Poe

    Edgar Allen Poe was known as a very famous romantic writer in the early/mid 1800s. His writing was mainly poems and short stories, and was thought to be fictional. This may or may not be true; considering what was happening to him in real life throughout his writing career may have affected his works more than we think.

     Two very central themes in many of his stories are death, and how one perceives and deals with it. In his poem The Raven, his lost love Lenore has died, as well as in his story Ligeia. In Fall of the House of Usher, death also occurs. In his real life, his mother and the love of his young life died. His father left him and his siblings to an adoptive family, so not only was he hardened by the deaths in his life, but also the abandonment and dissupport of his adoptive family. 

     In his real life, he also was a struggling alcoholic. He claimed to have always been sober when in the newspapers, but his substance abuse can be easily seen in some of his writings. In both Ligeia and The Raven, the narrator indulges in drug abuse, taking pills or other things to try and black out his emotions. This could have been transpired from his real life easily, considering that he didn't have very much support and seemed to have constantly dark emotions because of the deaths in his life. Maybe the reason that he was so alcoholic in real life wasn't much different than why the characters in his poems and stories do it. 

     Poe's work is obviously very dark and slightly disturbing, and thats how most people viewed him in real life. Though it may or may not be true, his life seems to have greatly influenced most of his writing and seems to draw many parallels within his stories and poems. 

What is an American?

Well. Being American can mean different things to different people. Of course it has the literal definition of one who's nationality is American, or one who lives in America. But it can also mean someone who fights for America's rights, or believes in what America is and what it can become in more time. To me, mostly i just feel like and American is someone who lives in America, is American in nationality, and identifies with the majority of the rest of them out there. A "true" American takes part in things like voting for who should lead the country, or trying to make it a better place to live.
I also believe that an American is someone who takes part in American culture. To some, stereotypically that means "eating hamburgers" and "watching television". But to be honest, I don't consider either of those things American culture; I think American culture is experiencing the mix of cultures that immigrants and people from other countries have brought here. America is such a diverse place in some parts, and experiencing the diversity as it is now- all combined, it becomes its own ultimate culture. America is also one of the most industrialized and advanced countries (besides some in Europe), and that has become part of what it is too. 
The last thing i think plays a part in being American is the generations of people it has raised. America, at least in the parts i know, is (like i stated before), a diverse place, and there are many different types of people here. When i think American, though, i think of a young person finding their way or someone trying to make a living. Then again, sometimes when i think American i think of the epitome of the word "republican"- a relatively old white man with lots of money. It goes both ways, really. 

The Modern Puritan

     Though Puritans are not still existent in modern society, I believe that their beliefs and practices have been passed through the generations to be carried out, possibly in slightly different ways, by people today. 

     One of the main themes that I, at least, got from all these readings we’ve done and my prior knowledge was their policy of wrongdoing being the cause of punishment. You’d think that its only right for someone to be punished when they did wrong, but that was one of the big aspects of being a Puritan. Nowadays, with things as simple as disobeying moral house rules, one can be punished. 

     Another aspect of Puritanism that has been somewhat passed on to today is their sense of religiousness. Not being religious myself, I don’t have very much knowledge in this particular area, but I do know that there are still some very religious people, and in most religions, one is expected to obey the “laws” of the religion. These laws can differ from federal laws, but  like in Puritan times, they can be viewed as equal in importance to certain people. 

     Overall, because Puritanism wasn’t some highly exotic religion that involved intense practices and what not, its beliefs can be modified slightly (or not at all), and easily passed down to people today, which I believe they have.