Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Comparative Literary Analysis on How Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving Look at American Culture in Their Short Stories. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 6 page paper which examines how these authors comment on aspects of American culture and search for deeper truths in the stories “Young Goodman Brown,” “The May-Pole of Merry Mount,” “My Kinsman, Major Molineux,” “Rip Van Winkle,” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGhawirv.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
cultural identity. However, even then the transplanted immigrants were discovering that the melting pot theory, or the philosophy that all cultures could be interwoven into one colorful tapestry, would
be easier said than done. At this time, there was not one distinctive American culture but rather a hodgepodge of subcultures that would be dominated by the beliefs of
whatever constituted a majority of a certain geographical region. The authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving and their works would become closely associated with the places their families settled
in from Europe, and these places, people and customs - for Hawthorne, it would be New England and for Irving it would be upstate New York - served as their
creative muses. Their short stories often considered the immigrant experience in America, with plots and conflicts motivated by their feelings of isolation/ alienation, clash of beliefs, and desire to
belong or conform to prevailing cultural norms. Most of Nathaniel Hawthornes short stories centered on New Englands Puritan subculture. In "Young Goodman Brown" (1835), an allegorical story involving satanic
temptation and a loss of faith emphasized the changes that resulted from leaving Mother England. The protagonist is "a cultural representative and... evokes that stage of Puritanism when a
diminished conviction was beginning to be replaced by a somewhat hypocritical moral will (Shear 543). Brown would remark to a man identified only as a fellow traveler, "We have
been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs. And shall I be the first of the name of Brown, that ever took
this path" (Hawthorne 1237). In this revealing passage, Hawthorne is able to portray the hypocrisy of the supposedly good man of unquestionable moral integrity, following the righteous path forged
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