The Development of Cultural Diversity in American Literature - Assignment Example

? American Literature Task Unit 3 American literature has evolved over time in terms of the modes and themes of writing that were used in writing. They write passages in relation to what was happening in the country at that particular time. For example, in the early seventeenth century, the literature was focused on the renaissance period, in the eighteenth century themed on enlightment, for example, slavery while in the nineteenth century it was the era of romanticist. It changed on the twentieth century and visibly advanced. Geography, movement, borders and regionalism have influenced American literature over the years. Interaction influenced the mode of writing as they got more ideas from other people who had moved into the country. America is a multicultural community, and there were different forms of literature, these included, African American, Latino, Native American, Asian American, and women literature. The last years have seen a number of different voices into the American literature. They have helped bring the change in American literature. In the past, no one embraced African American literature, but the last years have seen the literature being embraced in the society and especially schools. All the literature including women literature is recognized showing how much American literature has developed. The gay and lesbian literature has also grown and Americans now recognizes that the genre has developed expansively. For example, Ellen Wittlinger’s, Hard Love that also won the best book award in 2000.The American literature expanded to include romantic writing, poetry and short stories. This came about after the introduction of the civil rights, and since then it has made the American literature to be limitless. “A street car named Desire” A streetcar named desire is a story of a woman Blanche Dubois who relocated to her sister’s house, and intended to live with her for quite a long time after losing the family house. Blanche seems to be lying about everything and tends to ‘avoid the light’. It is seen that Blanche is five years older than her sister is but she never wants to be under direct sunlight (Bradford). Blanche avoids light when it comes to her suitor Mitch and is not true to him. She does not want to tell him about her past, age and her fading beauty. Maybe she is avoiding reality because of what she had done in the past. Light symbolizes her activities in the past. Her life is governed by lies and living in an imaginary life. When Mitch knows her story, she forces her to admit that she had committed terrible things in her past. She tends to believe more in magic than the reality. She confesses to avoid the light because of the loss of her husband. She says that when her husband was alive, she experienced light in her life but after he died the bright light had been lacking in her life. Dim light is expressed when she has sexual relationships with other people. She avoids harsh light so that she does not have to see her fading beauty. She believes that by asserting her beauty upon younger men, she will be able to avoid death, and she will go back to her teenage bliss (Bradford). Prologue to Invisible man The invisible man is the story of a black man who tries to struggle in a divided society that does not see him as a human being (Ellison). The prologue to the invisible man involves a black man who claims to be invisible only because some people choose not to see him. Being invisible has been of great help, and at the same time has caused him frustration. He is not quite sure that he exists because of his invisibility and has him thinking why people do not seem to notice him. He would actually do anything to have other people notice him. However, his invisibility has earned him some free electricity without noticed, and he resides in an area where only the whites are allowed. He is, therefore, invisible to both the whites and the Monopolated Light and Power Company. This is to his advantage. The narrator due to his invisibility is called bad names like the mugger or a bumpkin. The blonde average person because of bumping into each other insults him. The narrator thinks that he was insulted because he was invisible to the blonde man. He does not have to suffer the consequences because when he does things nobody sees him. He is however not happy with the fact that no one recognizes him in anything. This narration represents the African American community, which seems to be unnoticed in the society with a large population of whites. The narrator is invisible to the white man. They refuse to see him and that is why he opts for hibernation into darkness so that he cannot know when time passes (Ellison). He states that people have refused to see him with their inner eyes. This is symbolism of the white people’s thoughts towards his race. The significance of the quilts in Alice Walker’s, “Everyday Use” Everyday use is a story by Alice walker who describes how her two daughters have disagreeing ideas concerning their identities. The two daughters are Dee and Maggie, Dee is the eldest of Maggie. Maggie happened to have been burnt by a fire while they were still young and had scars on her arms. Dee gets educated and does not want to be associated with her traditions. She even changes her name and adopts an African American name. Dee views her heritage as dead and something of the history. She also describes the family quilts as of no use and is old fashioned. Quilts here are used to represent the importance of traditions and the way Dee ignored them. Mama seems to support the activities of Dee and allows her not to have quilts. She however tells Maggie that she is supposed to have quilts. Quilts are used to represent culture and traditions, which Dee ignores. Quilts give a description of the family history and the problems they faced in the past. Mama is not educated unlike her daughter Dee and all the treasure she has are quilts, which she inherited. Dee does not seem to care about them at all. The book brings out the understanding that for ones culture and belief to be utilized, they must be put into use daily and that is why the story talks of “everyday use”. A Supermarket in California . A supermarket in California is a poem that describes the way in which the economic changes affected the natural world by removal of natural things. Modern objects have replaced them instead. The story begins with Ginsberg recollecting a particular vision that he had when he was living in California. In the vision, Ginsberg is walking under trees and a full moon down a street. As he looks for solace from the situation that he is in, he wonders into a supermarket with neon lights where he shops for images. Here he hopes that the supermarket will have a glimpse of the world that was spoken of in Whiteman’s poetry. He argues that the modern world has resulted in the discrimination of the natural world, and people have forgotten all about the natural world. The supermarket also describes a hidden sexualized world, which is confined by the use of common objects. Ginsberg seems to be having problems and is having headaches to show for it. He is not realistic as he attempts to find the reasons for the economic crisis that his world has cause. The writer suggests that he is a homosexual. This is seen in the story where the writer showing similarities between him and Whiteman. Whiteman asks him whether he is his Angel and say that they will both be lonely at night. He does not also pay for the things he gets from the supermarket that displays that he is not an honest person. In this poem Allen compares two different worlds, one with opportunities and another one with limited opportunities. Howl: Criticism Howl is an angry lamentation because of the Americas weaknesses. Howl has faced criticism in the past and some view it as an obscene poem, which uses a lot of vulgar. It is thought that the poem was not ideal for general reading. Howl s also viewed to be against every developments including in technology and involving machinery. This changes the attitudes of people on any developments and they in turn have a negative view n them. He goes ahead to state that the government plays a big role in destroying a normal human being. In the part where he explains her mother’s illness and the problems she underwent, people view ginseng as emotional and spiritual. Ginsberg is also showing the aspect of addiction to drugs and describes the addicts as people who drag themselves. He also attacks the education system, which is mixed up with the military association. He had a problem with his sexuality and can be viewed to be homosexual and the society did not regard well of homosexuals. Many view the story as an attitude against those who do not share in his sexuality and is seen in the poem to complain of loneliness. Ginsberg was a defender in an obscenity trial and most people disregarded that. He is shown to struggle through a world of darkness and contradicts the principles of Buddhism. He thinks that it is a misfortune to be crazy, this is suggested where he states that the one eyed shrew does nothing but sits on his ass. For The Union Dead: Criticism In this poem, the writer begins with a memory of the Boston Aquarium, where he dips his hand in the aquarium to burst the bubbles from the fish in his aquarium. Here the writer finds images of emptiness where there was once joy and, talks about the civil rights and the civil war movements. This poem takes us back to the history and tries to connect the past and the present in order for us to understand our history. The monument that sticks like a fishbone shows that people’s sacrifices in freedom fighting cannot be forgotten at any time, they must live on in our lives. He also uses worlds such as lovely to illustrate sacrifice and tends to propose that he is a worldly saint who rejoices at the pain of others. The poem displays an obscene use of images to show murders which tend to ruin the purposes of the poem. As much as Lowell is trying to condemn slavery, history shows that the same is still happening today. The modern society is seen to experience physical destructions. It talks about the times during the atomic bomb and gives situations whereby man becomes more powerful and even dangerous as he lacks responsibility. In the poem, man advertises safety using the bombing of Hiroshima. Works Cited Bradford, Wade. A streetcar named desire: Act one, Scene one. New York Times Company (2011). Web. December 2, 2011. Available at: Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man: Book Summary. John Wiley and Sons (2011).Web. December 2, 2011. Available at: Ellison, Ralph. “The Prologue of the Invisible Man.” Constructing Others, Constructing Ourselves. Ed. Sibylle Gruber. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company (2002. PP 145-152). Web. December 2, 2011. Available at: Read More