Personal Narrative: The Heroic Age

The Gilded Age was a term used in the 1920s and 1930s derived from Mark Twain’s novel of the same name, which mocked an era of serious social problems. Mark Twain and Charles Darwin saw the corruption in the politics, the ineffectiveness of the politicians, the frenzy in the marketplace and the widespread greed among the people. The society showed a huge difference in regard to who had something and who didn’t. Most of the poor and lower middle-class

Octavia Butler explored the evolution of racial relationships over time and challenged the stereotypical dynamics of these relationships by proving love can exist between races. In her novel, Kindred, the main character was Dana. Dana was an African American woman who was married to Kevin, a white man. She used this relationship to channel interracial relationships in present times. Dana interacted with her ancestor Rufe.

The Gilded Age, from 1877 to 1900, was a period in history that showed the vast changes in the population and economy. However, underneath the surface of the seemingly improved society, many people were victims of corruption and unstable living conditions. The wealthy industrialists of the 19th century were rightfully named robber barons due to their low wages, unsafe working conditions, and the treatment of children in the work force.

Historians debate over the overall outcome of the Civil War on the topic of if the war enhanced or impaired the social, economic, and political aspects of African American lives in the South. Explain in specific detail, if the war enhanced or impaired the aforementioned aspects

Joseph Campbell has a theory called The Hero’s Journey in where an individual is shown in a mundane world, called to an adventure, and goes on the adventure. In the adventure, the individual goes on the path of trials that consisting of making new friends, new mentors, new enemies, facing new challenges, gaining new skills, and new knowledge. When the individual comes back to their mundane world, they are the master of two worlds through their new experiences they've gained in the adventure. The Hero’s Journey has been repeated in literature and films through many years: two examples that have The Hero’s Journey are the films, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

The term Gilded Age, coined by Mark Twain, refers to roughly the final thirty years of the nineteenth century. In assessing whether this era failed to deal with the critical economic and social issues of the time, one must assess the impact of any legislation or political movements. Economically, the era brought weak legislation to combat monopolies and the failed free silver movement. Socially, the era brought poor labor conditions and xenophobia. Thus, the Gilded Age did, in fact, fail to deal with the critical economic and social issues of the

     The term Gilded Age was named for a Mark Twain book. It meant covered with gold, and was applied to this period as a whole. This was a period of corruption in sordid politics.

Throughout the history of the United States, the Gilded Age is regarded as a period that spanned the last three decades of the 19th century. This period starts from the Civil War came to an end in the 1865 up to 1900. The term Gilded Age was formulated by writers Charles Warner and Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Toady in 1873. They did this since they believed it to be an era that would be characterized by a variety of severe social problems that were camouflaged by a minute gold gilding.

Coined by Mark Twain, the term “Gilded Age” refers to the time period from the 1870’s to about the 1900’s in the United States. Gilded Age represents “fools gold”, which is deceitful in that it looks like real gold from the outside but is actually cheap material on the inside. This represents America because during the time, it was thriving due to industrialization however, was crumbling with corruption and scandal underneath.

The Gilded Age, a term coined by author Mark Twain, refers to the years 1879 through 1899. This was a time period of high extremes that included high immigration rates, rapid economic growth, poverty, concentrated wealth, and high urban violence often associated directly with alcohol consumption. Though wages were higher in America than across Europe, causing higher immigration rates, the influx of immigrants led to many of them enduring poverty and living in slums which was vastly different from the life they had imagined when traveling to America. “...tend to dichotomize Gilded-Age society into a few fabulously wealthy industrialists and a mass of impoverished workers…”1. During this time there was rapid economic growth, however the concentrated

There are four factors that contribute to the Gilded Age being ‘gilded’ instead of golden. The first factor is that the rapid growth of economics created a wide-range of wealth. The second factor is that new products and technologies improved the quality of life for the middle class. Third, industrial workers and farmers didn’t share their wealth and success. They would work long hours in dangerous working conditions with little pay. Finally, the Gilded Age had corrupt and ineffective politicians.

The gilded ages were a time the small business started to grow and start to conquered other business. During these times, immigration became the mass problem because they were taking most of the jobs. Gilded Ages were the time of new technology was being created such as the telephone, camera, and many more. The Gilded ages made American modern. It also closed the Western Frontier.

Coined the term the “Gilded Age," this time period of 1870-1900 was first referred to as this title by a book written by Mark Twain. In respect to the United States during this time, it refers to the overall appearance of the US to appear as if saturated in gold and opulence, otherwise known as a land of dreams. However, this was not the case because underneath this initial viewpoint, there was poverty and injustice that lined the streets of every urban city. Throughout this time period, many factors in business and social life of America contributed to the flourishing economy in the US. Things like transportation and technologic advancements, along with immigrants working to gain social standing all contributed to the economy during this time. Although viewed as a philanthropic time period solely for the purpose of economic growth, the Gilded Age produced a great deal of wealth acquired through excessive work of lower, laboring class citizens and promotion of social supremacy.

Change is inevitable. Whether it be positive or negative, change is constantly happening. More than often change can take you from the known world and spit you into the unknown, where you return a changed person. While embarking on the journeys provoked by change, you are on a hero’s journeys. The hero’s journey was popularized by Joseph Campbell. When describing what prompts hero’s journeys, Joseph Campbell said,

The Gilded Age is a time period in American history between 1870-1900. During this time period there was a boom in the United States economy and population. Unfortunately, during this time period there was a lot of financial corruption and inequality which caused the rich to become very wealthy. Interestingly enough there were a variety of distinguished authors, from William Graham Sumner, Henry Demarest Lloyd, Andrew Carnegie, and Henry George knew economic inequality was a major problem and something needed to be done.