Literary Analysis Of Oscar Wilde's Impressions Of America

In the persuasive letter to his wife, John Downe uses several rhetorical devices such as diction, hyperbole, and juxtaposition as well as several tones to convince her to emigrate to the United States. In the first paragraph, Downe uses diction and an inviting tone using words like ¨welcome¨ in order to describe what life in America is like. Downe uses long sentences to list examples of specific inexpensive items. He conveys America as a land bountiful in opportunity using the hyperbole

He raises Bostonians as “most noble citizens,” claiming that they are set as an example for the world, and as a hopeful case study for the rest of the American colonies. Putnam believes that the glory contemporarily held by Great Britain will, in due course, be transferred to America because of its bountiful land and industrious people. This idea that America had boundless potential as a nation served as one of the cornerstones of the burgeoning American

The American dream and the myth of the frontier dates back to early European immigrants escaping poverty and religious persecution to come to the unknown lands of now America. This is apparent in explorer John Smith’s A Description of New England.

With the coming and going of the American Civil War, the way of life, thinking, and culture of the country was radically changed. This change that many believe occurred only in the southern portion of the United States instead took place across the country as a whole; the south being the place that is most discussed when looking at pre- and post-civil war differences. The Antebellum South that once was a thriving community was no more. Instead everything was turned on its head. Before the Civil war, idealism was this idea of the Antebellum South portrayed in popular culture; the quintessential example that we use for the Antebellum South is the movie, Gone with the Wind, in which everything was viewed through rose-colored glasses.

Valerie Valdez AP English Period:4 3/4/17 The national distrust of the contemplative temperament arises less from an innate Philistinism than from a suspicion of anything that cannot be counted, stuffed, framed or mounted over the fireplace in the den. Men remain free to rise or fall in the world, and if they fail it must be because they willed it so. The visible signs of wealth testify to an inward state of grace, and without at least some of the talismans posted in one’s house or on one’s person an American loses all hope of demonstrating to himself the theorem of happiness. Seeing is believing, and if an American success is to count for anything in the world it must be clothed in the raiment of property.

By using a positive tone and very descriptive writing, Downe is able to paint a pristine picture in the reader’s head of the heaven-like America he lives in. By describing the delicious foods presented to him by strangers, the endless brandy he can get for three half-pence, and butchers who deliver meat like modern-day pizza men, Downe presents a vibrant and beautiful image of America to his reader. Downe’s tone also helps with his connotation; Downe is also able to make England seem like truly horrible place. When comparing England to America, Downe uses words with negative connotation like “improper,” and “disgusting” to portray his homeland in a bad way. When contrasted with how Downe describes America, the reader feels like England is a horrible place where the poor and middle class are stomped upon by the rich.

How Mark Twain and Others Established an Identity for Southern Life The United States of America is a nation unlike any other on Earth. Although it stands as one united nation, the United States also includes many subcultures and distinctions within it as well. These distinct peculiarities make certain regions completely unique and detached.

The lines following line 44 are given in the tone of Salman Rudshie. He gives readers the tone that Americans are poor at adapting to the world, and they must learn from modern migrants who “make a new imaginative relationship with the world, because of the loss of familiar habits”. Rudshie’s critical tone goes on in lines 59-62, using the analogy of forcing industrial and commercial habits on foreign ground is synonymous if ‘the mind were a cookie-cutter and the land wer

Oscar Wilde toured the United States and Canada in eighteen-eighty-two giving lectures as he traveled from city to city. During his time in America, he surveyed the ways of the people who resided there and the many things the country had to offer. Wilde had an appreciation for the American dream and the pursuit and the fight for freedom and liberty and noticed distinct differences between America and the countries of Europe he grew to know and understand. Wilde met many people and learned many things and appealed to charming men rumored to be rough and dangerous, his curiosity was met with large machinery meant to intimidate and young people willing to sell anything to earn a penny. America has advanced through the centuries since Wilde’s visit, yet the country has maintained most of its central morals and ways of living he took note of.

Compared to those who lived in Europe, Americans had a much greater lifestyle in the new and beautiful America. In J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s narrative “Letter III What Is and American?”, he writes about the incredible lifestyle an American lives from the point-of-view of a farmer who had previously struggled in Europe. According to the farmer, being an American comes with the ideal life, something not offered in Europe. In What Is an American?, Crevecoeur presents a prideful and shameful tone as he describes his feelings towards America and Europe. Crevecoeur sees America as a beautiful place to live in, and describes it with a prideful tone.

A friend of Bryant, Thomas Cole, is moving from the vast nature filled plains of America to the crowded streets of Europe. Bryant is telling his friend to enjoy the new scenery and opportunities, but to not forget his home. It seems that the poet almost puts a negative connotation on Europe, calling it “fair but different,” showing his penchant for American transcendentalism (Bryant 554). Thomas Cole’s move to learn about new things and gain knowledge can almost show the abandonment of transcendental ideals and the shift to modern American life, where most people pursue jobs and social opportunities. He is leaving behind the nature of America and joining the hustle and bustle of the cities of Europe.

The two poems, “America” by Claude McKay and “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman are perfect demonstrations of how people can address the same topic, but go about it very differently. In the piece, “America” by Claude McKay, the author feels angered yet contented about America. McKay discusses that although America is bitter and cold, he still loves it. According

The novel is constructed to even deceive the reader. The first paragraph of the first chapter begins with a description of a beautiful summer day with “delicate perfume” (Wilde 1). It is a beautiful and pleasantly smelling environment but it is also

arch 2018 The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde’s Criticism on the Upper Class Using humor, cleverness, and style, Oscar Wilde illustrates the lives of the Victorian upper class in The Importance of Being Earnest. More specifically, the “Trivial Comedy for Serious People” reveals in a satirical manner the insignificant concerns of Great Britain’s aristocracy. In the introduction of The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings, editor Richard Ellmann creates an overview of Wilde’s best known work.

To understand Wilde’s message it is first important to at least try to diminish the skepticism that shrouds the beliefs on which it is based. The picture of Dorian Gray can be interpreted as an allegorical work to support biblical concepts, yet ironically enough it was used as evidence against Wilde at his trial for indecency. Allot of what was claimed to be homoerotic sub textual suggestions to the detrimental corruption of the audience were actually quote the opposite. They are frank examples of reality; part of what makes the novel so valuable in its defamation of indecency because they resounded with Wilde’s refusal to masquerade (use literary devices to cowardly conceal truth instead of add depth of meaning to it). In doing this he had to treat the more ambiguous beliefs on which the novel is based as more than personal perspectives.