The Questions Everyone Should Be Asking

Joshua Hollinger-Lant

3/30/2009

Lit 223

The Questions Everyone Should Be Asking

Does there really need to be seven major types of literature? Those are just the major type, that doesn’t include the categories listed under the minor types. Isn’t a book just a book no matter what is written in it? These are some questions that come to mind when you think what is American literature, why should we study it, and how should we study it? American literature was first written in the 1500’s but the first settlers as they in habited their new colonies. There have been gradual, yet very influential changes to the literature as it has gone through history.¹

The first question we must really ask ourselves about American literature is what is American Literature? To answer this, we need to define it. As defined by Merriam-Webster, literature is “writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest”. ²As also defined by Merriam-Webster, an American is “a citizen of the United States”.³So, by these two definitions what is American literature? American literature is the expressing of ideas of permanent interest of citizens of the United States. When the English settlers first came here to North America in the 1500 they started what we now know as American Literature. They would write about their lives and what they were experiencing here in the New World. What they were, in essence, doing and what American Literature has become is writing about America’s quest to understand and define itself.¹ American Literature started out as just stories about the lives of the setters, and what they were doing here in their new found land. As the colonies moved towards the 1700’s and their independence, American Literature started to move with it, and writing began to talk more about the political differences between the new colonies and Britain, literature started to fade away from the traditional religious and narrative writings. This political type of writing stayed mainly prevalent through the 1800’s and continued through the 1900’s. As America entered the 20^th century there was a large revolution in the way you could communicate with others. With this transition into the 20^th century came the radio, television, and movies. Though some of these modernizations took away from the American Literature novels, it also gave the writers a whole new way to reach out to the American audience, as well as the rest of the world. It was also here in the 20^th century that American Literature started to branch out into poetry, drama, and fiction. These trends have continued into the current times with the addition of more culturally diverse voices.¹ Now that we know what exactly American Literature is, the next question that comes up is why should we study it?

We, in our current times don’t really know much about what has happened throughout the history here in America. As mentioned previously American Literature is America’s quest to understand itself. ¹ The reason we really study American Literature is to get an understanding of what the quest was like in the beginning of the country. Then, as the country grew, entered into its independence, and fought against other countries to protect itself, the literature and quest has changed. We, as Americans now would have no other idea how the America has found itself or what they have found throughout history. As we study American Literature, we are able to understand what early Americans have found, and what we can still discover and understand about ourselves as a country. This is a very important concept for each new generation of children to understand and study. This is so important because each new generation is able to do more to understand who and what America is if they know what has already been discovered. There is still one more question that has to be answered how should we study American Literature?

If you ever ask someone how you should study for a test or a subject, you will get multiple different answers. The reason being, there are multiple ways of obtaining information and everyone seems to learn and study in a different way. In junior high the way you studied literature was mainly focused on what I mentioned previously about trying to get the most information you can out of one, and really analyzing all of it. After doing this I felt that it was a very good way to extract information from what you were reading and learn the most from it. This seemed to take away from the enjoyment of the story, though. Sometimes what the author really had planned for the book isn't what you find, and not all authors intend for you to tear the book apart to find the message. The best way to study literature is to read the book or play and take what you can from it but also discuss it with others. Depending on someone’s life experiences, they may see or get something totally different out of the story than you did. Also, instead of just study the literature itself, studying the author will also give you insight into what the author might have been writing about. By studying the author, you also get to see into their life and what part of American history they went through, doing this will let you see what they contributed towards the quest for defining who America is.

Does there really need to be seven major types of literature? The answer to this question is yes, there does need to be that many different types of literature. As literature was started, authors and writers didn’t stick with just writing in the same tone or format. As they explored what they encountered everyday and throughout their lives they need to expand the formats at their disposal. Especially in American Literature as they began to discover and define what America really was, they found ways to express themselves through different ways of writing, each new form set a different mood and accented what was being expressed. When thinking about whether we really need that many types of literature a couple questions come to mind. What exactly is American Literature? Why should we study it? How should we study? American Literature is the expression of ideas of permanent interest of citizens of the United States towards the quest of defining America. We should study it so we can understand what has already been defined about America throughout the history of our country, so we can turn around add what we can to the definition. The best way to study it is to read the works of a few different American Literature authors, and then discuss your perspective on the books with others. Along with studying the literature itself, studying the author of each book is good too, so you can see into their life and what they experienced in their quest to define America.

References

1 Reid, Margaret . "American Literature:Prose." Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia. 2008. Microsoft. 29 Mar 2009 .

2"literature." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 29 March 2009

3"American." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 29 March 2009