American Literature Essay

American literary works traces back to the time of the ingrained Americans and puritans, and every put down time developed macrocosmy literary movements influenced by Transcendentalists and Realists. The beliefs of the Native Americans and Puritans as well as the school of thought of the Transcendentalists and Realists contrast with one a nonher.These four major groups of American writers each differ in the sense that all of them tang to a different power head or ideology for virtue. For example, Native Americans look outside themselves to temperament while Puritans look to God, and Transcendentalists look indoors themselves whereas realists question whether there is true statement.The Native Americans have enriched our history of American literature with their stories and songs that depict their nature oriented beliefs. The Native Americans were polytheistic, meaning they believed in twofold gods. The gods they worshiped were all elements of nature such as the sun, the sky, and the earth.Look more sarcasm in huckleberry finn essayThe Indians had a strong spiritual connection with nature which is shown quintessentially in a Native American piece, Song of the Sky Loom, when the poesy reads, Oh Mother Earth, oh Father Sky, your children are we (Tewa 34). The Indians believed without qualms that the truth is found in nature, which differed greatly with another group of American writers that became very popular in this time.The Puritans had a very strict religious ideology, and only looked to one place for truth God. Unlike the Native Americans, the Puritans were monotheistic, in other treatments they only believed in one god. The structure of their life and their actions all revolved around the word of the bible. The Puritans believe that God is the creator of everything and therefor legislated by his law devising Puritans very strict, moralistic, and conservative.Puritans looked to God for truth and faith which is expressed when a Puritan poet wr ites, And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took, that determined my goods now in the dust (Bradstreet 141), showing her devotion and respect towards God. push down the road in American literature, a new philosophy was developed with a liberating idea of truth.The idea that truth can be found not outside of man, as other groups of writers suggest, but indoors man, had evolved. This idea is called Transcendentalism and it emphasizes the idea that truth is found in mans own thoughts and intuition. Transcendentalists stress individualism and self- reliance while cast away from the desire for material things.They are religious however, do not find it necessary to worship instead just stay in tune with ones introspective thoughts and nature. Walt Whitman, a famous transcendentalist poet, wrote, I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you (Whitman 400), showing that every person is an individua l but is alike unified with the world and nature.Realists create mentally their beliefs through questioning whether we can superlative find truth. Realists tend to try and dig beneath the facades that society so blindly accepts. One of the key strategies realists use to enable readers to question the truth is satire. Mark Twain was a famous Realist writer in archean American literature that became very famous for using satire in his novels. Twain used satire to poke fun at tender norms, potentially giving readers a new perception of the social newton people succumb to.Mark Twains famous novel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn consists of several(prenominal) uses of satire, for example, when the main character of the novel responds to a womens lecture on heaven by saying, Well, I couldnt see no improvement in going where shes going so I make up my mind I wouldnt try for it. (Twain 12). This quote allows readers cypher of religion less seriously and question whether it is e ven a place worth striving to get to.Although Native Americans, Puritans, Transcendentalists, and Realists differentiate from each other, they all embellish American literature with a wide range of ideologies and point of views towards where to seek truth. This variety allows readers to develop their own individual thought and conceptualize where they can also find truth.