Essays and Research Papers on American Literature

A 6 page paper explicating the problems associated with the death of a child for the surviving parents. The writer explores the areas of guilt, reminders, lack of communication and resistance to personal progress related to a child's death in terms of Mason's story. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page essay that analyzes Thomas Pynchon's brief, but very complex novel, The Crying of Lot 49. This novel deals with the attempts of Oedipa Maas to decipher the extensive holdings of her inheritance. In doing so, she embarks on a journey that reveals to her a great deal about the US, and the ...

4 pages in length. Loren D. Estleman has a style of writing that was born from the unlikely combination of conventional American writers and historical abstract artists, a coupling that has earned him the well-earned reputation of being a detective novel pro whose writing style is both based in visual imagery and a "traditional, ...

In fourteen pages this paper analyzes the writing style of Tennessee Williams, which was inspired by his own life and the influences of Greek tragedy and prose. Seven sources are listed in the bibliography.

This is a 6 page paper discussing the male influences in the life of Adrienne Rich affected her writing. The work of Adrienne Rich is considered some of the most meaningful in feminist literature as it relates to her own intimate struggles for freedom from the male oppression within her life. Born into a household ...

This 3 page paper looks at this novel by Stephenson and how it impacts one's philosophy of technology. Various issues regarding the problems of technology are explored. No additional sources cited.

This 9 page report discusses the lives of the young women who went to work at the Lowell, Massachusetts, fabric mills in the mid 19th century. Approximately seventy women worked to produce what they titled “The Lowell Offering: A Repository of Original Articles on Various Subjects Written by Factory Operatives.” Its first issue also carried the banner “This Number Wholly ...

This 3 page paper briefly revisits ideas of what novels are about; and then decides on 3 novels that will endure: “The Things They Carried,” “Maus,” and “Haroun and the Sea of Stories.”

An 11 page paper outlining the perspective of Sylvia Plath and Adrienne Rich in regard to feminism. Identifies these two authors as two of the most prominent women poets of their generation. Notes a difference in feminist approach, Rich's as one of activism and Plath as a means of introspection. Bibliography lists ...

A 7 page examination of political obligation as it related to writers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Concentrates on John Locke and the leaders of the fledgling United States. Bibliography lists 8 sources.

A 14 page paper which considers how Kate Chopin was a woman who explored subjects such as miscegenation, divorce, and female sexuality in three short stories, a connection between "A Respectable Woman" and "The Story of an Hour" regarding a woman's growing desire and resulting conflict, and how through all three stories, she may have been expressing ...

A 14 page analytical essay which examines Mark Twain's attitudes about technology, both in his life and in his art, citing examples from such works as "The Bridge Builders," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," "The Gilded Age," "Life on the Mississippi," "The Tragedy of Puddn'head Wilson," and "What is Man?" Bibliography lists ...

A 4 page discussion of the blending that is occurring between man and machine. This paper reviews the work of Director David Cronenberg, author Donna Harraway, and philosopher Martin Heidegger. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 6 page paper looking at Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” as an indictment of both technology and industrialism in the nineteenth century. The paper argues that Twain likened Camelot to nineteenth-century America, which he viewed as enraptured with potentially destructive technology whose dangers they did not appreciate. Bibliography lists 6 ...

3 pages in length. Bradbury envisioned contemporary science teetering upon the dangerous edge of technological advancement for the supposed benefit of global society, predicting how the seemingly innocuous presence of television would set off an unstoppable drift toward an all-consuming technological society. When one considers the notion of a completely machine-dependent world – ...

Kate Chopin wrote at the turn of the century, toward the end of the Victorian era. This 10 page paper investigates the themes of passion, infidelity, miscegenation and divorce in The Story Of An Hour, A Respectable Woman and Desiree's Baby. Bibliography lists 9 sources.

A 5 page research paper/essay that examines the work of writer Dorothy Allison. The writer argues that Allison's feminism cannot be understood out of context form her lesbianism. These two topics are inseparable in Allison's writing because they are inseparable in her life. Looking at how Allison views herself as a feminist lesbian offers considerable ...

A four page paper that analyzes how this biographical text was written, with particular attention paid to the tone in presentation, and how this affects the decisions the author makes. There are no additional sources listed in the bibliography.

A 12 page paper which examines James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse” in terms of modernist writing. The issue addressed is whether or not the principal subject of modernist writing is writing itself. Bibliography lists 3 additional sources.

This 3-page paper focuses on the book An Hour Before Daylight, which is an autobiography written by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

(10pp) In a life that spanned almost the whole of the nineteenth century (1802-1880), Lydia Maria Child wrote about and lived within controversy, becoming a "household name" when still relatively young. But that was almost two centuries ago, and Child and her work has not surfaced until the last decade. In ...

This 5 page paper discusses this work by Twain which was written in his later years and published after his death. This work is atypical of his writing in that it was a dark analysis of man and God. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page paper that presents a reflection of Joseph F. Schmidt's Praying Our Experiences written in the third person narrative style. Included are tutorial notes and suggestions on how this paper may be written in the first person voice or style. Bibliography lists 1 source.

(5 pp) What thoughts do you have why an author writes? Does he have a choice? Is he compelled, or is he escaping into a world of his own creation. Comparing the style of writing and the works of Raymond Carver and Truman Capote, allows us toe examine that question. Bibliography ...

Tennessee Williams once wrote a short story about Tent Worms. This 3 page essay explores the basic writing techniques used to covey this highly emotive short story.