There are two volumes of this book which the author called a narrative history of America. It comprises the information about the years from 1932 to 1972. And, unlike other typical (and boring) history books where the information is usually jumbled in decades, each of the 37 chapters of this book covers only one year. Here, I want to dwell upon The Part 1 (Prologue) and the years from 1932-1941.
Susan Orleans essay makes the Skilcraft Visible Cow the central object because the cow’s anatomy is similar to an essay’s. During her essay Susan explains how she goes into a popular store while visiting a small town and at the time she does not see anything that caught her eye. Orleans then noticed the Skilcraft Visible Cow and she was very interested in it. While Susan was going through a pile of essay’s she looked at her new cow after putting it together and noticed the anatomy of it, she then began to wonder what makes up an essay and makes it different for everything else. Orelan’s wondered what an essay is, what makes it up, and the structure of the form; just how the cow has a shell but has the structure inside.
Treated unfairly, beaten and put down slaves, had no rights in the novel The Invention of Wings. Sue Monk Kidd explained abolition at its greatest point of effectiveness. Abolitionists despised slavery and did everything in their power to abolish it. It took courage to be an abolitionist because an abolitionist had to take the harder path and stand up to the people who opposed ending slavery. In the novel the characters face hardship, sorrow and loss, but it is through their ability to be courageous that helps them learn best what they must do to survive.
Annie Lamontt, author of Bird by Bird, offers a glimpse into a world many writers can relate to. In the chapter called “Shitty First Drafts”, she utilizes the writers she associates with as evidence to support that the writing process does not begin with an immaculate first draft (Lamont, 1994). This is the “fantasy of the uninitiated” (Lamont, 1994, p. 1). Strangers to the writing process may not understand that writing isn’t simply “writing”—it is a process. The uninitiated, in this case, are non-writers.
Has America evolved for the better? In Benjamin Banneker's letter to Thomas Jefferson the injustice of slavery was a major issue in American society. 160 years later American culture was obsessed with keeping up with the latest trends like in “The Plastic Pink flamingo: A Natural History”. Americans strived to be up on the latest fashions and the effect of the pink flamingo on America. Now in, contemporary times, Americans are more immersed in the world of technology than enjoying nature like in the 1800’s. Children in Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods were not appreciating nature for what it was anymore, technology was the distraction.
In Chapter One of Thomas Cooley’s The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, the audience was exposed to several strategies recommended for reading pieces of literature. These strategies were divided into three segments: Previewing the Text, Reading Closely and Critically, and Responding to What You Read. Each segment contained a list of either advice or questions the reader could heed to while analyzing their given text. Later, the chapter exposed the audience to the four traditional types of writing utilized.
The escape to the American dream and the struggle of both the youth to gain it and the government’s attempts of control is portrayed constantly within the novel. The struggle is shown
“They’ll turn us into writing robots”, a student contends against the use templates influencing the structure of their essays. (10) In the book “They Say/ I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein insist that the use of their relevant templates provide tools that will enhance the readers writing skills. These templates provide an exemplary format that one can use when writing an essay. Graff and Birkenstein suggests that, “Instead of focusing solely on abstract principles of writing, then, this book offers model templates that help you put those principles directly into practice.”
America experienced a sudden disregard of Victorian values following World War I, causing the generation of the 1920s to dramatically contrast the previous. This severe degree of change produced three major manifestations of the contradictions in the twenties. There were massive conflicts to the Jazz Age, technological advancements, and Black Migration. The contradictions of the 1920s reflect America’s conflicted state between advancement and convention, as the cultural and technological developments of the era coincide with the inability of individuals to stray from traditional norms and racist attitudes.
Conventional Role: A Determination to Escape the Norms in John Updike’s “A&P” Capitalism and consumerism become a huge phenomenon in American society during 1950s. Economy in the United States increase rapidly after the World War II which causing a large expansion of the middle class. During 1950s, the middle class has an increase in purchasing power and the need for more and better goods emerged rapidly. People tend to buy big houses in the new suburbs and buy new time-saving household appliances to achieve a perceived better life.
What We Really Miss About The 1950s In her essay, “What We Really Miss About the 1950s”, Stephany Coontz talks about the myth of the 1950s. She begins her argument by stating some reasons why the nostalgia for the 1950s exists. The main thing Americans miss about the those days is the stability. She acknowledges that this fallacy is not insane.
The urbanization of America during the 1950s and 1960s introduced a disruption within the community where individuals were removed from their traditional ideas of socialization and relied more on associates, technological advances and mechanisms including the media, to establish their identity. Americans in the 1950s lived in a period where consumer values were a major part of the economy and culture. The dynamic economy provided more leisure and income as Americans were confident, enjoying their cars and televisions. The development of the national market economy influenced individuals negatively where it was difficult to sustain themselves. T. J. Jackson Lears informs that for wageworkers, financial success or failure depended upon the policies that were formulated beyond the individual’s control (Lears T.J, n.d).
In the 1800’s, America was the subject of many romantic visions and musings. The British and East Coasters alike saw everything west of Appalachia as a wild wonderland: home to cowboys, adventure, and opportunity. Oscar Wilde, a renowned British author and satirist, voyaged across America to test the truth of these claims. Afterwards, he published his findings and opinions in a piece known as Impressions of America. In the piece, he makes it clear that America did not live up to his expectations, and would disappoint his readers as well.
Have you ever seen a flamingo, and no not the ones on the lawn that compete with the gnomes, a living pink, long legged flamingo? A flamingo is an exotic pink bird that flies fast, travels in flocks, and stands on one leg that bends backwards but have you ever wondered what a flamingo does during its life or why it is a bright pink, orange, or red? Flamingoes or as scientists like to call them Phoenicopteridae are a pinkish or a red or even a bright orange sometimes, however did you know that they are actually born white? Flamingos are born with white feathers and a straight beak.
In 1782, French aristocrat J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, wrote an essay titled Letters of an American Farmer as a way of defining Americans. To persuade readers from countries unfamiliar with the American society is his purpose for writing this. Throughout he shows a feeling of admiration and respect towards the American way of life. In the first paragraph Crevecoeur starts with his claim that America is a “great asylum” put together by the “poor of Europe.”
