Saul Bellow is one of the greatest influential authors in American literature. His emotions and point of view during and after WWII impacted American society during the late 1900’s. Bellow created an mental and physical images, illustrating the social and political injustices of the Holocaust as well as illustrating the American life after WWII through the eyes a Russian-American man. Saul Bellow uses his writing to describe his life and help people find their purpose and meanings in the world. Although he lived through parts of the Great Depression; WWII impacted his writing career the most.
Solomon Bellows was born to Russian immigrant parents in Lachine, Quebec, Canada on June 10, 1915 and died on April 5th, 2005 in Brookline, Massachusetts (1), just two years after his parents had emigrated from St. Petersburg, Russia (6). He was the youngest of four children to his father, Abraham, and his mother, Liza (3). Bellow had two sisters and one brother (6). He was raised in Montreal (3) and moved to Chicago in 1924 (2).
First he lived the slums on St. Dominique Street. His father, Abraham, blamed himself for the family’s poverty (6). Although he didn’t want Saul to see any of it, Saul still saw violence and sexual activities in the neighborhood (6). In Lachine, a medieval ghetto, Bellow learn to speak Hebrew, Yiddish, French, and English (6). Bellow spent one year in the Royal Hospital, in the Tuberculosis section although he claims he didn’t had Tuberculosis, and had nothing
Literature is the foundation of our beliefs, cultures and traditions. It is why as human beings we thrive in the world, learning from the past through stories and illustrations that create emotion, desire and inspiration. It was literature that started Adolf Hitler’s reign, through the simplicity of words. When World War 2 began, literature was a basis of hope, it would encompass emotion and for many their last mark on the world. Little Polish Boy, (1969), written by Peter Fischl, a survivor of the Holocaust, explores the war through a child’s perception. The poem highlights the naïve nature of children, witnessing an act of inhumane proportions, their voices suddenly neglected and powerless. In comparison, the Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, a novel written by John Boyne in 2006 demonstrates children’s willingness to defy an ingrained war culture due to the naivety of their actions and understanding.
In the incredible book, All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, the reader follows Paul Baumer, a young man who enlisted in the war. The reader goes on a journey and watches Paul and his comrades face the sheer brutality of war. In this novel, the author tries to convey the fact that war should not be glorified. Through bombardment, gunfire, and the gruesome images painted by the author, one can really understand what it would have been like to serve on the front lines in the Great War. The sheer brutality of the war can be portrayed through literary devices such as personification, similes, and metaphors.
Rose claims that when people discussed the war they choose to focus on stories that helped the population feel good, rather than talking about the horrors of the war. World War II seemed to generate higher levels of patriotism than ever before seen. Rose hopes to give true honor to the Americans of this generation in his book. Not by elaborating on their contributions, but by trying to paint a picture of what life was like while America was at war. Rose chose to rely on first-hand accounts of the men and women who actually experienced the war. He does this to give them credit, but also to show that the so-called Greatest Generation was not without its own problems and flaws. He shows that they were just another regular generation who lived through tough times that tested their character and will power.
Solomon Northup was born in July of 1808, in Minerva, New York. Solomon was born free due to the death of his father’s, Mintus, owner. His father’s owner was named Captain Henry Northup, which is how Solomon and his father received their last name. While Northup was a child, he had acquired some education, but mainly worked on his family’s farm. In 1828, Solomon married Anne Hampton. In 1834, he and his wife moved to Saratoga Springs, New York. They later had three children, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. While in upstate New York, Solomon Northup received the reputation of a talented fiddler.
The world has come a long way from what it used to be. There was a whole lot of havoc being caused by the Germans and Russians during the World War time periods. Many people went through severe times, and had to face crucial obstacles. The biggest situation or event going on was the holocaust being caused by Adolph Hitler in all of Europe. One survivor of the holocaust is a man named Elie Wiesel. After everything was over he wrote a book about all of his horrible experiences. In his book Elie Wiesel explores the theme of inhumanity.
The Holocaust serves as a significant reminder of the world’s history. Elie Wiesel used his experience as a Holocaust survivor to state the unnecessary horrors of World War 2. Through his writing, Wiesel acted as a testament for the Jews who died in the Holocaust and successfully conveyed the message of the increasing human indifference and lack of need for peace.
The time period is around the late 1950’s to the early 1970’s. During this time period or nation is at war over in Vietnam, we are helping South Vietnam fight against North Vietnam and its allies. It was the longest war in American history, over 2 million Americans served during the war and 1/3 was drafted while the other 2/3 volunteered. Out of these 2 million, 11 thousand of them was woman alone, and majority of the army were white, only 12.5% was African American. One in ten men was either killed or injured which totaled to 58,214 American deaths. The average World War II infantry man saw 240 days of combat in 4 year, were as a Vietnam infantry man saw 240 days of combat in a year. The soldiers only given 5 days of leave during the whole year, which lead to them having more combats days.
Bishop Joseph Henry Bell, Sr was born on July 17th, 1927 in Northern Philadelphia. From a young age, Joseph exhibited great scholastic aptitude and intelligence. As one of only four African-Americans to be accepted into Philadelphia’s most prestigious High School, Central High School, Joseph graduated at the early age of 16 and enrolled at Howard University in 1944.
The Atomic Era, spanning from 1945 through the 1960s, was a source of immense concern and fear that faced both Americans and the entire world. During this tumultuous time in history, past abominations such as the Depression and two deadly World Wars haunted Americans, while the Cold War loomed as an imminent threat. Due to such prolonged suffering, the human spirit holding people together the world over had fallen apart at the seams. Upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, William Faulkner delivered an acceptance speech in which he applies balanced sentences, meaningful repetition, and potent hyperbole in order to call aspiring writers to abandon their fears and encourage them to create work that will aid the world in midst of the current, volatile Atomic Age.
“The best thing about my job, though, is stopping at the end of the day and rejoining the human universe.” Orson Scott Card. Known as one of the best fictional writers to exist, Card brings people into a whole new world with his novels (Enders). Card’s life is full of ups and downs and he experiences a broad range of different experiences. Card’s life includes many different aspects via his biography, the time of which he lives in, and what impact he has left on the world.
Authors have inspired and created some of the most remarkable ideas that can change just one life or many; however, these authors must have had inspiration themselves. An author’s life influences who they are and what they do, writing. Edgar Allan Poe was a unique author who wrote numerous dark, mysterious works, such as “The Tell Tale Heart,” that were inspired by his life full of sorrow and despair. Comparable to Poe, S.E. Hinton’s writing was affected by her life of being different from the world and even her friends, which led to her writing about a unique character who stands out in The Outsiders. Lastly, Elie Wiesel is alike to the previous authors. His life, burdened by ceaseless pain that he bore through, reflects in his writing in Night. Anybody’s life can change from just one significant moment that they have lived, no matter who they are or what they do. Edgar Allan Poe, S.E. Hinton, and Elie Wiesel had been just average people who have challenged events in their lives which who used those events to write.
Novels published after a major war are often the most deeply emotional, profound ruminations on human nature. The authors of these novels were once soldiers, living in fear and enduring sleepless nights. These authors channel their experiences and emotions into their work, often creating masterpieces of literature. A Farewell to Arms is one such novel. Its author, Ernest Hemingway, was in the Italian ambulance corps in World War I, much like the protagonist of A Farewell to Arms, Frederic Henry. The themes in A Farewell to Arms reflect his mentality and the typical soldier’s disillusionment in the institutions and values he had always held close. A Farewell to Arms explores the far-reaching disillusionment that seems to plague Frederic. The theme of Frederic Henry’s disillusionment of all that he believes in appears through his desertion of the war, the deterioration of his relationship with Catherine, and his thoughts on life.
World War I, along with World War II and the rise of Marxist-Leninist states in Russia and China, is one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Parts of Europe lay in devastation and the United States found itself in an increasingly prominent place on the world stage. The United States’ decision to intervene in World War I meant that American soldiers would be fighting in foreign lands under brutal conditions. All aspects of society were rapidly changing as developments in technology and changing economic conditions redefined every part of everyday life. These developments along with World War I allow for the birth of Modernism. Modernism represents the uncertainty drudgery of contemporary life and the desire to achieve a new social order capable of overcoming the failures of the past. Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald present readers with two different accounts of modern life rooted in the same context of “American life.”
Ernest Hemingway’s novel A Farewell to Arms covers a romance that takes place during World War I. The novel itself came out shortly after the war, and was the first of Hemingway’s books to become a best-seller. Essentially, the novel contrasts the horrors of war with the romance of Henry and Catherine. Throughout the plot, Hemingway, a World War I veteran himself, uses the events of the book to make a statement about his thoughts on war. The core message of Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is that war damages the soldiers who fight in it both physically and emotionally, which is primarily illustrated by the number of deaths caused directly and indirectly by the war, the actions Henry is forced to take over the course of the book, and Henry’s growing cynicism towards war.
The period immediately after the Second World War saw numerous political and social changes within the world. Characterised by a growing sense of power and authority held by the American government, many began to see this as a threat or greatly detrimental. Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (0000) reflects upon how this growing power, and an intense questioning of it, results in disillusionment and Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World (0000) is characterised by an intense questioning of the authority of a narrator and the older generation. Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood