1 / 7

American Literature and the Search for Identity

American Literature and the Search for Identity. Introduction to Catcher in the Rye English 11 Spring 2014. The United States is a nation made up of many different cultures. Each culture provides a differing view.

arch
Download Presentation

American Literature and the Search for Identity

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. American Literature and the Search for Identity Introduction to Catcher in the Rye English 11 Spring 2014

  2. The United States is a nation made up of many different cultures. • Each culture provides a differing view. • Questions arise about what it means to be an American, what the identity of an American is, and how one can classify him or herself in that society. • Let’s review what we’ve read so far . . . Identity

  3. American Society Literature: Poetry: Ann Bradstreet, Edward Taylor – reflected life in the service of God. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: We are all survivors because our vengeful God hasn’t deemed it necessary for us to die. The Scarlet Letter: Each character defined him/ herself in terms of his or her sins, place in society determined by those sins. • Based around the New England area • Founded by those escaping religious persecution. • Government and way of life centered on a belief in a stringent God. • People identified themselves according to their beliefs, how they fit into the rigorous moral code. Early America: The Puritans(ca. 1620 – ca.1800)

  4. American Society: Literature: Walden: H.D. Thoreau – philosophy of life after spending two years living at Walden Pond – SIMPLIFY! SIMPLIFY! Emerson: Focus on Self-reliance, God in Nature “To thine own self be true.” • New idea of God in Nature • Reliance more on self than on society • Identifying oneself in terms of society was corrupting • Urged people to avoid conformity • Westward Expansion- charting/ settling new territory. Romantic Period: Transcendentalists(ca. 1800 – ca. 1860)

  5. American Society: Literature: Emily Dickinson: Themes of unrequited love, nature, religion Walt Whitman: I am an American, “I Sing America,” Song of Myself. Frederick Douglass: (Slave Narratives) Told his stories, used them to establish where he’d come from • Contrasting ideas of states rights put Americans at odds with one another. • Involvement in war shaped literature. • Slaves attempting to establish their identities as newly freed citizens • The nation struggled to rebuild after the war. Civil War Period and Reconstruction(ca. 1850 – ca. 1900)

  6. American Society: Literature: More regionalism in writing. Harlem Renaissance: Art and literature of the African American experience (Langston Hughes) The Lost Generation: Ex-Pats in Paris, among them F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby: Struggle for finding one’s own version of the American Dream, creating oneself into what is expected by society’s standards. • The economy moved from agrarian to industrial. • More population moving toward city life. • Conflict over World War I, The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, World War II. • Americans had more wealth than ever before, and lost more of it than ever before. • More regionally separated, but more connected as a whole by radio. Industrial Age/ Modern Age(ca. 1900 – 1950)

  7. Published by JD Salinger in 1951 • Bildungsroman (“Education” “Novel”) – a coming of age story. • Holden Caulfield struggles with his own search for identity – what is expected of him, what he wants, what he fears about his impending adulthood, and his wish to escape it all. • Has been considered an influence on Steven Chbosky’sThe Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Catcher in the Rye

More Related