The Analysis of Canonical Literature

Literature is used in English to portray themes and teach the readers morals. Fahrenheit 451 illustrates how one should appreciate the education and resources available to them as it may not always be around. A Raisin in the Sun shows how dreams may be deferred, but they will never die. Of Mice and Men exhibits idealized friendship and the impossibility of the American dream. The Crucible depicts that madness will emerge in society if no one is held accountable for their actions. Money can’t buy happiness is a

Think about life hundreds of years ago, think about their literature, and what their writings were based off. Society has a significant impact on art, music, and literature. Over the years American literature has evolved. This evolution is a reflection of history. Time periods reflect changes in society, politics, and religion. Each time period has a distinct characteristic. The evolution of literature is shown by

Literature is known to have a profound impact on people. It can influence their attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and ultimately, their decision-making process. Reading about the thoughts and stories of other people helps one make moral decisions because it develops one's sense of empathy and it makes one learn more about the world, making them a better person in the end.

In Voltaire’s satirical novella Candide, he analyzes and criticizes the absolutist perspectives that were common of his era. By constructing his characters to each represent a different absolutist faith, he uses comedy to exaggerate and emphasize the faults in each perspective, ultimately describing the world through a cynical lens. As an influential writer of the Enlightenment period, Voltaire’s dispute of faith aligns with the enlightened goals of separating the individual from the church and stressing individual freedom rather than dependence on religion. He expresses his critical sentiments of faith and cynical view of absolute optimism by manifesting them in his characters.

Literature is always changing and evolving to match the human condition. However, there are a few basic structures which remain constant; writers end up using these universal themes to connect to readers, because they connect to them themselves. This is not always intentional. If the reader has no relation to a topic, the book will not be interesting to them. In fact, almost everything that is read today has elements of a book written before it.

In the late sixteenth century, a religious reform arose among the church of England. The puritanism reform brought foundation to the religious, intellectual, and social structure in New England. Puritanism closely relates to the Amish which is a christian church that connects to the protestant reformation also in the sixteenth century Europe. The puritanism and Amish both are hundreds of years old as is the American Literary Canon. This canon consists of american literature from different authors at different times. The Judgement by Beverly Lewis should be a part of the literary canon because it opens deeper perceptions about the lives of the Amish women. It also provides insight for readers to the complex struggles Amish women faced with religion, society, culture and the self.

History has been recorded throughout time in stories, books, poems and other literary works. These writings give historians and readers of the present day valuable insights into the lifestyles, beliefs, society, economics, politics and pagan religion of the time period they originate. Authors are greatly influenced by the beliefs and attitudes of their own society and time. The works they write provide a window to the past that allows us to peak through and see what life was like for the people of that particular history. Middle Age literary works show the reader of the present who the people were, what was important to them, and how they lived. In a culture

Throughout all of time, literature has played an important role in people’s lives. Books are more than just stories to laugh at, cry with, or fall asleep to, but books can teach. Books can teach a person a simple task such as baking cookies or an extremely complex one such as solving for the derivative of a trigonometric path and its parabolic motion. Whatever the subject, whomever the reader, books can teach people many lessons. One of the most important lessons that a book can teach a reader is a lesson about himself, about the difficulties of life, and about living a good life. As time has passed, so has literature itself. Older books focused on historical events, fictional poetry, and important figures; however, books now have evolved to

There are many ways in which an individual can study history, but for most reading a textbook describing events and dates does not give them a clear picture of what life was like for the people of the time. Although, textbook reading can allow an individual to know a lot of facts about historical events, which can be helpful, it lacks the ability to touch the readers emotions and allow them to relate to the people of the time. However, these emotions and comparisons can be elicited through the reading of fictional and nonfictional primary sources. Also, modern textbooks give biased historical accounts based on modern principles, which can change what certain historical events truly meant. Reading primary works of both fiction and nonfiction can help people better understand the past through many avenues.

Society today reflects and is shaped by literature in many ways. By reading different works, readers can be influenced by different ideas. When a person is exposed to a variety of different ideas and concepts, they often times change the way that they think or go about daily life. For example, books like The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass gave people insight to what it was like to live a life of oppression, thus making people feel sympathetic for him. Society also reflects literature in that we see a lot of patterns repeated from books to everyday life.

Anne Murphy Paul first quotes the opposing argument, a statement from a professor named Gregory Currie that says there is no evidence that reading classic literature helps to benefit people. She then goes on to explain how there actually is sufficient evidence that can help to effectively support her central claim. This comparison not only serves as an effective and attention-grabbing introduction, but also helps to present the specific facts of the passage. She uses specific examples from credible studies- citing the titles and qualifications

Though many people nowadays disregard the usefulness of literature in modern society I belong to the opposite sect of folk. Reading and literature is more than just words and writeing, its ways for the dead to speak and advise those to come through understanding of common feelings. Whether the author meant to mean something through metaphor or more literally is not important, what is important is that us as the readers are able to communicate and interpret needed information from the subject and author. Something that I sometimes think is lacking in todays society is not just this communictation but understanding. Furthermore reading it gives us a way to understand and invest in lives other than ourselves. Secondly reading and understanding what we read allows us to feel empathetic towards the subject thus allowing us to share our own story of feeling and ideas. This is

Literature tells the stories of people – growth and prosperity, decline and poverty, and most importantly, evolution. Literature reminds us that while humans are intelligent and capable of producing literature, humans are still humans. We are a species evolved from apes, a collection of animals that bear the responsibility of balancing natural and instinctual urges with logic, rationale and morality. Literature is the medium in which instinct clashes with morality – where the true human condition is revealed. English 300 students not only practice the analysis of a variety of complex literature, they also delve into the deeper discussion of philosophy – the basis on which literature functions.

Voltaire portrays many meaningful messages throughout the book. He mainly tires to exemplify these characteristics: the folly of optimism, the corrupting

When François-Marie Arouet, better known by his pen-name Voltaire, secretly published Candide, ou l 'Optimisme simultaneously in five European countries in January of 1759, it was met with widespread denouncement due to its controversial content and scandalous portrayal of politics and religion. Nevertheless, the bitingly satirical novel fervently spread throughout Europe and was translated into several more languages, selling tens of thousands of copies within its first year of publication (Barnes). Despite being first categorized as dangerous blasphemy, Candide is now regarded as one of the most influential books of all time. Almost 300 years later, Candide is considered an unparalleled criticism of politics and religion during the Age of Enlightenment.