The American canon has had many different and unique authors inducted ed into it. Since many different authors have been recognized to be part of the canon, it only makes sense that it has had just as many different influences. Of this surplus of authors, many are very highly acclaimed and rightly so. Authors that typically come to mind when talking about the American canon are Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and many other familiar names. Though these great authors had a huge influence and definitely belong in the American canon, there are many less-known authors that have helped form the American canon that is present today. One of these authors is Chaim Potok. Though Chaim Potok is fairly well known and has been recognized …show more content…
A didactic style is unique because the author instructs the reader. How did his style influence the American canon? It influenced the American canon by teaching morals to his readers and inspiring others to write similarly. His stories taught morals in a unique fashion by essentially telling the reader good from bad rather than letting the reader form that opinion for themselves. One example of these truths that Potok personally held and expressed during his writing was “What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye? … I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something.” (page 217). In this quote, not only does Chaim show that humans are anything but long-living, he also shows that he has a deep respect for human life. Another reason that this quote is applicable to Chaim’s didactic style is because it is Reuven’s dad telling Reuven these truths. How does this apply to support his use of the didactic style though? Well, who are the two people in the world who should, and usually do, teach kids moral truths (whether they are moral or not is a completely different subject)? It is most definitely the parents/guardians! So when Chaim uses this example, not only does he throw in some of …show more content…
Jews were the most persecuted group in the 1900s, thus it only makes sense that many would want to hear the stories of what it was and is like living with the knowledge of people openly persecuting them strictly because of their religion. The two major ways that Jews were persecuted in the 20th century were the Holocaust and the constant attacks on the small specifically Jewish country, Israel. Chaim shows how one that went through the Holocaust would act in two of his books, The Canal and The Trope Teacher. A skilled writer can relate the past to the future, Chaim Potok could do just that. He did this by addressing modern problems through a traditional perspective. By addressing modern problems, Chaim showed the comparison of modern problems to traditional problems. Relating to all of the prior reasons stated, Chaim belongs simply because of his written works. His works have done many of things, from teaching morals and traditions to giving his readers an entertaining piece of material to read. What is the one thing that all works in the American canon have in common? They all have been or even more so are still popular amongst its readers. This is why without a shadow of a doubt; Chaim belongs to the American canon. Chaim has had an influence on the American canon that helps make it the lovely thing it is
In his novel The Chosen, Chaim Potok writes about a boy, Reuven Malter, from Brooklyn who is going through his coming-of-age period and experiences as a Jewish student. Throughout The Chosen, themes of friendships, reaching maturity, and understanding unravel and seep into Reuven Malter’s life. In this period of maturing, some pivotal moments occur, changing Reuven’s view of others and understanding of relationships.
Throughout history, Jews have been persecuted in just about every place they have settled. Here I have provided just a small ...
Jews have been persecuted throughout all of history. A deep seated hatred has existed in many nations against them. Throughout history Jews could not find a resting place for long before they are thrown out of over 80 countries including England, France, Austria and Germany (Ungurean, 2015). Deicide is one of the reasons why Jews are hated. It is said that Jews are the responsible party for the killing of Jesus. The gospels describe Jews delivering Jesus to Roman authorities while demanding that he be crucified and his blood be on their children (Schiffman, n.d.). As a result Jews are held accountable for the death of Jesus and they are hated by many.
History of the Holocaust, written by Yehuda Bauer in the early 1980s, is a comprehensive history of the Holocaust and the surrounding details about Nazism, Anti-Semitism, and the Jewish lifestyle before the Holocaust. Mr. Bauer starts of the book with a general overview of “Who are the Jews?” and how their history led to the Jewish Holocaust. The emergence of the Jews is a controversial, confusing, and conflicting set of theories. Bauer then goes on to discuss how the rise of anti-Semitism was devastating for the Jews.
Jews have faced heavy discrimination throughout the Middle Ages, 1800s and mid-early 1900s. Middle Ages Anti-Semitism dates all the way back to the Middle Ages, where all over Europe, persecutions of the Jews took place (“The Roots of the Holocaust”). During this time period, the Jews were “regularly excluded, persecuted, exploited and murdered” (“Medieval anti-Semitism”). “They were forbidden from holding public office; from employing Christian servants; from doing business; from eating or having sex with Christians” (Medieval anti-Semitism). It was also illegal for Jews to be seen in public during Christian Holy Week.
When people first hear about the Holocaust, they are so surprised to hear how horrible and sick the whole time period was for Jews. Everyone is really shocked to know that so many horrible and hateful things could be done. The idea that countries were taken over, families and children were torn apart and people were tortured and murdered, is unbelievable. Propaganda and psychological conditioning played a large role in the genocide and overall indifference towards Jews during the holocaust. Not only was Hitler and his troops able to control armies, but he was able to influence other countries through precise planning and strategic moves.
When a writer starts his work, most often than not, they think of ways they can catch their reader’s attention, but more importantly, how to awake emotions within them. They want to stand out from the rest and to do so, they must swim against the social trend that marks a specific society. That will make them significant; the way they write, how they make a reader feel, the specific way they write, and the devotion they have for their work. Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgard Allan Poe influenced significantly the American literary canon with their styles, themes, and forms, making them three important writers in America.
The study of past events have been a common practice of mankind since the verbal telling of stories by our ancestors. William Cronon, in his article “Why the Past Matters,” asserts that the remembrance of the past “keeps us in place.” Our individual memories and experiences shape how we act in our daily lives. In addition to influencing us at an individual level, our collective history binds us together as a society. Without knowing where we have been or what we have experienced, it is nearly impossible to judge progress or know which courses of action to pursue. The goal of the historian is to analyze and explain past events, of which they rarely have firsthand memory of, and apply the gained knowledge to make connections with current and future events.
As this semester comes to a quick close I have learned about the lives of many authors, the works of many authors and the variety of impact that they had on the nation. American Literature has had many different impacts on America. The literature has shaped the lives of the American people from generation to generation. The literature has shared the lives of those long before and created traditions to be passed on from family to family. From learning of a woman who changed the idea of women in literature to reading about the life of a man who shaped the nation as president, American Literature has increased my knowledge of the nation that I call home. There were authors I had no knowledge of such as Walt Whitman, authors that widely influenced
America was influenced in the antebellum period by many aspects, and authors with their writings were no exception. Henry David Thoreau a famous American writer sparked the ideas of reform and standing up for ones belief through his writings such as Walden, Civil Disobedience, and speeches such as Slavery in Massachusetts. Thoreau started life through education, but still did not conform to who society thought he should be, but rather rose with his idol Ralph Waldo Emerson into transcendentalism and pushed the limits of government. Thoreau was an influential gentleman who stood for what he believed in time and time again and pushed Americans to do the same through his writings and actions.
How does American literature shape American culture? America, a baby nation compared to many other countries, has shaped itself into one of the most politically and technically advanced places in the world. The definition of American Literature is any literary work written in, or about The United States. The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, The Narrative of the Life of Fredric Douglass and various other works of literature are all pieces of American literature that have helped shape American society.
The Holocaust was a horrible time for everyone involved, but for the Jews it was the worst. The Jews no longer had names they became numbers. Also they would fight and the S.S. would watch and enjoy. They lost all personal items, then forced to look and dress the same. This was an extremely painful and agonizing process to dehumanize the Jews. Which made it easier to take control of the Jews and get rid of them.
Jews were constantly persecuted before the Holocaust because they were deemed racially inferior. During the 1930’s, the Nazis sent thousands of Jews to concentration camps. Hitler wanted to
By developing a relationship between two people who come from completely distinct worlds, Chaim Potok was able to instigate and investigate a profound and deeply moving story of true friendship and the importance of father-son interconnection through self-realization in the work of The Chosen by explicitly introducing a series of challenges that question the morality and judgment of each protagonist. Through his masterpiece and by inserting complex situations, Chaim Potok took to his benefit to display the comparison between his characters and normal people their similarities and differences.
While this essay can in no way claim to contain a fully representative sampling of what various scholars have contributed relative to the ongoing debate over the literary canon, I will attempt to highlight three distinct positions which are all informed by John Guillory's critical contributions to the canonical debate. First, I will discuss the concept of ideology and canon formation as Guillory first articulated it in his 1983 essay, "The Ideology of Canon Formation: T. S. Eliot and Cleanth Brooks," and which he subsequently thoroughly revised and included in his 1993 book on canon formation, Cultural Capital: The Problem of literary Canon Formation This essay on the ways ideology and cultural politics complicates and informs canon formation, also discusses Guillory's theory concerning the death Joe Weixlmann who offers his own commentary concerning how ideology and politics of literary orthodoxy in favor of a more democratically situated heterodoxy, and how this concept of a heterodoxy might inform the university's literary curriculum. Next, Christopher Ricks' essay, 'What is at stake in the "battle of the books"?" will be analyzed to determine if his attack on Guillory's assertions relative to his critique of the current status of the canonical debate contributes in any meaningful way to opinions about whether or not the literary canon should be revised. Finally, the several critics who have now offered commentary on Guillory's latest theories on canon formation as articulated in Cultural Capital will be discussed relative to how influential they perceive Guillory's latest work to be as it pertains to the ongoing debate over the nature of the extant literary canon.