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DEATH AND LOSS =Tragedy in American Literature = We've discussed all semester about the //American Dream;// a white-picket fence with 2 children and a dog. To some the American Dream is about possession, security, status, and the ability for new opportunities. To others it is an individualistic choice; a way to be happy and to have the ability to express freedom of religion and speech. But to many American authors it means to feel loss; it becomes the American Tragedy. We, as Americans strive too hard and too far, for too much and too long that it consumes us. For Anne Bradstreet it is just the death of her family that makes her question her faith. For Poe, he strives to show death, guilt, and loss in his works to portray a truer America. For Hawthorne, his Puritan ideals set the bar too high for some to live up to such as Rueben in //Roger Malvin's Burial// or Hester in //The Scarlet Letter.// And for Michael Wigglesworth, the refusal to accept man's natural depravity and atone for his sins will result in their destruction.
 * = [[image:http://womensvoicesforchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/anne_bradstreetcropped.jpg width="397" height="310" align="left" caption="Anne Bradstreet" link="Anne Bradstreet"]] ||= [[image:http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/14/books/PoePortrait.jpg width="354" height="312" align="right" caption="Edgar Allan Poe" link="Edgar Allan Poe"]] ||
 * = [[image:http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne.gif width="325" height="488" caption="Nathaniel Hawthorn" link="Nathaniel Hawthorne"]] ||= [[image:http://image1.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2009/130/18784172_124205762020.jpg width="367" height="420" align="right" caption="Michael Wigglesworth" link="Michael Wigglesworth"]] ||

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