Margaret Atwood Letter To America Essay

Women’s right has been a problem throughout the nineteen century. Women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Wifehood and motherhood were women's most significant professions, in the 19th century; however, women won the right to vote and increased their educational and job opportunities. Women were long considered naturally weaker than men. Prior to the American Revolution the women were viewed as weak and unable to perform hard work. Also, women place were the house, take care their children, clean the house, organized the house, cook, and take care animals. During the American Revolution many women faced a lot problems because they

The essay The Writer's Responsibility by Margaret Atwood is written with the intent of urging the privileged writer to utilize their position to speak out for those who are unable to. Her intention is a noble one which I am in agreement with, however, in order for her to express this intent her tone is quite straightforward. It is this candid tone in combination with several generalizations which I have a gripe with. For example, on several occasions Atwood degrades her readers through grand generalizations such as when she says “on a whole the audience prefers art not to be a mirror held to life but a disneyland of the soul” (Atwood 1).

American History, it has done so much in time that has affected how we live life today and how we interpret things. American Literature reflects that and all it has left us with. Throughout the stories and passages we’ve read this course all of them have left a impact on how and why the writers wrote about what they did. It was all because of American History which later went on and fathered American Literature. American Literature has made society how it is today and painted a vivid picture of how American’s and people live and many of these writers had that in mind when they took these notes.

themselves as Americans with a special mission.” (Norton, 3rd ed. Vol.1. 75). In result, they would

The “American dream,” a promise of the ability to turn your life from rags to riches if you try hard in the United States of America, has been the definition of what it means to be an American. But over time it the American dream has changed and its pledge perhaps more viable than ever. This is due to the simple fact that America as a nation has evolved over time and the core values which its people encompass are a reflection of the times. So as an American how do we define ourselves and our nation outside of the American dream? America has been known over time as a “big brother”- protector of mankind. Yet many of our citizens did not have equal rights until the 1960’s and it took the fourteenth amendment to guarantee equal protection

Many of the authors had common attitudes towards America while also having wildly different experiences with it, one writer chose to write about love for his vision of the future even while being oppressed and segregated. While another writer expressed his love of the beauty of america and his love of equality while being a white male during the civil war.

In the 19th century, political philospher Alexis de Tocqueville claimed, “the in habitants of the United States have… properly speaking, no literature.” This will be demonstrated as false by looking into the unique literature produced by America. Two examples we will be looking at are from Sarah Orne Jewett and Edgar Allen Poe. The pair will prove that Alexis de Tocqueville’s statement is not accurate, and that America has very distinct literature.

Life, liberty, freedom, equality, opportunity, and so many other words have been used to describe the United States of America. Every American child grows up with the words “the land of the free” pounded into their heads, and every morning schools declare America as a place of “liberty and justice for all.” Such inflated rhetoric presents America with large shoes to fill. Thus, America’s shortcomings should not be surprising. Langston Hughes and Upton Sinclair were two 20th Century writers, who saw past this idealistic talk and saw the jungle that the United States really was. Langston Hughes wrote in his poem “Let America be America Again”, “Let America be America again. –Let it be the dream it used to be. –Let it be the pioneer on the plain –Seeking a home where himself is free. –(America was never America to me) (1).” He highlights not only the experience of African Americans during the 1930s, but identifies with other oppressed groups including immigrants writing, “I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—And finding only the same old stupid plan –Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.” Likewise, Upton Sinclair conveyed his repulsion to immigrant oppression during the Industrial Revolution in his book The Jungle, emphasizing the gullibility behind trusting the grandiloquence of the American dream.

Edited by Bernard Edelman, “Dear America” is a collection of letters written by soldiers during the Vietnam War. Their letters are written to love ones back home such as parents, siblings, and spouses but they are a great depiction of the Vietnam War. The soldiers would write these letters to help keep hope alive and to keep sane. Throughout the book the letters are categorize into those who are barely arriving into the war to those who have been there a long time. The stress and anxiety grows more and more as the letters continue and the soldiers begin to contemplate their situation. I’ve learned a lot of factual things about the Vietnam War throughout my life such as how it began and what the outcome was but reading this book was the

Fanny Trollope, an English novelist and writer, travelled to America in the early 19th century for a glimpse of life outside of England. In her work, “The Domestic Manners of the Americans”, Trollope captured her experience in countless opinionated, highly critical observations that judged Americans based on their behaviors and practices. Many aspects of American life captured Trollope’s attention, but these aspects were not seen in a positive light. It was obvious through her story that Trollope did not care for the American life; however, there seemed to be much more to Trollope’s opinions besides petty distastes. Trollope found the American lifestyle repulsive because it seemed to revolve around pride in their impolite and offensive behavior, creating an environment of arrogance and superiority over outsiders like herself.

One can suggest that Atwood has demonstrated a light and informal tone. The poem is more informal in its writing, leaning more towards intimate entertainment. In her writing, the author is able to capture the attention of her readers by giving real-life situations that one may relate to.

During early 20th century, American writers were influenced by the changing world of industrialization and globalization. The horrors and World War 1 and the invention of new technologies had people questioning the future of humanity. Writers and journalist used this time to voice their views and experiences during these troubling times. Henry Louis Mencken is well-known writer who had a powerful influence on America’s writing style during the 1920s. His writing style was known for it’s wit, and harsh criticism towards American social and cultural weaknesses. His essay “The Libido for the Ugly” sends the message to the reader that America needs to change its way of living because they are too content with their current ugly lifestyle.

In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood explores the role that women play in society and the consequences of a countryís value system. She reveals that values held in the United States are a threat to the livelihood and status of women. As one critic writes, “the author has concluded that present social trends are dangerous to individual welfare” (Prescott 151).

The American Dream, the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative, is a dream that many people both living in and migrating to the United States desire. Like many dreams, the reality is sometimes much different than the image developed in those hopeful minds. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, depicts the struggle of a strong character’s journey in search of independence and yet to live cohesively with those around her.

For this essay, we focused strictly on critics' reactions to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. For the most part, we found two separate opinions about The Handmaid's Tale, concerning feminism. One opinion is that it is a feminist novel, and the opposing opinion that it is not. Feminism: A doctrine advocating social, political, and economic rights for women equal to those of men as recorded in Webster's Dictionary. This topic is prevalent in the novel The Handmaid's Tale. Margaret Atwood, a Canadian writer, spends most of her time featuring women in her books, novels, and poetry that examine their relationships in society. In the book Atwood centers her novel on a girl whom