American literature Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

American literature - Assignment Example 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. â€Å"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 l ife. 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 grea t 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