Stepping Outside the Box
Looking in depth into the history of American Literature can be a very interesting thing. Digging deeper into the writings and tying them in with personal values and ties can make these early writings very meaningful. The people of this time started to read not only for the fact of just to read, but they started to read for entertainment. Ralph Waldo Emerson's The American Scholar, Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, and Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken, are all stories/poems that take an in-depth look at portraying the "American character". In this paper I'm going to take an in-depth look at these three stories/poems and see how they depict the "American character". So put on your reading glasses and come along for a ride on the American culture adventure. Washington Irving set a good tone by building the American character in his writing of Rip Van Winkle. Irving used vast analogies to build upon what we would view as the "American character". In his writing, Irving stated, "I have observed that he was a simple good natured man; he was moreover a kind neighbour, and an obedient, henpecked husband" (Anthology 450). Talking about Van Winkle in this statement, Irving's true meaning of this is that Van Winkle fights for
Rip Van Winkle was passed down inherited land from past family members. They need to work together to be successful, such as the true American character would. Every good American should have an impression on his/her community and that is exactly Dame has in this story. Must that needs be evil? We, it seems, are critical. Emerson is saying that we, as a nation had yet to produce anything at this time. The time is infected with Hamlet's unhappiness" (Anthology 524). But there was one species of despotism under which he had long groaned, and that was petticoat government" (Anthology 459). There was little left to his farmland, the acres had dwindled away and it was the worst conditioned farm in the area. We are embarrassed with second thoughts. We cannot enjoy any thing for hankering to know whereof the pleasure consists. The true American character knows his purpose in life, and in The American Scholar, Ralph Waldo Emerson does a great job of portraying the true American character. "Our age is bewailed as the age of Introversion. This goes to show the hard times Americans went through back in those days. Robert Frost does a wonderful job of portraying the risks the true American character takes in The Road Less Traveled.
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Acceptance Essays
