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American Literature Literature is often considered to be the mirror of the society. The American literature is no exception to the rule. The twentieth century caused significant changes in the subject ad style of American literature. Agrarian and rural lifestyles became less popular, reminding Americans the things of the past, and more people felt isolation despite they lived in big cities. The U. S.
writers who created the modernist movement (e. g. , Ernest Hemingway and others) reflected these changes and this new sense of displacement and isolation in their works. As the world and the United states were affected by the dreadful events and devastation after the World War I and II, the U. S. writers reacted by reflecting feelings of inhumanity in their literary works. For example, James Wright (1927 - 1980) in his famous In Terror of Hospital Bills and other works emphasized on poverty, homelessness and other social problems.
As feminist movement gained more popularity and became more powerful in the 1930 s, more and more female writers and poets reflected these changes in their novels and poetry (e. g. , Betty Friedan, famous U. S. feminist writer (1921 - 2006) who wrote The Feminine Mystique. With the emergence of the Beat generation in the late 1940 s literature shifted to works reflecting a trend of anti-conformist thought (e. g. , Jack Kerouac who wrote On the Road, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Allen Ginsberg, and others).
More and more Native American writers appeared in literature, introducing their vision to the U. S. literature (for example, Louise Erdrich who wrote The Red Convertible, portraying Americans coping with unemployment, poverty, alcoholism and social problems. Her powerful dramatic monologues worked like compressed dramas, reminding of injustice, inequality and violence of those days). Finally, by the end of the century, the writers belonging to the Generation X were inspired y the decline of imperialism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, but at the same time introduced in their literary works the gloomy tones of self-serving and cynic attitude to the world.
Thesis: After examination of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Louise Erdrich's The Red Convertible, and James Wrights In Terror of Hospital Bills the essay argues that the United States literature was influenced by the time of radical shifts and was changing its focus as the millennium approached, reflecting changes in the society and historical events. Feminist movement in the United States became a powerful political and social movement that gave birth to numerous female writers and finally established equality for women. This movement drastically changed the lives of many American women and has caused great changes in American society, won womens suffrage, lead to the ratifications of the constitutional amendment in 1920 under which women finally got the right to vote (Bercovitch and Patell). This incredibly complex period between 1917 and 1960 is known for two World Wars and economic boom that helped American women to achieve a higher level of living and brought many women into the workplace. As women faced new changes, more and more of them became aware of their unequal social and economic status in society. No wonder that Betty Friedan in her famous The Feminine Mystique and other influential literary works started to articulate lack of personal fulfillment and finally called the problem that has no name.
Her The Feminine Mystique published in 1963 virtually exploded into the U. S. consciousness giving birth to debates concerning womens rights. Friedan's work was called one of the most fundamental and influential works of womens movement. In The Feminine Mystique Friedan identifies womens unhappiness as the problem that has no name and tries to find out what is the cause of this problem.
In The Feminine Mystique the author includes many statistics, theories and scientific works blaming an idealized image of femininity that she considers a feminine mystique (Bercovitch and Patell). The author is firmly convinced that women were encouraged to deny career and education and to confine themselves to traditional expectations, narrowing to the roles of mother and housewife. Friedan thinks that this feminine mystique is nothing but failed social experiment caused by the World War II and the Cold War, which resulted in the postwar baby boom and growth of suburbs. Louise Erdrich who wrote The Red Convertible, is yet another writer whose works were influenced by the time and world she lived in. This is one of her most popular short stories, the second chapter of her novel Love Medicine.
The Red Convertible is a standalone work in which the author reflects the events that took place in her time and shows the experiences and difficulties Vietnam veterans and their families had to face after the war. This story is about brother trying to cope with the changing world and their changing relationship during and after the war. While reading the novel, the readers gain insight into the Vietnam War that lasted from 1959 to 1975, and the portrayal of modern Native American life and cultural diversity. The author manages to provide a truthful portrayal of the lives of reservation Indians without blaming them for their failure and weaknesses and at the same time without glorifying Native American culture (Bercovitch and Patell). This work is unique in American literature, as it is often considered a bridge between the white and Native American experience.
Finally, James Wright, the prominent American poet of the late twentieth-century America portrayed the events that were taking place in his time. The poet rejected contemporary American culture and considered it corrupt and oppressive. Yet, it would be incorrect to think that his focus on the problem of living a clean and moral life in a corrupt culture was merely an identity crisis (Stitt and Graziano). While reading his poems, such as In Terror of Hospital Bills (the poem about desperate poor and homeless full-blooded Sioux Indian) and others it becomes obvious that James Wright was focused on the themes of separation from the established society in search of a better and a more satisfying community life. In conclusion it can be said that American literature of the twentieth-century was incredibly diverse, and all signs pointed to a multicultural literature of the new millennium. The historical, social and political events gave birth to new voices of Native Americans, African Americans and writers of other previously underrepresented ethnic, racial and other minorities.
Womens problems remained at the forefront and more feminist writers were heard. Yet, American literature shared common ground as the writers responded to new concerns and cultural crises, and were changing the focus as the millennium approached as it can be observed from Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, Louise Erdrich's The Red Convertible, and James Wrights In Terror of Hospital Bills. Works Cited Bercovitch, S. and C. Patell. The Cambridge History of American Literature, volume 7: Prose Writing 1940 - 1990.
Cambridge University Press, 1999. Stitt, P. and F. Graziano. James Wright: The Heart of the Light. University of Michigan Press, 1990.
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Research essay sample on Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan
