American Literature Paper
Randy Hale
University of Phoenix
ENG.301
American Ethic Literature
Michael Cromwell
December 24, 2012

American Ethic Literature Paper
What makes American literature American?
American literature is just that American literature. American literature is stories of people lives that are based on American standards. Early American standards where based around slavery and oppression but now they are based on freedoms like freedom of speech and press. America has been through many time periods that has shaped it into the wonderful nation that we have today. True American literature is about life in the United States. This paper will create an understanding about American ethnic literature.
What is
“Traditional" American literature is influenced by culture within the United States. Ethnic literature is influenced by culture outside of the United States. The author Mark Twain comes to mind first because he is a talented American author that wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and later Adventure of Huckleberry Finn. Both of these novel get their story lines and settings from Twain life and growing up in Hannibal Missouri. Twain based these novels culturally in the United States and not in another country. If Twain would have based these novels in another country they would be considered ethnic literature is stead of "traditional" literature. These novels would have been totally different based in another culture. Life in the United States is far different then life in Africa or Nigeria. Parts of Africa are considered third world countries. Traditional America literature is based in the US.
What historical, socio-political, and cultural topics might be covered by ethnic writers? How does this differ from the canon of traditional American literature? Slavery and Voting Rights are major topics covered by ethnic writers. How are the American literary themes of liberty, opportunity and equality addressed in ethnic literature?American history is full of stories about liberty, opportunity, and equality for other ethnic groups. For example Blacks had to fight for the same freedoms that