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 American Literature

Final Project Example: Struggle

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Struggle

To best present the struggles that Americans have made, I would start off with a picture of black slaves being beaten and mistreated as portrayed by Douglass, and then overcoming those things to become successful. I would then add a picture of a young woman who is being treated differently but not so much because of the color of her skin as her background, as demonstrated by Roxy in Pudd’nhead Wilson. Alexandra’s many setbacks in O! Pioneers, and her continual fight to keep her farm going, would be another great illustration for this bulletin. The continuous and inspirational goal fighting of Ruth Hall would also fit perfectly. An individual that fought many battles, but didn’t have to work as hard as some others would be Ben Franklin. The last person that would portray this wonderfully would be Lutie.

Frederick Douglass was a very brave and smart individual. He overcame many battles to become a successful person. He overcame slavery, which was extremely rare. After Douglass escaped from slavery he continued to become an inspiration for many others to do the same thing. He never stopped fighting throughout his entire life. Douglass fought for what he believed in and he stuck up for his beliefs and the beliefs of others. Not many people can do this and that makes him extraordinary. These many battles that he overcame made him a perfect candidate for my bulletin board.

Another slave that worked passed many obstacles in her life was Roxy from the book Pudd’nhead Wilson. For most of her life Roxy was treated as a slave, but only because she was 1/16 black. In normal circumstances Roxy would never even been considered black, but in this book she was. One of the people that treated Roxy the worst was her own son. The greatest battle for her was to finally stand up against her son and to tell him the truth. After telling him this, she had more control over him, and he treated her with more respect. That was one of the biggest struggles that Roxy had to endure.

In the novel O! Pioneers, Alexandra had to overcome hurdle after hurdle. When her father died he left all the responsibilities of the farm up to her. This caused heartache and much distress for Alexandra for most of her life. When all of her neighbors were doing the same thing over and over with their farms, Alexandra was the one who did something new and wonderful. She battled being poor, when the farm didn’t make as much money as it took to run it.

Alexandra also had to battle loneliness many times during her life. One of her first battles with loneliness was when she lost her father. The next major lose she had was of her best friend Carl. Carl was the only true friend that she had out of her family, and she loved Carl a lot. Emil, Alexandra’s brother, left for college and this hurt her a lot. After saying goodbye to Carl and Emil, Alexandra befriended her neighbor Marie. When Emil and Carl returned, and Alexandra had become rich, and she was thinking that all her battles had been fought and won. Until Marie and Emil’s lives were both taken. All of these loses in Alexandra’s life have made her a much stronger person in the way that she follows her heart and doesn’t let anyone get in her way.

Fanny Fern is another very strong female. She learned to do many things for her own, when her family wouldn’t help her out. She had a dream to write, and she followed that dream to all ends. Not only did she have to fight with newspaper editors that said she wasn’t good enough, but she also had to battle with her own family. Hyacinth didn’t like the idea of Fanny writing, because he didn’t want family secrets to be shared with the public. No one from Fanny’s family supported her, but that didn’t stop her from following her dream. After her successes came, then her family was right there with her. Fanny had to endure a lot before she was to the point where she could be accepted. And all of these things made her a much stronger person and made it possible for her to stand up for herself at all costs.

A story that was based on the struggles of one particular person was Ben Franklin. In this story, Ben had many things that he had to overcome. It seemed that he got a lot of lucky breaks, but that doesn’t minimize the fact that he had a lot to deal with throughout his life. He worked his hardest, and did things that many people criticized him for, but in the end he became successful. The difficulties that he had to overcome made him a very respectable and famous man.

The Street was my favorite story that I have read so far. I enjoyed the book so much because of how dedicated Lutie was to working her way off the street. Her first battle was that of facing her husband who was having an affair on the money that she was working hard to make. Then after she moved out and separated from her husband she moved in with her family. This was a horrible time for Lutie because her beloved son was subjected to terrible habits and attitudes everyday. She overcame this by moving out on her own. She worked hard everyday to provide for Bub and she showed it many times that she would do just about anything for him. Every action that Lutie made in the book was intended on getting herself a better life and a better life for Bub. She had to fight many battles that made her a stronger person and she will be much stronger because of all of the things she has gone through in the past.

The theme that I am trying to convey through this paper is that American literature shows that you won’t always be successful the first time you try. These characters have all showed that if you pick a goal and set your mind to it, you will eventually achieve it. Don’t let anything get in the way of your dreams and you will go far in life.