Essays and Research Papers on African-American Literature

This 5 page paper considers the three ways that Maya Angelou argued that second class citizens infringed on her personal development as she grew up in the pre-Civil War south. This paper reflects on whether these experiences were universal or if they were universal to the way any young people grew up during this era. No additional ...

This 5 page paper provides a comparison between Maya Angelou's novel and the television movie that was based on her book. This paper outlines some of the major differences between the text of the book and the elements of the movie and determines the benefits/weaknesses as a result of these changes. No additional sources cited.

10 pages in length. Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God,' Nella Larsen's 'Passing' and Ann Petry's 'The Street' all address the issue of marriage in very different ways. While all three stories speak about the bonds of matrimony in one way or another, it is not actually the marriage, in and ...

5 pages in length. Assessing the prejudicial differences that exist between Anne Radcliffe's 'The Castles Of Athlin And Dunbayne' and Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' is to address the issue of social class. The reality of Scottish white privilege as it is bestowed upon Radcliffe's Mary is entirely separate and apart from the ravages of Morrison's ...

Morrison and Salinger have both chosen to have the plot revolve around the misconception of the community and the need for adolescents (innocence) to find acceptance. A loss of that innocence results in a need to escape to somewhere or something that is able to fill the void. This 5 page paper argues that the character of ...

A five page paper on this detective novel by contemporary author Walter Mosley. The paper looks at whether it is possible for a Black author to write on his community without exploring the issue of racism, and concludes, in this case at least, it is not. Bibliography lists five sources.

This 2 page paper considers the role of Janie in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, and considers her quest as it defines the action in the story. In particular, this paper outlines Janie's quest for self-definition and her symbolic journey, both of which shape her transformation and regeneration. No additional ...

This 2 page paper considers the symbolic value of the items that the narrator collects in his briefcase and those items that he eventually discards. No additional sources cited.

A 10 page paper which examines the influences provided by poet Langston Hughes and novelist/short-story writer Zora Neale Hurston on African-American blues and theater, by comparing and contrasting their perspectives, through such works as (among others), Hughes' 'The Weary Blues' and 'Po' Boy Blues' and Hurston's short story, 'How It Feels to Be Colored Me,' and the novel, 'Their Eyes Were ...

This five-page-paper discusses the search for identity by the narrator in the classic tale 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Bibliography lists one source.

A 5 page research paper that examines the characters of 'Sula' and 'Nel' as representations of 'good' and 'evil' in this work by Toni Morrison. Sula and her friend Nel, form the focal point for this narrative and it is around this duo that other relationships revolve. Sula comes to represent evil and ...

This five-page-paper presents a discussion on the underlying and common feature that runs through James Baldwin's "Go Tell It On The Mountain." The features of what a dysfunctional family does in the upbringing of a child and the struggles the young man encounters when looking for his place in the world are nicely addressed. In ...

What is freedom? One of the interesting elements of literature is the diverse and myriad definitions and connotations that one comes across in the writings of different authors and genres. This 6 page paper argues that Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner and the film, Birth Of A Nation, all ...

A 5 page paper which examines the life of Alice Walker, and how it influenced the theme of violence within the African-American patriarchal society in her most famous novel, "The Color Purple." Specifically considered are how the female members of the African-American community must form a collective sisterhood, if there is any hope of changing this ...

Langston Hughes is a name long associated with poetry of what was known as the Harlem Renaissance. He is revered as one of the best of the African-American writers. His work includes several novels, the first of which was Not Without Laughter, written in 1930. This 10 page paper asserts that Hughes' tale of Not Without Laughter ...

This four-page paper provides an in-depth discussion on the evil underpinnings and apathy that Sula and Nell deal with in Toni Morrison's award winning novel, Sula. Bibliography lists four sources.

A 7 page paper which the life of Maya Angelou and analyzes her 1970 book, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," by evaluating the literary criticism of five professional critics. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A six page paper looking at Ralph Ellison's novel in terms of the way certain classes of people are rendered invisible by a society that refuses to see them as individuals. The paper observes that by the end of the novel, the protagonist has moved from a socially-imposed invisibility that makes him personally inauthentic to ...

In 5 pages, the author discusses Harriett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly. 'When considering the institution of slavery in America, one must look to one specific text in order to understand what happened during that horrific time in America's past. That work is Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life ...

A six page paper looking at this autobiography in terms of the way the author feels sheer determination allowed her to break through the limitations placed on her by her family and society. "Bone Black" is the story of a young girl who is not willing to accept the submissive and limited role offered to ...

A 9 page analysis of Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Seraph on the Suwanee." The writer discusses the criticism that this novel has received because Hurston, presumably, abandoned her own heritage and her feminist principles in writing this book. Basing her argument on an essay by Janet St. Clair, the writer proposes that this work can ...

8 pages. Not about the Invisible Man of movies, but about an African American man and the shattering of his dreams and goals. To prove that people are inherently racist without due cause, Ellison was compelled to prove to the world that black people were treated with considerably less tolerance than the supposed ...

5 pages. This excellent paper reviews the book by Anne Moody as it describes her turbulent life growing up black in Mississippi. In this tense and very interesting book, author Anne Moody describes to the reader a society that is unlike anything most of us have ever experienced. Anne Moody was one of the ...

The slave narrative has been a subject that has held the interest of contemporary historians as well as literary critics. The relative abundance of narratives of women in slavery has led to a number of feminist perspectives. This 10 page paper explores three such narratives: Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, The Narrative of ...

Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man is not really invisible, as he explains in the prologue: 'I am a man of substance, of flesh and bones, fiber and liquids--and I might even be said to possess a mind'. This 5 page paper argues that the story tells of the process used by one man to first recognize then reject ...