Great American Novel

Waterlily, a novel written by Ella Cara Deloria in the early1940s, was not published until 1988, eighteen years after her death. The book is an attempt to capture the traditions of Dakota life before the changes that accompanied the westward expansion of America. Waterlily tells the story of Blue Bird and Waterlily, a mother and daughter who represent two generations of Sioux women. The setting is the Great Plains in the American Midwest. The Sioux people live a nomadic existence. Their social…

“Telling a story in a futuristic world gives you this freedom to explore things that bother you in contemporary times” (Suzanne Collins). Suzanne Collins brought attention to a new corner of young adult literature, blending the problematic society she witnessed daily with the memories that sculpted her childhood. The basis of her writing stems from the intent to discuss issues such as war, violence, and manipulation; Collins presents these themes in varying ways depending on her targeted…

parallel between the two is that Kate is, like Carolyn Heilbrun, a professor of English literature. More significant is her role as female hero of the novel, and successor of the Great Detectives such as Holmes, Dupin or Lord Wimsey. It was discontent which inspired Heilbrun to begin writing detective novels, claiming that she could not find any new novels of the genre she enjoyed (in Lindsay 58). Consequently, Kate Fansler is an antithesis to many conventions of the genre, including the male…

After reading your work from Essay Workshop and Advanced Creative Nonfiction, the subject matter is expected and concerned with reaching beyond what some might only see as simple, ugly, or undesirable. The specificity of your intention in examining Clarion and its culture is articulated well and with confidence. I think your plan on having the narrative told out of chronological order, showcasing scenes of the past, present, and eventually one in the future is a wonderful creative choice for…

After reviewing the list of films, it was with great ease that I selected, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. This made for television movie was adapted from the book written by Ernest Gaines. I selected this film for a variety of reasons. Primarily, I selected this film because I vividly recall reading the book and seeing the film when it was broadcast on television in the mid 1970’s. The Autobiography of Jane Pittman played by Cicely Tyson wasn’t just a fictional story, it was about…

1. One theme that is presented in the novel, Vanishing Act by John Feinstein is courage. In the story Symanova was kidnapped while she was walking to a match against Joanne Walsh. After she was kidnapped the main character Susan and Stevie investigate who kidnapped her. They broke rules and lied about many things to try and find out more about the kidnapping. On page 119 Susan and Stevie went undercover as Evelyn Rubin’s siblings. Stevie said he was a 13 year old and Susan acted like she was 16.…

Walter Dean Myers' graphic novel Monster is about a sixteen-year-old African American boy named Steve Harmon, This graphic novel is written in a first person perspective from Steve's view. He shows himself through his journal entries and a screenplay. In this book, the protagonist’s are Kathy O’Brien, Mr. Sawicki, and Steve Harmon. The antagonists are the justice system, Richard Evans or more commonly known “bobo”, James King, the Assistant District Attorney (Sandra Petrocelli) and Steve King's…

Do you like mysteries? How bout historical fiction? Then Witness is the book for you! According to Goodreads.com, “ Karen Hesse Newbery award winning skills are put to great use in Witness, a poetic tale about friendship, fanaticism, and the deadly undercurrent of racial prejudice…” Some people may think that historical fiction is boring, but Karen Hesse does a wonderful job at writing poetically, foreshadowing, and expressing all of the character's emotions in her book Witness. The way that…

Scarlet Letter uses several key symbols throughout the novel to both structure and give symbolic meaning to the book. In particular, Hawthorne uses the sunshine as a symbol of happiness and freedom, the scaffold as the structure to the novel, and the letter A, the biggest symbol in the book, to represent adultery and ability. Throughout the book Hawthorne shows that all of these symbols are connected through sin and redemption, a huge theme of the novel. The sunshine in The Scarlet Letter means…

journalist in the Spanish-American War. The authors had access to the realism of warfare and published novels and poems based on their experiences. These writers use imagery, irony, and structure to protest war. In the stories, The Yellow Birds and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Kevin Powers and Wilfred Owen, imagery is an element displayed to help protest war. In The…