Need help picking literary works for a school project

[xSpartanCx]

I've got a project for 11th grade English. I need to pick 3 literary works by American authors (two are novels, the other can be a short story or a novel) and thematically connect them. What are some good books that I should read and be able to connect thematically?

[qimissung]

Why don't you just Google some subjects of theme s like class, nihilism, isolation, survival, etc.or anything else you might be interested in and take it from there.

[kev67]

Make one of them The Iron Heel by Jack London. Then you have a choice of dystopia, science fiction, socialism, or early 20th century American literature as themes.

[JBI]

Pick two Victorian, and one modern "gothic" novel and compare. That could be interesting. Or like Dracula and new vampire stories. Generally though, this project should be aimed for things you like.

Reading should above all be pleasurable if you are doing it casually, such as in high school. You would need to tell us a little bit more about yourself if you want a better suggestion.

[xSpartanCx]

Pick two Victorian, and one modern "gothic" novel and compare. That could be interesting. Or like Dracula and new vampire stories. Generally though, this project should be aimed for things you like.

Reading should above all be pleasurable if you are doing it casually, such as in high school. You would need to tell us a little bit more about yourself if you want a better suggestion.

Well I'm not sure about what types of books I like to read, as most of the things I read are already assigned by school. I've got to read three works in a period of four months as well as writing a paper, so they can't be too long. My english teacher told us that many people read The Great Gatsby.

[kelby_lake]

Well I'm not sure about what types of books I like to read, as most of the things I read are already assigned by school. I've got to read three works in a period of four months as well as writing a paper, so they can't be too long. My english teacher told us that many people read The Great Gatsby.

Count yourself lucky- I had to read a novel a week for university!

It depends on what themes you like. What do you like reading about? Or what do you like watching on TV/in the cinema?

Some themes of American Literature may be:
- Money and Capitalism
- The Gothic (you can look at Edgar Allen Poe and compare it with a Southern Gothic novel like The Ballad of The Sad Cafe)
- Racism
- Immigration and 'the melting pot' (the idea that America is a mix of culture and nationalities)
- The Great American Novel (this is where Gatsby might come in. The term refers to a novel that is seen to be the embodiment of America. You could even question whether a novel can really encompass America and whether America isn't more like a 'melting pot')
- The American Dream (the idea that you can start from nothing and make something of yourself- America as a land of opportunity)
- Native America, pioneers
- Religion
- Crime Fiction

Or of course you can pick standard literary themes- love, death, nature- and find literature that links to that. But you really need to give us a starting point because there's an infinite number of options and we can't read your mind as to what you want to read and write about.

I would say that a good one to pick if you're not much of a reader is crime fiction as it's quite readable and entertaining and might be easier for you to connect to than abstract concepts like The American Dream.

[JBI]

A Novel a week for university is not so bad, compared to 6 classes all demanding a novel sized book a week for me. It's probably put me off fiction for life - reading 400 pages a day just to float is murder, especially when much of it is theoretical crap.

Now is even worse, since the vast amount of scholarship and primary stuff in Chinese is enough to kill someone. You find yourself reading 500 pages a day when the grind gets going just to keep up with the others - and it isn't easy reading either, requiring constant dictionary use.

Enjoy high school where you get choices about what to read - try to find something pleasureful and meaningful to spend your time with, since quite simply you rarely get these good opportunities to do what you want with education.

[xSpartanCx]

I'm really not sure what I like to read....
I'd probably enjoy fiction more than nonfiction. Currently in class we're reading The Sun Also Rises, and I find it pretty entertaining. I couldn't put down The Crucible, and The Scarlet Letter was good too.
If TV shows help, then I like to watch Doctor Who, Dexter, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and a few others...

[kev67]

Come to think of it, there is a hypothesis that The Wizard of Oz by Frank L Baum is a coded criticism of the American bi-metallic money system. In the book (but not the film) Dorothy wears silver slippers, not ruby. She walks down a yellow (close to gold) road towards the Emerald City. Emerald represents the Green Backs introduced by President Lincoln. Dorothy's companions were the straw man, representing the farmers, the tin man, representing industry, and a lion. The lion represents an American politician who wanted to replace the monetary system with something similar to Green Backs, who was accused of cowardice. There's a video out in the internet somewhere. It's a small book, so if you chose that, plus The Iron Heel, you would just have to find another early 20th century book which is an analogy of American economic system.

[xSpartanCx]

Okay, I've (kind of) figured out what I want to do. I want to focus on dystopian novel about corruption in the government. What kind of literature is there that connects thematically to corruption of the American government? So far I'm thinking The Iron Heel and Fahrenheit 451 might work?

[Vota]

You might try reading "Lies My Teacher Told Me", followed by "The Iron Heel", and then finish with "1984". You will probably be a different person after reading all that.

[xSpartanCx]

You might try reading "Lies My Teacher Told Me", followed by "The Iron Heel", and then finish with "1984". You will probably be a different person after reading all that.

Unfortunately, the requirements for the project mean that the books must be fiction and written by American authors, meaning that Lies and 1984 won't work; I came upon 1984 while researching novels and it would have fit so well :(

[Vota]

Aw, my mistake. I saw that you had mentioned it had to be from American authors and had a complete brain fart.