Characters in American novels of the 20th century

Cannery Row criticizes the ideal American society and its elements of Christianity through the caricature of a typical American industrial town and its most distinctive citizens. In the process of describing Mack and the Boys’ attempt to throw a party for Doc, the novel introduces us to characters that seem like outcasts in Monterey but play a significant role in expressing the overall anti-establishment commentary of the novel. Doc plays a fatherly role in the Monterey community. He seems like…

were just a few of the many wise words that author William D. Howells had said. William Dean Howells was the most influential 19th-20th century novelist, author, editor, literary critic, and playwright. He was an American realist, and was nicknamed, “The Dean of American Letters". Howells is well known for authoring stories, such as "Christmas Every Day", and novels like The Rise of Silas Lapham and A Traveler from Altruria, among many others. His interest in literature started at a young age,…

The American Dream truly existed when our founding fathers fought for our freedom that we have today. Now the Dream is more an illusion, a hoax tied within the continual unsatisfied Americans that we currently are. In the period of when our Declaration of Independence was born we Americans “...began with optimistic individualism that exuded both idealistic hunger for liberty and a materialistic thirst for property().” In this less complicated era our American Dream began with life, liberty and…

While Fitzgerald uses green to symbolise the character Gatsby and his inner feelings, Hawthorne uses the red and yellow garments that Pearl, Hester Prynne’s daughter must wear, effectively demonstrating that Prynne and Pearl are symbolic of her same sin. An example of this is in Chapter 7, when Hester “in contriving the child’s garb, had allowed the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full play; arraying her in crimson velvet tunic, of a peculiar cut, abundantly embroidered with…

Analyze the importance of the setting in this work. Consider the ways in which it affected plot, characterization and meaning in this work. Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby presents a vivid image of America in the 1920s. The setting is a vital part of the plot. It could be argued that unlike some other classic novels, the plot of The Great Gatsby is inextricably linked with the time and place in which it is set. The early 1920s in North America is a unique setting for a number of…

Fitzgerald, it is shown that even the richest people in America had a tough time living during one of the most flourishing ages in history. Jay Gatsby, the main character in this novel, had an incredible resemblance with his creator. The type of women they loved, the extravagant way they portrayed their love for them, and how the American Dream treated…

Martha Gellhorn was a brave lady and witty woman to be named of the 20th century. She was a well-known American Novelist, but the genre of her writing made here different from the others. It was War. She was basically a journalist, who used to pen her experience of witnessing war-affected people. She reported on three significant conflicts of that time, Spanish War, World War II and Vietnam War. Taking journalism as a career was not common for the women in those days, but Martha Gellhorn had the…

John Steinbeck’s Life in Relation to his Literary Works John Steinbeck is a famous writer in the 20th century who has written many great works of realistic fiction. These works were able to capture the tragic lives people lived and raise awareness of these problems. Many people wonder how Steinbeck was able to create such vivid detail of the events that had transpired. This was possible for him because Steinbeck had lived through those events himself and saw firsthand how people were effected…

introduced the theory of Marxism in the late 19th century and his ideas are still discussed in contemporary society. Ken Kesey created the world within the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in the 1960s. The psychiatric ward that Kesey’s characters reside in are a metaphor for class structure and society that existed in the 19th, 20th, and even the 20th century. He shows the negative effects of class structure in the world through his characters. The narrator, Chief Bromden, shows the…

Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby ISU Prospectus A common theme in English literature is isolation. The most obvious form of isolation is social isolation, but other common types include isolation from morals and reality. An example of isolation in a novel is in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. This book follows the life of the protagonist, Dorian Gray, as he explores a new hedonistic lifestyle that changes the way he looks at things as well as the way others look at him. As a result of…