American - Literature review Example

American Literature Compare and contrast the positions on civil rights taken by Fredrick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. (100 words) Sojourner Truth advocated for gender equality. Frederick Douglass had the view that women were not the gender equals of men but were subordinates of men. He advocated that paternal relations were responsible for the well being of women. Sojourner was formerly uneducated so she used her rhetorical skils to speak up on abolition of slaves and emancipation of women.

Douglass campaigned for the abolition in his literature, in the way Chametzky said; 'Creative literature, however, was the exception with them; an embattled people used literature as a weapon, as propaganda; not as exploration, but as expose of injustice.' (Chametzky 335). Word count:100. 2. Nathaniel Hawthorne's belief that the imposition of standards (another individual's or the community's) was destructive (figuratively and literally) to the individual. Discuss with specific reference to two examples.

(100 words). In Hawthorne's The House of Seven Gables, Clifford was framed by his cousin, Jaffrey Pyncheon Junior, and accused of the murder of his uncle Jaffrey Pyncheon Senior. There was no evidence but society and the daguerreotypist, Holgrave, judged Clifford to be guilty. In The Blithedale Romance, the individuals running the communal Blithedale farm destroyed it because they could not get along. Each character had selfish interests. For example, Hollingsworth wanted to impose his standards and beliefs to convert Blithedale into a colony for the reformation of criminals.

The friendship of the farm's community crumbled because none could accept external imposition of standards. Word count: 102. 3. How has Henry Wadsworth Longfellow changed or maintained his essential view of life between "A Psalm of Life" and "Aftermath" (100 words) In A Psalm of Life, Longfellow refuted the claims that life was depressing. He said that although life had hardships, one should live life to the fullest and as best as possible. He wrote about taking the initiative to act and not procrastinate about the outcome.

He called for heroes to become models for the future. He had a positive view to deal with the difficulties. In Aftermath, Longfellow changed his point of view. He was not enthusiastic, but negative about life. He thought that life was a waste and only bad things remained. Word count: 95 4. Compare and contrast Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as poets, focusing on two or more of the following themes: poetic styles; creation of a distinctively American poetic style and language; poetic personas; treatment of death or of grief and loss; and treatment of sexuality.

(100 words) Whitman wrote a new style of poetry that was unrestricted by the old, formal structures of European poetry. He did not use strict meter or rhyme. He created a distinctive style of American poetry that was also called the free style. He was the most famous poet to promote American transcendentalism. His poem, 'Song Of Myself', created a debate about his probable homosexuality. Dickinson contrasted with Whitman in using ballad and hymn meter. However, she developed her own distinctive style using liberally dashes and unconventional capitalizations.

Dickinson was rumored to have been a lesbian because of her passionate poetry but there was no conclusive evidence to support this. Word count: 108. 5. Use Henry David Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government" as a framework for analyzing Herman Melville's "Bartleby" as it pertains to Bartleby's interaction with his employer. You may wish to consider the forms of "resistance" the other workers engage in as well. (100 words). Thoreau's Resistance to Civil Government or Civil Disobedience, is an argument calling for individual resistance to oppose an unjust government.

It was a facade which aimed towards anarchism, which said that it would be best if there were no government at all. Herman Melville's Bartleby viewed his employer as the capitalist / government who exploited the working class proletariat. Bartleby refused to follow any instructions, showing resistance to the civil governance under his employer. He gave his excuse as, '"I would prefer not to."' (Melville 8). Bartleby meant that he would prefer not to be under any form of government at all.

Word count: 102. Works Cited. Chametzky, Jules. Black & White in American Culture: An Anthology from "The Massachusetts Review". USA: Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1969 Melville, Herman. Bartleby The Scrivener. USA: Kessinger Publishing, 1994. poetryfoundation.org . "POEMS (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)". Poetry Foundation. 2007. 24 Feb. 2007. < http://www.poetryfoundation.

org/archive/poet.htmlid=81397 >. Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself: A Sourcebook and Critical Edition (Routledge Guides to Literature) (Paperback). USA: Amazon.com . Ye Olde Library. The House of Seven Gables. The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 2006. Ye Olde Library. 25 Feb. 2007. .