northrups, and Frederick Douglass became prominent within these works and eventually became extremely popular to the public. Brown’s, ‘Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave’, went through four editions within its first year and became a standout among slave autobiographies. Northrups, ‘Twelve Years a Slave’, conveyed his experience being in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana. The narrative was published in several editions and would later be adapted as two films. Douglass’ ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave’ sold over 30,000 copies by 1860 and is known to being one of the most famous slave narratives written by a former slave during the 19th century. The narratives gained so much recognition that they were translated into Russian, French, Dutch, and German. In addition to their publications, abolitionist writers became lectures and toured around the world. They spoke their stories to different audiences throughout the North and in Europe. Frederick Douglass was the most famous lecturer, as he was joined by others including Sojourner Truth and Brown. These African American men and women won the attention of many whites who had never seen a black individual this articulate. Slave narratives were able to captivate the readers and audiences and illuminate fugitive slaves as capable and sympathetic people.

The poem ‘Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War Is Kind’ by Stephen Crane was published in 1895 during the period of realism in American literature. The American poet Stephen Crane was born in 1871 and has had many popular works that take place during and have been influenced by the Civil War, including this piece. Although Crane was born after the Civil War, the effects that it had on reality still lived on into his day, and its effects are the true heart of the realism time period in American literature. Realism versus idealism was the biggest factor in the realism time period in American literature. Escaping reality was a need for people during this time due to their homeland being at war with itself. An easy way to escape the reality was to dream of a utopian one and think of an ideal lifestyle. War was and still is painted to be seen as a glorifying act that should be honored by everyone. Crane’s poem deals with and discusses the tragic reality of war and how it was wrongly portrayed by the people of his time.

As the poem begins, the first line has a juxtaposition within it creating an effect of irony. The opening statement, “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind”, symbolizes the irony of the time period of the Civil War, and reiterates the fact that war was masked and portrayed as a benefactor. The speaker seems to be the poet himself and he creates a calm and sympathetic mood discussing the maiden’s ‘lover’ and his victory against the enemy. The opening line is repeated in a different way at the end of the first, third, and fifth stanzas creating repetition. The act of repeating the line emphasizes the nature of ignorance that people had of how terrible war actually was and how they tried to make it sound like it was not harmful by any means. The speaker in this poem acts as an archetype for society during the time period.

Although the poem is not written in iambic pentameter and does not have a rhyme scheme, the structure of the poem alone has an effect on the point the poet is trying to make. The first, third, and fifth stanzas have no indentation, however, the second and fourth stanzas do. Indentation could be interpreted as something not being on the surface or in plain sight. In stanzas one, three, and five the speaker is telling the maiden that her father and lover are glorified because they were involved in the war and fought against the enemy. Their victory is seen, but the harrowing, exhausting, deadly part of war is not seen until the second and fourth stanzas where the indentation takes place. The shift in the poem happens here, and the indentation symbolizes something hidden within the surface that is not seen at a first glance, much like the true reality of war and what it actually consists of.

The second and fourth stanzas introduce visual and auditory imagery that establishes Cranes opinions about war and the theme that he is trying to get across. Crane paints the pictures of what goes on during war through his visual imagery of battlefields “where a thousand corpses lie” (Stanza 2, line 6) and the auditory image of the “Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment” (Stanza 2, line 1). Soldiers lay wounded at the result of victory, and many young lives are lost. The speaker remarks that “These men were born to drill and die” (Stanza 2 and 4, line 3), showing that the young men that were put into battle were now basically born to fight and die. The boys were brought up to a certain age and watched after until they went to war. Their whole lives led up to their death sentence that war shed upon them according to Crane. The drums would sound as soldiers would march into battle, and the use of the word ‘booming’ transports readers and makes them feel as if they are actually there in the moment and makes them feel as if they can hear and see what is going on. The act of hearing and seeing his images makes readers see the terrible ordeal that war actually was which is Cranes main motivation for writing the poem. The contrast between what society sees versus what actually goes on happens in the second and fourth stanzas with the dramatic shift. The irony is present when the shift occurs.

The imagery continues in the third stanza and shifts back to the light mood that the first stanza embodied. The speaker addressing the maiden as ‘babe’ shows the act of caring and sharing a close relationship. Discussing the maiden’s father and the maiden’s lover shows the fact that she had companions that went into battle and were close to her. The speaker ironically reassures the maiden that “war is kind” after explaining that her father died in battle. The act of saying “war is kind” after that represents the glory that people put on the soldiers after dying in battle, instead of accepting and embracing their death as a true tragedy.

The closing of the poem is the final push in Cranes opinions about wars brutality and damage. The final image is of a mother’s son being wrapped in a shroud after dying in battle (Stanza 5, line 2). This is the final image of the poem, along with the final moment of a young soldier’s life. The brutality of war was real, and it wasn’t fully seen by bystanders. The glory and sacrifice that the soldiers went through was respectfully seen, but the act of accepting its damage was ignored by many during this time period.

Through his use of powerful imagery, keen structure, and heavy irony, Stephen Crane establishes his beliefs about war and its effects in hopes of communicating to all that was is not solely about sacrifice and honor; it is about pain, loss, and fear as well.

“My triumph lasted till the drums” aptly describes the feeling of war. The narrator first feels a sense of victory, but after having realized what that victory entails then experiences feelings of regret and contempt. There is a certain ambivalence with the phrase ‘finished faces’, for it suggests two meanings: either the ‘finished faces’ of those who have been killed in battle; or the ‘finished faces’ of the living who have ended the battle. In both cases, the narrator is seemingly stared at by these faces and in the process making her wish she were dead. The narrator knows the latter are the only ones who are capable of moving on with their lives and this battle. However, she realized, that she “hated glory”; a phrase which implies that there are no real victors in war. This sentimentality can be seen throughout American literature. Therefore, this essay will argue that different types war can be throughout American literature, but the effect of war brings about a form of enlightenment before or in its aftermath.

One notable type of war viewed in American literature is between the oppressors and the oppressed. This can be read in Frederick Douglass’ ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave’. As a child on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, Douglass saw multiple whippings of different slaves, including being “awakened … by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine and whipped … till she was literally covered with blood”. When he was seven, he was made to work for Hugh Auld, which was when he began to get a sense for what freedom was like, due in part to his new master’s wife who “very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C”. But after Hugh prevented Douglass from being taught to read, it only fueled his ‘determination to learn’, which was his first step into writing antislavery texts. Douglass illustrates how white slaveholders were able to sustain slavery through keeping the slaves uneducated. This is because during the period Douglass was writing in, a majority of people assumed slavery was just something that was normal, being convinced slaves were genuinely unable to engage on any level in everyday society, and were only fit to be slaves for slaveowners. A method slave owners utilized to maintain power over slaves was to keep them unaware of fundamental facts about themselves such as where the rest of their families were sent to work, as well as the disability to learn how to read and write – preventing what the rest of America were aware of about slavery. In this war between the oppressors and oppressed however, Douglass demonstrates that slaveholding not only harms the slaves, but also the slave owners themselves depicting slavery as unnatural for all involved. This can be exemplified through Sophia Auld, who through the corrupt immorality of slaveholding she changed her from an affectionate woman to a monster. From his writings, Douglass is making the point that slavery should be banned for the benefit of all parts of society.

This war between the oppressors and the oppressed can also be witnessed in ‘A Raisin in the Sun’. Through Mr. Lindner, Hansberry explores the theme of racial prejudice as an important matter in the story that the Youngers family have to face. The Clybourne Park Improvement Association dispatch Mr. Lindner to convince the Youngers not to relocate into the Clybourne Park neighborhood – wholly lived in by white families, by offering “to buy the house from [them] at a financial gain to [their] family”. When Lindner first sets foot in their apartment the Youngers are more than welcoming to him, offering him beer and coffee yet Lindner’s amiability turns into awkwardness, even pathetic as he notices that the Youngers are in fact morally upstanding people. The reason Hansberry depicts Lindner becoming more and more pathetic is to show that being racially discriminative is in itself pathetic, for obviously any assumptions about how the black community are unreasonable and savages is completely false, as clearly demonstrated in this scene. The Youngers’ wish for living equality causes the Clybourne Park Improvement Association worried about the prospect of black integration. Conversely, the Youngers are alarmed regarding the potential types of bigotry they could encounter whether it be discrimination or physical threats. Despite this, the Youngers react to these threats with both resilience and bravery. Hansberry is trying to state that the way to manage any form of prejudice is to stand against it and to uphold one’s pride as opposed to allow the oppressors to enforce any power over you. Therefore, the war between the oppressed and the oppressors is shown to be fruitless, considering even though the oppressed come off far worse in this battle the oppressors find themselves not gaining much for it to be called a victory.

Another type of war that will be discussed is a religious war – being able to decide for oneself what can really be considered Christ’s teachings, or if it has been manipulated to benefit someone else. Two types of Christians can be identified in ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’, represented by the contradiction between the Widow Douglass, a holy and loving woman who personifies the strong Christian, doing good deeds for God. This includes Jesus’s saintly and loving word of God, as well as teaching Huck about difference between Heaven and Hell as “she had got a start, and she went on and told [him] all about the good place”. Conversely, Miss Watson signifies a hypocritical form of Christianity – convinced that she living exactly how the Bible has instructed her to live and that anyone else who does not follow the Bible to heart (in other words how she feels they should live) is in fact a sinner, and as a result they will have to endure eternal damnation in Hell when they die. Huck notices the different ideas of Heaven that the Watson sisters present to him, as he states: “…I could see that there was two Providences…”. Even though Huck is a child, he is mature enough to become conscious that this level of religious hypocrisy that surrounds him is escalating. It is not long before he realizes that both of these places appear boring and would rather be with Tom Sawyer in Hell than either of their ‘good places’. However, this is vital for Huck to learn that it’s up to him to make the right choice, even when it comes to religion. On the other hand, Huck and Jim use superstitions to understand the world, meaning they read ‘bad signs’ into everything, like when a spider burns in a candle for example. This is a critique of religion from Twain by making the point that as silly as superstition is, it is still more reliable to use in the world than formal religion. In contrast to their silliness, organized religion plunges its followers into ignorance and inhumanity. According to Christianity Huck is Damned for saving Jim from slavery, but resisting what society dictates and refuses to follow the Christian good, he saves Jim, and through this establishes a moral guideline in the novel – that one that cannot be manipulated by society into backing immoral systems such as slavery.

As stated previously in this essay, Douglass’s narrative demonstrates how white slaveholders were able to control slavery by adopting a method to keep their slaves ignorant, for learning how to read and write would grant them the self-sufficiency to express their views on how horrible conditions were. Another key method that the slaveowners used to control their slaves was to use Christ’s teachings. Slaveowners through several passages from the bible including Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, VI, 5-7: “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters … as unto Christ”, essentially indoctrinating these slaves to believe that by working for their masters they were in fact doing Christ’s bidding and so it was almost a holy practice to serve their masters well. Reviewing the work of the white churches, Frederick Douglass commented that “Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference” – so wide is the difference that to receive one as good, pure, and holy as Christ’s teachings is to be the enemy of the other. He also claimed he “hated the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land”. This can be applied to certain slaveowners such as Thomas Auld, who developed a twisted interpretation of Christianity to appear God-fearing, when in fact he turns a blind eye to the crimes he commits. On the surface Auld acts devout by praying and inviting ministers to his home, yet in reality he acts really inhumane to slaves. For example, Henny, a slave who fell into a fire as a child and is practically helpless still endures dreadful treatment and many lashings nonetheless – after which Auld frees her from her punishments and instructs her “to take care of herself”. Hence, one’s war with religion should be to decide for themselves what really falls under Christ’s teachings of “loving thy neighbor as thyself”, to fight to what organized institutions dictate is correct, especially when innocent people are being victimized as a result.

Leading on from the previous paragraph, the final type of war that will be discussed in this essay is an internal war, as characters go through different stages in their life to discover who they really are and what is right, not what society instructs them who to be and how to behave. An example this internal conflict in ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is in Chapter 16, when Huck is debating if he should hand in Jim to the slave traders or continue their efforts to liberate him. Society taught Huck that even socializing with slaves was a bad thing to do, let alone assisting their attempts to get to freedom. He made the decision to do what he felt was right rather than what society says is right, learning to see Jim as another human being. At one point in the novel Huck even began to write a letter to Miss Watson about Jim going back, but then tears up the letter saying, “All right, then I’ll go to hell”. As the slavers hurry to get away from the “small-pox on the boat”, one says “my Kingdom”, then gives Huck two “twenty- dollar gold pieces”. Twain writes this as a critique on certain members of the church, who believed they could solve any difficulties they faced by giving away church money. Twain himself disapproved of organized religion, for not representing an accurate view of Christ’s teachings – similar to the Watson sisters. Twain commented on his book as being a story “where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision, and conscience suffers defeat”. In saying this, Twain discusses the internal war Huck faces, of what he knows is right as opposed to what he is told is right.

This internal conflict can also be seen in the story of Roderick Hudson, in both Hudson and Rowland. Hudson, who after announcing his ambition to become one of the great sculptors of Italian art, and failing to contain his pride enters into a stage where his inspiration leaves him leaving him to resort to gambling and high debt. Hudson finds himself in a battle to try and find himself again, and to rediscover that inspiration he has lost. With the sculpture of ‘thirst’ seemingly represent the thirst of his ambition, this metaphor the metaphor of ‘thirst’ loses its meaning as a result of his dual frustration. Conversely, Rowland Mallet battles not with trying to rediscover his imagination but fighting both his self-criticism and as a result his inaction. He spends his time “broken into a dozen conscious devices for disposing of the hours”, which results in his lack of emotion. Max Weber defined modernity as the ‘disenchantment of the world’, which represents the key theme running throughout this novel which would become a recurring motif James’ work. This is because it seems to be an unconsciously intended exploration of what it means to be a homosexual in a world where homosexuality is a crime. The internal fights of these characters’ inaction and self-criticism thus refer to James’ battle with accepting who he really is, and therefore on one’s internal battle to discover who they are they tend to go through some form of hardship in order to come out having been enlightened in its aftermath.

Despite the fact that warfare throughout history has had devastating effects, American literature has shown such brutality does bring about different forms of enlightenment. The war between the oppressed and the oppressors shows whatever oppressors do to control society, the oppressed will always resist and stand up to adversity. On one’s journey they tend to undergo an internal battle to discover who they are, which in turn influences many of their decisions such as questioning what really falls under Christ’s teachings of loving and caring each other, to not listen to what society dictates you should do.