Themes and Topics Important in American Literature

Alienation

The American Adam -- and Eve

The American Dream

The American Landscape

Democracy and Government in America

The Family and Familial Relationships

Gender Issues -- Women’s Lives, Roles, Work, and Vision

The Idea of Gentility

Identity -- in all its forms

Illusion and Reality

Immigration and Wandering

The Individual and Society (Community)

Innocence and Experience

Liberty in America

Love and Hate

The Machine

Man and Woman

Nature, the Garden, the Wilderness

Noble Savage and Natural Man

The Old World and the New

Politics and War

The Problem of American Identity

The Problem of Literary Authority

The Quest for Utopia, the Ideal, the Divine

Race, Segregation, and Slavery

Religion, Religious Freedom

Revolt Against Domesticity

The Rise of Capitalism and Its Conflicts with Labor

The Urbanization of the Country

Violence in America

Youth and Age

Source: Prentice Hall Anthology of American Literature, Instructor's Manual