Question

"Americans value national literature because they value the culture, morals, and philosophies upon which the United States was built. In this course, you have read a variety of American literature that reflect our American values, morals, and philosophies. Choose the one piece of literature that you think best reflects American culture, morals, and philosophy. In an essay of at least three paragraphs, explain your choice.

Answer 1

In “The catcher in the rye”, the classic novel written by JD Salinger, Holden Caufield, the narrator, and main character is a 16-year-old boy just spelled from school. He describes his adventures with cynicism notes because he is shielding himself from pain and disappointment. Ackley is Holden Neighbour at Pency Prep and he continuously tries to chase him away but seems not to realize it. Stradlater is Holden´s roommate, contrary to the protagonist he is self-satisfied, handsome and sexually active. The truth is that the main character is uncomfortable with everything and everyone, you might say disappointed with his own life and especially with people at Pencey.  

Jane Gallager is a girl that Holden likes and with whom, he spents a lot of time one summer, but´s also a girl with whom his roommate date one time and he's got a hunch that he´ll take advantage of her. This really upsets him as he consider Jane a sweet, innocent girl and respects her a lot.

Along the whole story, Holden tries to find a connection with many characters that appaer but bearly get so. Mostly because of his attitude: he is immature and odd making people angry or driving them away confused.  

Along the story, there is a tense climate between Holden childhood and the adult world trying to delay his entrance into this universe. Most of the episodes take place once he leaves Pencey.

Most of the novel goes on past voice but ends on present tense describing his idea of applyig for a new school as his trip has changed him enough to aim this goal with a renewed attitude.

This novel traps the audience and make them confront with their own expirience of getting on the adult world.

Answer 2

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is a nice example of a  Native American tradition of storytelling.  Being considered relatively popular among Native American literature, also called Indian literature or American Indian literature. It has its own special impact by being a book, considering the traditional oral and written literatures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas is a communal and oral event where the elders tell the stories. The story telling in this book is in the form of poems. These stories are in fact traditional community stories. Some of the prose sections are narrated in a third person style, however the poems vary between first and third person.  

Most ceremonies of the traditional stories revolve around procuring a good rainfall, as signals of the spirits, that could either aprove por show their displeasure with the community (drought) being depicted as a destructive spirit. In the book  the character Josiah tells Tayo when he was a child, that all in life has both a good and a bad side as another example of their spirituals believes.  

I think this book best reflects American culture, morals, and philosophy because it includes descriptions about ceremonies and ritual to cure people from their community. One thing often presented in ancient stories, including in this book is the believe that forgetting our people's tradition brings disaster and drought, therefore preserving traditiond,specially when it comes to subjects related to medicine, is very important to the native american culture.