Nature of American Ethnic Literature

Nature of American Ethnic Literature

American Literature is defined by the cultural and social values that are depicted in the writings of the American writers. The settings of America, the events that have shaped the society of America and the history are all part of the literature. American literature had long been dominated by white majority writers but there has been a great deal of diverse literature around. Apart from being written by American writers, what defines American literature is the manner in which it deals with American circumstances, and events. For example, if we take the name of Great Gatsby, the only country that comes to mind is America since it was unique to the country. Similarly, if we think of the story 'Gone with the Wind', with all the civil war experiences and slavery that is central to the story, then that is also relative to the American experience. A lot of writings of other prominent writers can also in the same manner suggest what made American literature stand out.

It is also important to note that American literature is not just about American writers and people but it also includes many writings of the ethnic writers. These writers are also important in making the American literature stand out as being 'American' and bring the big picture or entire landscape of what it means to be American. These ethnic writers mainly include African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, Indians and Asian Americans as the most prominent (www.learner.org).

In the initial years of its freedom, there existed little diversity in the country and also among the prominent literary writers in the country. Since ethnic writers had a different kind of experience in the country than their forefathers had, the literature that they produced differed from that of the traditional American literature making it hard to be accepted in the main stream literature. These writers from different ethnicities had to work hard to be recognized as writers and to break the norms of the accepted literary establishment to earn a place for themselves in literary scenario of the country and for the establishment of a diverse American literature.

In the past couple of decades, American Literature has gone through a radical transformation. Just the way mainstream society has started understanding the diversity in America; scholars have also started integrating more of literature by ethnic minorities and women into the ...