Any American can be a writer, but what makes a writer truly American?

August 30, 2011 Nikki Gronau Period 5 Mr. Moore American Literature H.

Southwest Career and Technical Academy

Books offer a sense of reflection, of a mark time. American Literature is no exception. Theres a great deal of culture and history inside the pages of these influential American novels, but what was so different about these authors? What effects did they have on society and what made them so iconic in the eyes of readers? Any American can be a writer, but what makes a writer truly American? American literature is a genre in itself. A person learns a lot about an author just by reading a book theyve written. For example American author, Edgar Allen Poe has a dark sense of humor, Herman Melville was filled with a pride and competitiveness, and Ray Bradbury was skeptical about government and the future. The blessing of American culture is having freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech these iconic authors would not have had the opportunity to become iconic authors. They became famous in the world of literature through their ways of expressing ideas in a new form, in other words being able to say what they wanted to without any limitations. America from it's beginning had a special philosophy of life and freedom and reflected it in it's writings. This separated us from the other countries. We were a melting pot of individuals, all different ethnic groups, religions, morals etc. Though America was a success it still has its good and bad days, which created a perfect balance. This gave way to the idea that people of America can have hope in themselves and faith that they can complete anything that they put their mind to it. What makes an American classic is a great moral. A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. All of the famous American novels teach the audience an important lesson for instance Mark Twain wrote The

Adventures of Tom Sawyer where the moral of the story is just to enjoy life for what it is even when things get tough, no need to sell your soul to the devil. Another reason why American literature is so different is because a main theme in the books has something to do with religion or faith. Large deals of the morals in stories have something to do with religion but then again some of the first morals ever written were written in the bible. America is allowed to talk about religion freely no matter how controversial it may be. One can learn a great deal about a certain time period in history from just simply reading a piece of literature that was written in the past. Books are the mirrors to our dirty past. From just one piece of American literature a person can learn about racism, the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee leads to the theory that the black man is always guilty. Lee then proves this point wrong and lets leaves the audience with the idea that racial profiling is wrong. Another book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain also teaches the reader about racism. It was criticized upon release because of its coarse language and became even more controversial in the 20th century because of its perceived use of racial stereotypes and the constant use of the word nigger, which today would be considered demeaning. The books are in fact anti-racist and the sole intention is to show the reader how wrong racism is by exposing it in such a harsh reality. American writers have a different technique of writing. American writers have a different way of expressing themselves through different words and grammar. The American language is always changing and slang is being used more often and it shows with the change of American literature. By reading books, such as those listed

above, the reader comes to a realization on how much America has improved as a country. America has cut down on the frequent use of racial slurs and its plain to see just by the way books are written now compared to things written in the past. Any person, no matter where they originated from, can read a piece of literature from America and understand that life was what we made it and our ability to come together and face all odds made life worth living. America in simple terms is a land filled with immigrants. In which the immigrants have had to deal with different cultural influences and depressions and struggles that have brought us together as one. This is why American literature is so unique; were a young country made of a little bit of everything. America may be a diverse country but its still one in its own and thats what makes American writers so unique.