Short Story Notes

At its best, the American Dream can be both moving and inspiring, but it is also problematic,
not least because it is largely false.

In American literature, the term "realism" encompasses the period of time

from the Civil War to the turn of the century during which William Dean
Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis, Henry James, Mark Twain, and others
wrote fiction devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of
American lives in various contexts. As the United States grew rapidly after
the Civil War, the increasing rates of democracy and literacy, the rapid
growth in industrialism and urbanization, an expanding population base due
to immigration, and a relative rise in middle-class affluence provided a
fertile literary environment for readers interested in understanding these
rapid shifts in culture. In drawing attention to this connection, Amy Kaplan
has called realism a "strategy for imagining and managing the threats of
social change"

The dream of freedom, equality, and happiness for all human

beings –“we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness” — is a human dream. It can only be fulfilled by
humanity as a whole. As long as human beings are alienated from
each other by class, caste, race, and nation; as long as they live
against each other and not for each other, this dream cannot be
fulfilled.

https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5.html#05a

proclaim proudly of our nationality.

Rationale Notes

These components were crafted into the story through a central theme of the search for
American identity for African Americans.

The central theme throughout my story was the search for an American identity for African
American and I complemented it with a range of literary techniques such as satire and
personification to create a broader meaning to my text.

My short story, Ferocity, was modelled off Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains. I
explored the battle between man and nature as the central theme throughout my story.
Complementing this theme, the story also contained a range of literary techniques such as
personification and symbolism to create a broader meaning to my text. The reliance on
technology was also demonstrated through my story to help convey a similar message
implied by Bradbury in his story.

which acutely followed the idea relating to the search for American identity for African
Americans. These components were crafted into the story through a central theme of the
search for American identity for African American. Complementing this theme, the story
also contained a range of literary techniques such as satire and personification to enrich and
create a broader meaning to my text. The segregation of blacks and the idea of white
supremacy was also demonstrated through my story to help convey a similar message
implied by Langston is his story.