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Period: Jan 1, 1472 to
puritian
Puritan (1472-1750)
The conducts of the puritan literature affected writing politically, socially, and a difference in a cultural form. Most of the literature created in this puritan time period was very severe and grim, they tried to portray life “truly” such as, the event as how it happened or that was a spiritual message from god. The emphasis of hard work was also a push towards a democratic government, and the education of science. -
“New England” John Smith 1616
New England describes the voyage to the coast of Massachusetts and Maine in the early 1600’s but was captured by French pirates and was detain before escaping and making his way to new England and when he is there gives his description of New England -
“Of Plymouth Plantation” William Bradford-
“Of Plymouth Plantation is a short story about the early settlement experiences of the puritans from 1620 to 1647. Bradford was the governor of the Plymouth plantation, he also introduce the puritans. By the end of the story Bradford details corruption and hardship and the first years the pilgrims experienced in America. -
“upon a wasp chilled with cold” Edward Taylor
the poem of Taylor gives detailed observations of nature and the wasp he is watching. The speaker wants to understand the wasp more and pleads god to clear his sight so he can see his divinity as well as see his divinity in the wasp -
From the secret diary of William Byrd” William Bryd
- Bryd diary gave insight to how life was lived for southern gentlemen. He writes in his diary about daily thoughts and actions and asks god’s forgiveness many time for something he has done like kiss his wife and felt her and also how they treated their women in the 1700’s.
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“Sinners in the hands of an angry god” Jonathon Edwards
This sermon from Edwards was created do to the great awakening; to awaken people’s faith and belief in the majesty of god, he presented the sinners in the hands of an angry to represent both the positive and the negative images if god’s power. He wanted people to feel god’s presence, not just think about it. -
Voltaire “Zadig the babylonian”
Zadig is a young Babylonian with great education and great wealth and lived while the king Moabdar in Babylon. Zadig has withdrew from the turmoil of Babylon to a secluded retreat where he begins the study of nature. -
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Enlightenment
The Enlightenment Literature tried to explain to the people what the human mind was capable of and what was able to be achieved through experiments and reasoning. This practice was used throughout the American colonies, Western Europe and England, It kind of contradicted puritanism because it influenced reasoning and fell upon a more irrational type of writing and learning. Overall Concluding to the correspondence of the fall of puritanism. -
Swift Jonathan “Gulliver’s Travels”
Gulliver’s Travels recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails. In a deadpan first-person narrative that rarely shows any signs of self-reflection or deep emotional response, Gulliver narrates the adventures that befall him on these travels. -
Johnson, Samuel “The Ramble”
- the rambler was a periodical essays that were regularly past put out to the people every Tuesday and Saturday between the years 1750 to 1752. The rambler is made up of more than two hundred essays and in one of the later papers records the difficulties a man or men had in those times.
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native american
Native American literature was mainly spoken orally and often passed on through generations. This type of literature is connected to living and non-living objects. Shown thoroughly in a way where the moral of all their stories was that all things are believed to be significant. Native Americans also strained to bond with people spiritually. With all these stories told throughout time it is not uncommon that we some changes in stories but overall they still have the same moral value. -
Horace Walpole “the castle of Otranto”-
the castle of Otranto is a cursed castle that to whoecer lives there becomes too pride they will be replaced by another family. So to keep his family from being ended the father will marry the soon to be wife of the son that had been killed. The wife runs away with a man who later falls in love with her. -
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gothic fiction
Gothic Fiction was created around the 1850’s in England; it combined both horror and romance which created this dark form of literature that nobody really understood. This genre used heavy depiction on the setting and characters to help create a dark suspenseful story. Many of the authors that wrote with this genre used supernatural characters, monsters, and family curses to help portray the mystery in the book. -
The Huron
“the sky tree” is a myth about the creation of Huron, a group of Native American people of the eastern woodlands. The Huron consisted of four native tribes that united by the Wyandot language. The sky tree tells the story of how the sky tree can to be by Aataentsic with the help of animals. -
The Earth only
the earth only was composed by Teton Sioux and is implying how the elder people are very wise and know a great more deal than the younger groups. -
Coyote Finishes His Work
the story is about how the earth became populated and how the coyote is represented as one person and when that person has done all that he can do then it is time for him or her to return where they first began. -
The Blackfeet Genesis
this story is a myth based upon how the Blackfeet tribe was first created and how the old man created the earth itself and the animals upon it. It also shows how people will die and cannot live forever; it is law and was created by the old man. -
“The Raven” Edgar Allen Poe
the raven is a poem told by a man sitting alone in his room when he begins to reminisce on his lost loved one. Then he begins to hear tapping and then there was a raven who can only say “nevermore” and begins to anger the narrator but at that moment he realized that the bird will never leave because it is the memory of his loved one which will never leave him. -
Thomas Paine “common sense”
– in the common sense, paine argues for American independence and begins with a more general reflection about government and religion along with the progresses of the colonies without a king. Also argues that man was born into a state of equality and the equality of a king to a subject is unnatural. -
Abenaki people of Maine
- the story tells how Gluskabe catches all the game animals and his grandmother tells him to return the animals back to the woods; if he doesn’t then they will die and no game will be left.
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William Godwin “The Adventure of Caleb Williams”
the adventures of Caleb William is the story of how wealth and reputation can do as they please in the 18th century. It follows William who is poor but a respectable and educated orphan as he reaches to the top of the richest men. Mr. Falkland is a man Caleb is curious about and begins to being to dig up the past that should have been left buried. -
Thomas Paine “Rights of men”
the rights of men is a philosophical argument written in two parts to answer Edmund Burke’s attack against the French revolution. Paine tries to justify the French revolution by using the United States as an example of democracy in action. Thomas argues that each generation has the right to establish its own government. -
Ann Radcliffe “the mysteries of Udolpho
the mysteries of Udolpho is a Gothic romance that presents supernatural phenomenon which is later explained by natural cause. Emily is an orphan and left to be with her aunt whose husband could care less about any of the two. Later the orphan girl runs away from udolpho where all the mysteries are explained. -
Matthew Lewis “the monk”
the monk is a gothic fiction book that contains supernatural agencies, murder, rape , incest, poisoning, hauntings, incarcerations, and a tragic lover story. The story begins with a small family and one of them vows to win the hand of his loved one. -
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Romanticism
In the early 18th century a new era of literature was starting to conjure up in Europe, it dealt with expression of individual emotions, opened up to nature , and opened up the readers imagination. Romanticism was used to express how someone felt and the audience was able to be into the book. Some key people that used romanticism in their books were William Wordsworth, John Keats, and William Blake; these authors were able to capture the key essence that was happening during this time period. -
Irving, Washington “Rip van winkle”
Rip van winkle is a good natured man and did not inherit the lust of war from his ancestors. The story is about how rip van winkle a whole hearted man liked to help his love ones and neighbors but one day he just left and disappeared for twenty years. -
Dickinson, Emily “Because I could not stop for death”
the poem written by Emily Dickinson is about a suicidal feeling. Emily was about to get married and her fiancé was death. The deal with the poem was the poet’s desire to leave her physical life in this world and being her spiritual life of the soul. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson “Eros”
Eros is a romantic very short poem about being loved and to give love to others. The poem also is about how men and gods themselves have not outlearned the skill to love. -
Nathaniel Hawthorne “the scarlet letter”
the scarlet letter is based around the mid 1600’s in the Massachusetts Bay colony. It is about a woman who has an affair with a man named Arthur Dimmesdale and ends up pregnant. When the government finds this out they sent her jail for refusing to tell who the father was and made to wear the letter A on her chest. -
Cooper, James Fenimore “The last of the Mohicans”
the last of the Mohicans is a novel about races and te difficult of overcoming racial divides. In this novel cooper suggest that interracial mingling is both desirable but dangerous. It is about two people from different races who have fallen for each other but to other it is an undesirable. -
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Transcendentalism
This movement was created in the mid nineteenth century; these writers believed that they could get to a person through literature in the forms of senses that humans contain a spiritual value. These forms of literature were mainly constrained in the Americans, because many other countries believed that this form of literature wouldn’t work. This literature mainly talked about slavery and women’s rights, but was used through vocabulary and sense in the way they talked about them. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson “Self-Reliance”
in self-reliance was one of key piece of writing which helped carve the ethic of American individualism. Self-reliance has the qualities of a concentrated,, perhaps the very essence of personal development. -
Margaret Fuller “the Dial”
the dial was one of Margaret fuller’s job as an editor. The dial was a transcendentalist quarterly magazine published from 1840 to 1844, in an accessible and interactive form -
Henry David Thoreau “civil disobedience”
in the civil disobedience it argues that the government rarely prove itself useful and deprives its power from the majority because they are the strongest group. He talks about how people should refuse the government when it is unjust and distance themselves from government in general. In the essay he doubts the effectiveness of reform within the government and this piece gravely inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther king Jr. -
Walt Whitman “Leaves of Grass”
the leaves of grass was a collection of untitled poems created by Walt Whitman. In his poems, they inspired enthralled and tantalized people. He completely identified himself with leaves in “this is no book” and “who touches this touches a man” that reflected whitman’s own life with the uses of imagery and symbolism. He expressed himself through his poetry in the leaves of grass. -
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Realism
This type of scripture was a great and famous trend, beginning with mid nineteenth century French writers and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors, towards depictions of contemporary life and society as it was, or is. In the spirit of general "realism," Realist authors chose for representations of everyday and commonplace activities and experiences, instead of a romanticized or similarly stylized appearance. -
“Abraham Lincoln Walk at Midnight” Vachel Lindsay
Abraham Lincoln walk at midnight is bibliography of Lincoln’s life and how he came to be the president and won the civil war. The story is about his hardships of of his mother dying when he was a boy and when he was the captain of his volunteer company during the black hawk war in 1832. -
The celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras county, by mark twain
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by mark twain, his first great success as a writer, bringing him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" (its original title) and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". In it, the narrator retells a story he heard from a bartender, Simon Wheeler, at the angel’s hotel in angles camps California, about the gambler Jim Smiley. -
The lowest animal, by mark twain
in this story, twain satirizes human nature by describing a series of scientific experiments that he supposedly conducted at the London zoological gardens. He bases his experiment on the theory of Charles Darwin and show many examples of doing so, overall showing the greatness that the mind can discover. -
Louisa May Alcott “transcendental wild oats”
Louisa May wrote this story on life in a 19th century utopian community, based on her own family’s experience at Fruitlands. She portrays the father figure as a dreamer and intellectual, and the mother as the one who has to do all the work to meet worldly needs like food and shelter. -
Henry James “Daisy Miller”
Daisy miller was best known for its theme of American abroad that expressed the genre realism. Americans abroad was a subject very much of the moment in the years after the civil war, the Glided age. At the time of the Glided Age Americans were visiting Europe for the first time in record numbers and the clash between the two cultures was a novel and widespread phenomenon. -
Mark twain “the adventures of huckleberry finn”
huckleberry finn is about a young boy in search of freedom and adventure. Huck is kidnapped by his drunken father because he wanted his $6000 award he found with tom. He is an illegitimate child who runs away from his adopted family to be free of society and civilization. -
A wangner mantinee, by willa carther
in this story, Clark is a young man who makes his home at a boarding house in Boston. He receives a letter one day from his Uncle Howard in Nebraska; it informs him that his Aunt Georgiana will be arriving in the city to take care of some business matters. Uncle Howard asks Clark to pick her up at the station and to “render her whatever services might be necessary.” Not surprisingly, his uncle has written at the last minute; his aunt will be arriving the next day. The situation reawakens long-fo -
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Naturalism
Naturalism was another form of realism but with a little more authority. This genre was started in 1840’s and after being able to make its way, died around the 1940’s. Naturalism depicted real everyday reality; it talked about social, environmental, and heredity problems. Charles Darwin was one of the main men that started this form of literature for this theory of evolution, which made other authors explain to their audience that forces made scientifically instead of naturally. -
William Dean Howells “A Modern Instance”
the modern instance offers an unflinching portrait of an unhappy marriage in the world and ends with a hero barred by his perhaps conscience from marrying the divorced woman. One again personal dilemmas are seen as symptoms of the rapid changes that are happening in society and religious stabilities by opportunism. -
Life on the Mississippi, by mark twain
In Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, the author describes many different aspects of the river and its life in the nineteenth century. Overall, Twain writes about the Mississippi as a living, breathing being - it is by far the most important character in the story, and functions as a character throughout the narrative. -
Miniver Cheevy, by Edwin Robinson:
In Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem, the character, Miniver Cheevy, is a self-pitying dreamer who blames the world for his social status and poverty. The name Miniver Cheevy means to be an underachiever, minute accomplisher, and takes little action for his future. All of these weak characteristics hold true for the protagonist in the poem "Miniver Cheevy." One must express sympathy for a man "with reasons" to have "wept that he was ever born", but once it is understood that Miniver escapes the wo -
Richard Cory, by Edwin Robinson
“Richard Cory,” which first appeared in The Children of the Night and remains one of Robinson’s most popular poems, recalls the economic depression of 1893. At that time, people could not afford meat and had a diet mainly of bread, often day-old bread selling for less than freshly baked goods. This hard-times experience made the townspeople even more aware of Richard’s difference from them, so much so that they treated him as royalty. -
The story of an hour, by Kate Chopin
is this inspiring short story about a woman named Mrs. Millard with heart disorders; the fact that Mrs. Mallard has a weak heart change the way everybody has to behave to her. She has to be handled gently so that her heart doesn't get a shock. Just in case we forget, should she get a shock at any point, she could die. This results in instant and constant dramatic tension. -
Kate chopin “the awakening”
in the awakening Edna Pontellier and her children spend the summer in Grand isle where they spend most of their time away from her husband and their hometown of new Orleans. While on grand isle Edna releases herself to her deepest yearnings, plunging into a state of realization that reawakens her long dormant desires, enflames her heart and eventually blinds her to all else. -
Left for dead, by beck weathers:
In Left for Dead Beck recalled a miraculous survival after a disastrous expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. As a child, Beck Weathers was average. With a father in the military, he moved around a lot and was able to experience different cultures. He, along with his two brothers, played the typical pranks a young boy would enjoy and learn about camping and scouting. Overall contributing to his writing. -
To build a fire, by jack London:
"To Build a Fire" is a short story by author Jack London. The story was published in 1908. London published an earlier and radically different version in 1902 with a different ending, and a comparison of the two provides a dramatic illustration of the growth of his literary ability. This story is considered a prime example of the naturalist movement and of a Man vs. Nature conflict. -
The love song of j.alfred prufrock, by t.s.eliot
The title of the poem is Eliot's first hint that this is not a traditional love poem at all. "J. Alfred Prufrock" is a farcical name, and Eliot wanted the subliminal connotation of a "prude" in a "frock." (The original title was "Prufrock Among the Women.") This emasculation contributes to a number of themes Eliot will explore revolving around paralysis and heroism, but the name also has personal meaning for Eliot. -
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Imagism
Imagism is a poetic style used in around the early twentieth century; these types of inscription used sharp and clear language throughout the whole passage. A lot of imagism poems were made by women and they were a majority of the ones that wrote these poems. Erza Pound was one of the original women that started this imagism movement. -
The garden, by Ezra pound
'The Garden' is a poem about the false refinements of gentility - art being true refinement. Eve is an emotionally repressed England fenced off in her Eden, tempted by the vitality of the so-called 'lower orders’. The poet is a brasher American Adam who will take her even against her will. -
The river-merchant’s wife, by Ezra pound
"The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" was published in 1915 in Ezra Pound's third collection of poetry, Cathay: Translations, which contains versions of Chinese poems composed from the sixteen notebooks of Ernest Fenollosa, a scholar of Chinese literature. Pound called the poems in English which resulted from the Fenollosa manuscripts "translations," but as such they are held in contempt by most scholars of Chinese language and literature. However, they have been commended as "poetry" for their -
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Modern Age
This type of genre was mainly talked about events that were happening during history at that time. These genres asked many questions during their whole writing era but never answered the questions they left the reader to figure it out. A lot of writing that was happening during that time was the same and the authors took the step out to make this genre. Overall seen our time period today. -
The red wheelbarrow, by William carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams' poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" explains the degree to which humans depend on objects as seemingly simple as a wheelbarrow for their everyday survival. -
The great figure, William carlos willams
"The Great Figure" is a short poem by the American modernist William carlos williams. The poem describes the speaker's encounter with a number he saw on a fire truck as it raced by him in the city. If you have read William Carlos Williams's famous poem " The red wheelbarrow," you'll notice some similarities between the two poems -
Soldiers home, by Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” is a short story about an American soldier who has recently returned home to Oklahoma after serving in WWI. The soldier is named Harold Krebs and he is living at his parents’ house. He comes home later than most of the other soldiers came home so he misses out on all the elaborate welcome home greetings. -
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Harlem Renaissance
A emerging of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and the most significant movement in African American literary history. It took on literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts, participants sought to highten “the Negro” apart from the white stereotypes that had influenced black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other. They also sought to break free of shame regarding aspects of their lives that might, as seen by whites, reinforce racist beliefs. -
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Regionalism
Refers to fiction or poetry that focuses on specific features – including characters, dialects, customs, history, and landscape – of a particular region. American Literary Regionalism has been the topic of learning for the past several decades and has been a innermost site for scholarly debate This sub-field of American literary studies has been traditionally located in the late-nineteenth century, but is still practiced very well throughout the world . -
winter dreams, f. Scott Fitzgerald:
"Winter Dreams" was published in 1922, right at the start of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald is clearly responding to the sudden, visible signs that lots of Americans are getting very rich, very quickly. Dexter Green's ease with making money demonstrates both the positives (yay! cash!) and the negatives (boo! bad human relationships and loss of romance!) of this sudden rise in American wealth. -
A rose for Emily, by William Faulkner:
Faulkner's most famous, most popular, and most anthologized short story, "A Rose for Emily" evokes the terms Southern gothic and grotesque, two types of literature in which the general tone is one of gloom, terror, and understated violence. The story is Faulkner's best example of these forms because it contains unimaginably dark images: a decaying mansion, a corpse, a murder, a mysterious servant who disappears, and, most horrible of all, necrophilia — an erotic or sexual attraction to corpses. -
The outcast of poker flat, by Bret Harte:
The simplicity of the story is a result of the too-easy transformation of such characters as “the Duchess,” a prostitute who reveals a “heart of gold,” and “Mother Shipton,” an old reprobate who gives up her food, and thus her life, so that the innocent Piney Woods can live. The unlikely combination of the innocence of the young couple and the “sin” of the outcasts forms a sympathetic human community. -
The grapes of wrath, by john Steinbeck:
tom joad and his family are forced from their farm in the Depression-era Oklahoma Dust Bowl and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs, land, and hope for a brighter future. Considered John Steinbeck's masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath is a story of human unity and love as well as the need for cooperative rather than individualistic ideals during hard times. -
A worn path, by Eudora Welty:
"A Worn Path" is considered one of Welty's most distinguished and frequently studied works of short fiction. Deceptively simple in tone and scope, the story is structured upon a journey motif that incorporates a rich texture of symbolic meaning. According to Alfred Appel, "'A Worn Path' passes far beyond its regionalism because of its remarkable fusion of various elements of myth and legend, which invest the story with a religious meaning, that can be universally felt." -
Dust tracks on a road, zora neale Hurston
This is an autobiography of a highly articulate African-American woman. She is the daughter of the Mayor of an "all Negro" town; this was a political and social intentional experiment. There was support for the endeavor from the white community; the author carefully and honestly acknowledges this. She has two married parents to start out with, but during her childhood her mother dies. When her father remarries, there is a great deal of trouble as her stepmother does not truly embrace the childre -
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Contemporary
Contemporary literature makes use of new and/or "fashionable" literary styles or techniques. There is not much information on this topic other than that it is a mixture of different writing styles. It s used to express a complex yet yearning type of scripture, it was merely more influenced more throughout the mid and late 1900s than it is now. -
. A black man talks of reaping, arna Bontemps:
Basically he gives us a description of the fear involved in the African American life. The lines "I planted deep, within my heart the fear that wind or fowl would take the grain away..." supports this assumption. "Wind" and "Fowl" have to be seen as symbols for the continued oppression of the Blacks. This shows the awarness of the fact that what was planted will easily be taken away by the Whites. Therefore we can see that all the effort that is made by the Blacks. -
4. 1954 Incident, by countee Cullen:
The poem, “Incident” is one of Cullen’s good collections of poems, which clearly portrays the racism shown among the blacks, even among the children.In the poem, he says that while riding through the Baltimore, he was excited and enjoyed every bit of his travel and sight that he had. During his travel he happened to notice a Baltimorean starring at him for now reason. That made him wonders why the stranger was starring at him for long? -
Tableaue, by countee Cullen:
The poem Tableau (for Donald Duff) written by Countee Cullen, shows the friendship of two young boys, one black and the other one white as they walk down the street “locked arm in arm” (line 1). The colored “folks would stare” (line 5) and the white “folks would talk” (line 6), saying that these two dare not walk with each other. The two boys continue to walk down without caring about what anybody has to say. It reinforces the concept that friendship has no color boundaries. -
The magic barrel, by Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud’s short story, ‘‘The Magic Barrel,’’ was first published in the Partisan Review in 1954, and reprinted in 1958 in Malamud’s first volume of short fiction. This tale of a rabbinical student’s misadventures with a marriage broker was quite well received in the 1950s, and Malamud’s collection of short stories, The Magic Barrel, won the National Book Award for fiction in 1959. -
The weary blues, by Langston Hughes:
The poem begins with a speaker telling someone about a piano player he heard a couple nights ago. This musician was playing a slow blues song with all his body and soul. The speaker starts to really get into the sad music. Starting at line 19, we get the first verse to the song. This musician is singing about how, even though he's miserable, he's going to put his worries aside. The second verse is more of a bummer: nothing can cure his blues, and he wishes he was dead. -
1961-1965 Son ,by john updike
The affluent Maples are getting a divorce, but they cannot decide on the right time to tell their four children. They finally decide to break the news after their eldest, Judith, 19, returns from studying abroad in England. Richard maple hopes to make an announcement at the dinner table, while Joan prefers to tell the children individually. After bickering, they finally agree that Joan’s way is better. -
Everything stuck to him, by Raymond carver
It is written about Raymond Carver's short story "Everything Stuck to Him." It shows how Carver uses the sensory image of coldness to demonstrate the differences concerning the harshness of the real outside world and the tenderness found in a stable, loving family. -
Speaking of courage, by Tim o’ Brian
After his service in the Vietnam War, Norman Bowker returns home and has difficulty adjusting to the normalcy of everyday life. In the late afternoon on the Fourth of July holiday, Norman drives around a local lake, passing time and thinking about his life before the war, as well as what he saw and did in Vietnam. He recalls driving around the lake with Sally before the war and remembers how a childhood friend drowned in the lake. He thinks about how his friends have gotten married or moved away -
Teenage wasteland, by Anne Tyler
in the story, “Teenage Wasteland”, Anne Tyler, the author, describes a rugged connection between Daisy Coble and her ruthless son Donny. Donny, a below average teenager, wants to live his life with no rules and no boundaries, however his mother, Daisy feels that by restraining her son to very little freedom, she could get him to be a much better person.