Comparison of American and British Literature

“There is more power in unity than division,” this quote is said by a current member of the House of Representatives, Emanuel Cleaver. Today, we constantly hear people say that working together will get more work done and will be more beneficial compared to working alone. Unity is more powerful than having isolated islands in which people associate with. Having one group allows people to dictate their ideas and create a better society by having discussions on the decisions that need to be made.

American literature is unique in many ways when comparing it to British literature and Western literature. There are many aspects that are found in American literature that cannot be found anywhere else and vice versa. When comparing British and American literature, there are many connections and detachments that can be made between them both. At one point in time, there was no difference between Britain and America, because America was once a British colony.

One big difference is that British literature has dated back to as far as the seventh century.

While American literature had just started when the United States was founded back in 1776 but, with Western literature, works can be found that was from the 27th or 26th century BC (Beer). Along with that, there were five main ancient civilizations that were heavy influencers of the works that we know of today. These civilizations are Babylon and Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Palestinian people (Britannica). The separation of society and class, as seen in The Great Gatsby can affect the perspective you carry throughout life.

Get quality help now

Prof. Finch

Verified

Proficient in: Literature

4.7 (346)

“ This writer never make an mistake for me always deliver long before due date. Am telling you man this writer is absolutely the best. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

The separation of society is caused by wealth, gender, and race. Gatsby is an example of seeing the separation of wealth and gender, but it does not show how race affects culture around the United States.

Therefore, we must look to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to conclude that race, in fact, does create a separation between people by showing how Jim, the slave, continues his life “on the fun” while encountering some friends along the way. Wealth, gender, and race are topics that are seen in American history, literature, and culture. The Great Gatsby shows many aspects of wealth, and what wealth can do to a person. With Gatsby, wealth made him a man that was greedy and full of lies. His lies went as far as stealing someone’s identity to become wealthy and try to get a woman that he loved very much, but in the end, he never got. The Owl-eyed man, while in the library says,“See!” he cried triumphantly. “ It’s a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too – didn’t cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?” (Fitzgerald, 45)When the Owl-eyed man says “Belasco,” he is referring to the American playwright, actor, and producer (“Belasco”).

When the Owl-eyed man said this, he means that you cannot buy an education or an experience, but you can buy things. Experiences and education are things you yourself have to go through. Having money can buy most things except things such as an education or experiences. As seen through American history, you can buy people through slavery. In American history, we can see that not all wealth destroys people. For example, John Pierpont Morgan was a man whose wealth was immense. Even though he was very wealthy, he donated a majority of his wealth to charities, churches, schools, and hospitals (NSTATE, LLC).

As seen through Gatsby, wealth can destroy people who are wanting too much of it. A factor that must be added in whether wealth destroys people is their background. Gatsby’s background and experiences were different than J.P. Morgan’s in that Gatsby supposedly found the person he wanted to marry. On the other hand, Morgan followed his passion and became wealthy, and as a result, he gave back to the American people. Gender has been a big problem whether that is in history, literature, or culture. This problem can be seen through Daisy in Gatsby, as well as the modern world. When talking about Jordan, the conversation comes up that she may have cheated in a golf tournament and Fitzgerald says: It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply – I was casually sorry, and then I forgot. It was on that same house party that we had a curious conversation about driving a car.

It started because she passed so close to some workmen that our fender flicked a button on one man’s coat (Fitzgerald, 58).As seen through this quote, it shows how women are taught to lower their expectations and degrade their actual abilities. With degrading your abilities, you will always achieve what you want, you will never challenge yourself. From the start, women are taught to think that they are not capable of doing what they are actually capable of doing. For example, today, in America there is a fight of closing the gender gap. The National Partnership for Women and Families has done some studies identifying the correlations between time and states of the gender gap between men and women. On average between the 50 states, women are paid about 80 cents for every dollar that men get paid. Not only did they look at this data, but in fact, they broke down the data by race. An example is African-American women are paid about 63 cents, and Latinos are paid 54 cents for every dollar than a Caucasian, non-Hispanic man is paid (“What’s the Wage Gap in the States?).

The gender pay gap is not the only thing where there is a gap. When looking at the world as a whole, there are in fact, fewer women in leadership positions in the corporate business world. In the modern world, there are many problems, and the gender gap is just one. Not only is gender a problem in the world today, but gender has been a problem seen in literature from years ago. Race is a problem that is seen throughout American and World history. Despite it being such as big problem for such a long time, there is not much change that will be done in the future no matter how hard people try to convert people’s thinking. This is seen in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, studies done in the modern world, and history. The duke says: Because Mary Jane ‘ll be in mourning from this out; and first you know the nigger that does up the rooms will get an order to box these duds up and put ‘em away; and do you reckon a nigger can run across money and not borrow some of it? (Twain, 180)

He is assuming that all African-American men are criminals. In reality, the real criminal is, in fact, the duke himself. This shows that people jump to conclusions without sufficient evidence. In McConahay’s Has American Racism Declined? He talks about the theory of modern racism. This theory says “that the affective component of racial attitudes is acquired quite early in life and is harder to change than the cognitive and conative components” (McConahay). From this, we can deduce that racism in today’s world is drilled into our brains from the start. In the Countee Cullen’s “Yet I Do Marvel,” Cullen believes that God has goodness, and he compares himself to people who just keep pushing forward. He does not quite understand why he is experiencing racism, but he continues to say that he is glad that God made him an African-American poet.

This poem shows that even though there were stereotypes that he encountered, he is glad he did because is poetry would not be the same without it. In another one of Cullen’s poems, “To Certain Critics,” was written during the Harlem Renaissance. He wants to get the point across that racial inequality needs to progress in a good direction. When he says “No racial option narrows grief, Pain is no patriot,” he is saying that no matter what pain you have, the pain will always be pain regardless of the person. Booker T. Washington in Up From Slavery talks about how he sees the necessity of equality. He says that “no race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as writing a poem” (TAS, 444-449). This is talking about how different races need to learn how to coexist with each other.

This philosophy applies to history and the modern world. History has shown that racism is a part of how America came to be. Slavery is an important issue in American history because it caused the North and the South to be divided. They even had a war about their ideal differences. Race is a problem that is seen throughout history. It is also something that has yet to be solved. The problem of race is still seen today with the police and the African-American community in the United States. It has become such a big issue, that there is a movement called, “Black Lives Matter” that is storming around the country. “The Black Lives Matter Global Network is a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission is to build local power and to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes” (Black Lives Matter). They fight for those who have lost their lives partly due to their race.

In conclusion, there are many things that make American literature the way it is. Wealth, gender, and race are only three of many ideas that make the literature we read today original and different than the works of British and Western authors. As seen with Gatsby, wealth is a recurring theme, that can destroy people’s lives. It is seen through literature and through people. Gender is a problem that is a problem in today’s world but also can be seen in Gatsby with Daisy. Lastly, race is a big issue that is still dealt with today. Race is seen with Jim in Huck Finn, but it is also seen throughout history with the Civil War through today’s movement, “Black Lives Matter.” As these three ideas come together, we can begin to understand why American literature is the way it is. There are many outside influences that give the authors inspiration such as the history occurring at the time, but also comparing it with other types of literature, we can deduce that American literature is original in the ways that it is fairly new compared to British and Western literature. Wealth, gender, and race are only three ideas, that will develop and change through the future of American literature.