Introduction
American writers have a long and illustrious history, with some of the world’s most famous authors among them. Plays, novels, and poems are the main writing in the United States, with an increasing number of women, Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans making a significant contribution. Since the beginning of American literature in 1607, it has evolved through four periods (realism, naturalism, and postmodern). Due to this evolution, these four periods will be discussed to reveal who is an American writer during each movement.
Realism
In American literature, realism refers to the period from the civil war until the century when American writers wrote fiction that accurately represented and explored American lives in different contexts. Due to the rapid growth of the United States after the civil war, there was an increase in literacy and democracy, population increase caused by immigration, and rapid development of industrialism and urbanization. This significant shift in the US led to a comparative rise in middle-class fortunes to provide a fertile literacy environment for readers interested in understanding the rapid culture change. To satisfy the increasing number of readers, American writers had similar writing characteristics to what was happening and is likely during the realism period and in the future. While writing, they used different literary realism such as social, magical, kitchen sink, socialist, and psychological realism.
In Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses essay, Mark Twain uses psychological realism to criticize James Fenimore Cooper’s writing. Twain starts by quoting a few critics who have supported the work of Cooper. The main issue with the supporters is that they do not have the novels because Cooper’s work is inaccurate. Twain argues that Cooper has achieved 114 out of a potential 115 infractions towards literary art in one location in Deerslayer and the limited span of two-thirds of a page. Further on, Twain list 18 different literacy offenses that he feels were committed by Cooper. One violated literacy that governs romantic fiction is “That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere (Twain 1343).” This rule was violated as Deerslayer did not accomplish anything, and it arrived in the air. The criticism provided by Twain in the essay shows that he was an American writer as they are based on real things that can happen in life.
Additionally, Booker T. Washington qualifies to be an American writer as he used socialist realism to fight for African-Americans’ rights. Washington existed in the post-reconstruction era south, and during this time, it was challenging for black people. This can be seen when he describes, “one day while at work in the coal mine, I happened to overhear miners talking about a great school for colored people somewhere in Virginia (Washington 1764).” Racial segregation was widespread during this time, such that black people had no right to vote, education, and access to jobs. During this time Ku Klux Klan started to advocate for their civil rights. This led to Washington delivering his most famous speech on 18th September 1985, where he told Whites that African-Americans needed self-improvement, whereby common labor should be dignified and glorified. Additionally, Washington felt that it was better for blacks and whites to remain separated as long as the black community had access to education, economic progress, and justice within the US judiciary. This speech led him to have a rivalry with WEB. Du Bois rejected his demands on the address (Washington 1763). All these Washington’s beliefs and rivalry with W.E.B Du Bois qualified him to be an American writer as he was writing about what was happening to him and people of his race.
In Native American Assimilation and a Reemerging Tradition, Francis Parkman shows that he is an American writer of social realism to narrates the behavior of tribes of people after colonization. He tells about the first group of people who get easily assimilated and forget about their culture and shift to the colonizers’ practices. He describes the second group as the Indians, who demonstrate great strength in continuing their cultural practices after colonization (Parkman 1322). This group is strictly unwilling to change regardless of being forced by their colonizers. Additionally, in the same reading, President Andrew Johnson is realistic as a leader during the era when people were brought assimilated to Christianity. In the reading, he sent a message to Congress that ordered, “if the savage resists, civilization, with the ten commandments in one hand and the sword in the other, demand his immediate extermination (Johnson 1322)”. Parkman and Johnson write about realities during the realism period, making them American writers.
W.EB. Du Bois qualifies to be an American writer in the realism period because he possessed socialist characteristics in his works. The Soul of Black Folk is one of his writings that has made him qualify to be an American writer in realism. In this work, he emphasizes the legacy of racism and its harmful effects on the lives of African-Americans. He shows how the inevitable consequences of discrimination and racism were clear through physical abuse, economic disenfranchisement, and different sphere of life. In his story, he says, “The supplementary truths must never be lost sight of; first, slavery and race-prejudice are potent if not sufficient causes of the Negro’s position (Du Bois 1789).” All things in this work were happening during the realism period, making him an American writer.
Naturalism
Naturalism refers to thought made to glorify nature and exclude spiritual and supernatural elements with close adherence to the spirit in literature. Towards the 19th century, American writers shifted from realism to naturalism because it was more advanced. Additionally, naturalism was progressive as it was more detailed than realism to suggest inescapability forces of heredity, environment, and social conditions that shape human character. The main reason for shifting was to bring new ideas to convince the reading public with something new and modern. For an individual to qualify to be an American writer during the naturalism period, they should have been influenced by Charles Darwin’s evolution theory. In addition to influence, there were determinism, objectivism, pessimism, and a surprising twist at the end of the story.
Edith Wharton is considered an American writer due to naturalist traits in her writing. She was born during Civil War into New York’s aristocracy and lived through turbulent changes in the American society of the late 19th and 20th centuries (Wharton 1747). Due to her skills as an anthropology and philosophy student, Wharton presents literary situations and characters that show America’s changing social customs shifting from a mercantile society to an industrial one. Wharton’s keen sense of observation character sheds light on the human moral experience. Additionally, she has characters who are usually tragic figures for those seeking freedom but incapable of changing forces that hinder them from their fates. Further on, Wharton has the role of social historian that depicts the likelihood of environment and heredity to suppress and capture individuals pursuing self-determination. This can be seen when she describes, “they had hastily recalled from their honeymoon by the illness of Lily Haskett, the child of Mrs. Waythorn’s first marriage (Wharton 1750)”. Her precise observation of society and the focus on its deciding influence on the course of human existence places Wharton in a unique position leading to being a naturalist.
Jack London is considered one of the greatest and most popular naturalists among American writers. He was among the first writers to shift to realistic fiction and realism in American literature. His qualification to be an American Writer was due to his profound influence from Darwin’s works of constant struggle in nature and the survival of the fittest. This can be revealed in To Build a Fire, where he says, “Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-traveled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland. (London 1839).” Additionally, in his novel The Call of the Wild, he ultimately shows philosophical naturalism (London 1838). The novel’s plot involves previous domestication and a pampered dog called Buck, whose ancient instincts return after numerous events. The environment plays a crucial role in the story to show naturalism’s character. The analysis of the book reveals that the environment controls the life of dogs and wolves. This is a clear indication that London has a deep understanding of the environment through expressing naturalism. Due to naturalism expression in the novel, London qualifies to be an American writer in that era.
Although Edwin Arlington Robison was a famous poet, he qualifies to be an American writer as some of his work was about personal life. Robison dared to write about his doomed sense of life, unlike other poets. Additionally, in one of his most famous poems Richard Cory, he evaluates the world-warping pitfalls that involve knowing other people’s minds. He narrates, “Whenever Richard Cory went downtown, we people on the pavement looked at him (Robison 1806).” Further on in the poem, a chronicles sequence of assumptions made by a tragic chorus comprised the impoverished residents of a tiny hamlet, perceiving and speaking collectively. Further on, the poem narrates that the locals are envious of Cory’s affluence, gentlemanly demeanor, and “human” affability. Finally, they implicitly project stability and contentment onto someone who, much to their surprise, returns home “one quiet July night” to “place a bullet through his skull.” This is a precise fulfillment of determinism characteristics making Robinson an American writer.
Modernism
In the early 20th century, western countries experienced intensified advances in science and technology, leading to unprecedented progress. Additionally, World War I destructions and great depressions caused widespread suffering in America. These contradictory impulses revolve around the modernism period, which is usually a radical break from the past. This break was characterized by destruction because it led to the loss of faith in traditional beliefs and structures. Due to the modernist period’s contradictory impulses, it is considered one of American literature’s most productive and prosperous. Literary modernism allowed writers to express themselves more practically than realism and naturalism. During this period, for individuals to be American writers, they possessed characteristics such as experimentation, individualism, multiple perspectives, free verse, and literary devices.
The south writers of Cultural Portfolio: The Southern Renaissance qualify to be American writers as they possess some of the characteristics contained in modernism. Before the renaissance, Southern writers focused on historical romance, such as the lost cause of the confederate states of America. Historical romance aimed to glorify the heroism of the confederate army and civilians who were present during the Civil War and World War I. However, after the Southern Renaissance, they shifted to addressing three significant themes in their works. The first theme was the burden of history, whereby many people still remembered military defeat, reconstruction, and slavery. The second was to concentrate on the conservative culture of the Southern primarily to ensure that an individual would exist without losing their sense of identity in the religion, family, and community. This is depicted where the portfolio describes “in their double-edged undertaking their defense and celebration of the south and its traditional and Agrarian values on one side and their attack on modern secularism and materialism on the other side” The final theme was to approach the troubled history south concerning racial issues. This shift of their works depending on themes made them pose the characteristic of experimentation leading to south writers of the Cultural Portfolio: The Southern Renaissance to be American writers.
Additionally, Zitkala-Sa had modernist characteristics such as experimentation, individualism, and multiple perspectives. First, the experimentation characteristics are identified in The Representative Indian, where her central theme is despondency and Isolation; she felt like an outsider in a school populated with whites. Secondly, individualism is the Coming-of-Age story where she starts by narrating about herself as a young girl leaving her family to go to the east in school. The story continues by saying what she expects as she will be living in school. Additionally, she shows individualism in Impressions of an Indian Childhood, where she says, “I had never seen a train, and he knew it (Zitkala-Sa 1857).” Finally, multiple perspectives are in the collection of Indian stories where she uses first-person perspective with numerous characters to show changing world (Zitkala-Sa 1850). All the characteristics depicted by Zitkala-Sa in her works make her an American writer.
The author of Native Son, Richard Wright, qualifies to be an American characteristic of the modernism movement. First, the book uses literary devices such as symbolism and imagery. The rat symbolizes many things in the book, such as greed, disaster, and inner thoughts. He describes the rat as “‘Bigger took a shoe and pounded the rat’s head, crushing it, cursing hysterically: You sonofabitch! (Wright 99)” On the other hand, the author uses imagery to describe the case where Thomas kills Mary Dalton, the daughter of his white employer. Secondly, the experimentation character is used because the book has themes such as racism, crime and justice, communism and capitalism, anger and charity and death, life’s purpose, and the will to live. Therefore, literacy devices and experimentation characteristics make Wright an American writer.
The authors of poems in the Poems and Stories qualify as American writers because they have modernism period characteristics. The main feature identified in all the poems is the use of free verses. All the other poems in the reading have rejected the traditional structure of poetry and adopted the use of free verses where there is no consistent metrical pattern, rhyme scheme, and musical form. On the other hand, the story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston shows that he was an American writer because he possessed experimentation characteristics. “it was eleven o’clock of a spring night in Florida Hurston (2092).” This is a symbol to show the sources of sweat which is the story’s title. The story has themes such as domestic abuse, Christianity, hard work vs. entitlement, and race and class to justify this characteristic. Therefore, all authors in the Poems and Stories were American writers.
The letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. qualifies him to be an American writer as it possesses characteristics of American literature in the Modernism period. First, King used literary devices such as alliteration, where he repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a sentence. For example, “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter (King 2487).” He used other literary devices: metaphor, allusion, imagery, and personification. The second character was experimentation, where his letter had themes such as racism, Christianity and morality, extremism vs. moderation, and justice. Due to these two characteristics, King qualified to be an American writer.
Postmodernism
The postmodernism period occurred immediately after the end of the modernism movement. It was mainly inspired by the end of World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War. Due to this series of events writing was influenced, and it started to display materialism, diversity, and pride seen in entire America. During this period, authors began to describe new technology and daily life. For individuals to qualify to be American writers in the postmodern period, they should concentrate on the present and future because American Literature is still evolving.
In the early stage of postmodernism, some postmodernists conflicted with the system change and expressed their confusion, fears, and anxieties through their art. They later became members of the counter culture were the beats. Their main aim was to be vocal about free speech, sexual liberation, resisting Christian ideals and industrialization harms, and political wars. During this time, Allen Ginsberg was one of the prominent leaders. He used persuasive language, especially in Howl, even leading other members of the beat to be forgotten. Additionally, he made his way to the 70s counter-culture generation. Ginsberg’s profane language to touch on issues like madness, freedom, and alienation from society made Howl a sensation when initially published in 1957. He uses language such as “who created great suicidal dramas on the apartment cliff-banks of Hudson (Ginsberg 2449).” The message delivered in Ginsberg’s publication in 1957 shows that he was an American writer because he had written what was happening then and in the future.
Tony Kushner was born in 1956 in New York and raised in a Jewish Family. In the 1960s, Kushner burst into the American theatrical scene with brilliant exuberance and political engagement (Kushner 2738). Additionally, his play American Angels: Millennium Approaches depicts the AIDs crisis, which was common in the 1980s and affected a group of characters living in New York during the height of the pandemic. This play shows the postmodernism of what was happening in the 1980s, and in the future, AIDs is still affecting numerous people worldwide. In addition, the play advocates for the gay community that was developing during that time. This can be seen in scene six, where Louis says, “Twice? Well. Oh boy. A Gay Republican (Kushner 2752)” Kushner qualifies to be an American writer, from appearing in acting scenes to writing a play relevant to current and future generations. Although some of Kushner’s works seemed to be fiction when he was writing, some have become a reality, and others will be a reality in the future. Therefore, his work is adaptive to the present and future to reveal postmodernism.
She inspired Rita Dove’s wide reading, leading to her excelling in school. She was one of the 100 high school graduates receiving a presidential scholarship from attending Miami University in Oxford as a National Merit Scholar (Dove 2674). After graduation, Dove obtained a Fulbright to study at the University of Tübingen in West Germany. She earned an MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she met her husband, German writer Fred Viebahn. She started her writing career in 1980 with a collection of The Yellow House on the corner. This reading was widely praised for its historical sense combined with individual details. The book reveals the beginning of a long and productive profession as well as announcing the development of a continuous distinctive style. Her works, such as Thomas and Beulah, on the Bus with Rosa Parks, and Sonata Mulattica, have postmodernist characteristics. They treat events with a personal touch to address her grandparents’ life and marriage in the 20th century, the forgotten career of Black Violinist, and the triumph of the civil rights era. Additionally, her work Banneker has postmodern characteristics where it refers to the government as “sweet with the rot of spring; he could see a government’s doomed city (Dove 2676).” Since her work depicts postmodernist traits, Dove qualifies to be an American writer.
Conclusion
American writers change over time depending on the period they exist. They started with realism writers until they developed to the last stage of postmodernism. All the stages of evolution are differentiated by the characteristics that define their writers. If individuals do not have the factors determining the American writers in that movement, they do not qualify to be American writers. Therefore, to be an American Writer in a particular period, an individual had to fulfill the characteristics that defined that period.
Work Cited
Biller, Lenore Bonnie, et al. Harper American Literature. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., New York, 1987.