Digging up the North American Literature

“Not all treasure’s silver and gold, mate” – Captain Jack Sparrow. YEEHA! On our way to unearth the
treasures of North American Literature authors and their masterpieces. American Literature is a rich body of
literature that refers to all works of writing in English published in the United States, which has produced many
great writers through the centuries. During the 20th Century, it gave rise to writers: Robert Frost, Harper Lee,
Ezra Pound, and Anne Sexton with their notable works: The Road Not Taken, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Lustra,
and Live or Die, respectively.
First sail to “The Road Not Taken” which is one of Robert Frost’s – and the world’s – most well-known
poems, written on 1915 in England. Although commonly interpreted as a celebration of rugged individualism,
the poem actually contains multiple different meanings. The speaker in the poem, faced with a choice between
two roads, takes the road "less traveled," a decision which he or she supposes "made all the difference."
However, Frost creates enough subtle ambiguity in the poem that it's unclear whether the speaker's judgment
should be taken at face value, and therefore, whether the poem is about the speaker making a simple but
impactful choice, or about how the speaker interprets a choice whose impact is unclear. Digging up next Harper
Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mocking Bird” published in 1960 is enormously popular and was praised for its sensitive
treatment of a child’s awakening to racism and prejudice in the American South. It is set in the fictional town of
Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. The story centers on Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, an
unusually intelligent girl who ages from six to nine years old during the novel. She and her brother, Jeremy
Atticus “Jem”, are raised by their widowed father, Atticus Finch. Atticus is a well-known and respected lawyer.
He teaches his children to be empathetic and just, always leading by example. When Tom Robinson, one of the
town’s Black residents, is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a young white woman, Atticus agrees to
defend him despite threats from the community. Although Atticus presents a defense that gives a more plausible
interpretation of the evidence—that Mayella was attacked by her father, Bob Ewell—Tom is convicted. He is
later killed while trying to escape custody. The children, meanwhile, play out their own miniaturized drama.
Scout and Jem become especially interested in the town recluse, Arthur “Boo” Radley, who interacts with them
by leaving them small gifts in a tree. On Halloween, when Bob Ewell tries to attack Scout and Jem, Boo
intervenes and saves them. Boo ultimately kills Ewell. The sheriff, however, decides to tell the community that
Ewell’s death was an accident. Moving on in discovering Ezra Pound’s “Lustra”, the short, perfectly worded
free-verse poems that emerged from his struggles in the World War I. In his poetry Pound was now able to deal
efficiently with a whole range of human activities and emotions, without raising his voice. The movement of the
words and the images they create are no longer the secondhand borrowings of youth or apprenticeship but seem
to belong to the observing intelligence that conjures up the particular work in hand. Many of the Lustra poems
are remarkable for perfectly paced endings. Last but not the least, the treasure of Anne Sexton’s most well
renowned book of poetry, “Live or Die”, a gripping poetry collection mapping the thorny journey from
madness to hope, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967.
Not all treasure is really gold and silver, sometimes you can find it in the literary works that has golden
life lessons and can bring an eye-opener to what is really happening in the world in general. I recommend you
to read any of the following mentioned literary pieces as they have really great story that can surely influence
your life.
Referrences:
https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/robert-frost/the-road-not-taken
https://www.britannica.com/question/What-is-To-Kill-a-Mockingbird-about
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ezra-Pound/Development-as-a-poet#ref100742
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118285.Live_or_Die
 A Sail to the Vast Genres of 21st Century Literature
21st Century Literature is a new literature work created within the last decade, written by contemporary
authors, that deals with current themes /issues and reflects a technological culture and often breaks traditional
writing rules (Friesen, 2011). Emerging genres are Graphic Fiction or Graphic Novel, Flash Fiction, and other
genres such as Illustrated Novel, Digi-Fiction, Manga, Doodle Fiction, Text-Talk Novels, Chick Literature, and
Science Fiction.
Passing through the waves of Graphic Novel or Graphic Fiction, a comic book narrative that is
equivalent in form and dimension to the prose novel. Having features of autographic forms, interactivity graphic
novels, filling in the blanks, language and syntax, and the combination of book and screen. Furthermore, this
genre has parts that completes it such as Text Box or Caption, Speech Bubble, and Thought balloon.
Sailing now to the South where the vivid Flash-Fiction was seen. In contrast to Graphic Novel, this
genre is an imaginative literature of extreme brevity and is also known as micro stories, postcard fiction,
nanotales, and short shorts. Additionally, a flash fiction has characteristics of brevity, complete plot, and
surprising ending.
At last, we now discovered the islands of other genres. These genres possess different elements and
structures that makes the unique compared to Graphic Fiction and Flash-Fiction. Illustrated Novel is a story
through text and illustration images wherein it has 50% of textual portions that are presented in traditional form,
though some illustrated novels may contain no text at all. The reader must interpret the images to comprehend
the story completely. Moving on to Digi-Fiction, a Triple Media Literature that combines book, movie or video,
and internet website compared to illustrated. Readers should engage in navigation, reading, and viewing in all
three forms to get the full story. Proceeding now to Manga, a Japanese word for comics, used in the English-
speaking world as a generic term for all graphic novels originally published in Japan, and is considered as an
artistic and storytelling style. Passing on to Doodle Fiction, a literary presentation where the author
incorporates: Doodle Writing and Handwritten graphics in place of the traditional font, and Drawings that
enhances the story and often adding humorous elements. Going forward to Text-Talk Novels, a genre of blogs,
email, and IM format narratives, wherein the stories told are almost entirely in dialogue that simulates social
network exchange. Continuing to Chick Literature, a genre fiction which addresses issues of modern
womanhood often humorously and lightheartedly. It typically features a female protagonist whose femininity is
heavily thermalizing in the plot. Advancing now to the last island, the Science Fiction, a genre of speculative
fiction dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology, space travel, faster than
light travel, a parallel universe and extra-terrestrial life. It often explores the potential consequences of scientific
and other innovations and has been called a literature of ideas.
The 21st Century Literature has various genres that can give you the gist of today’s generation,
entertainment and life lessons. I recommend you to read any of the mentioned genres as they all have unique
features that can surely suit your taste in terms of literature. I can’t recommend a specific genre because I
myself doesn’t have any interest to literature.
 A Critical Analysis of “Essence”
Essence is a short story written in !997 by Jose Claudio B. Guerrero.It was all about the sense of feeling
they felt towards the guy they talked about. They call it essence.