A Literary Analysis of my Favorite Novels Life of Rip Van Winkle and other

Literature is one of the most enjoyable pieces of art in life; therefore, a brief adventure into my three favorites and the least favorite topic of literature this term will show you how they magically blew my mind by exposing it to the beauty of literature. Therefore, this short analysis explores my favorite novels that are “Life of Frederick Douglas: An American Slave,” “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, and Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death,” and three other novels that are not my favorite.

My Favorite Readings

“Life of Frederick Douglas,” who is depicted as an American slave, “Rip Van Winkle,” and Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” have been my best favorite reading topics of literature this term. “The Life of Frederick Douglas: An American Slave” is my favorite because it narrates a tale of survival against all odds that Douglass underwent in person and the rest of the slaves on the plantations during the dark era of slavery in America. He describes his birth associated with the rape of his mother and the subsequent parentage that was robbed from him from an early age. Additionally, he categorically describes the prevailing conditions of slavery at the time as barbaric, cruel, inhuman, and evil in the eyes of a race claiming to be civilized and next to God. For example, he describes the common practices and habits of the white slave masters as that of cruel torture and inhumane treatment by assault, battery, murder, raping of black slave women for sexual satisfaction, and the expansion of their slave numbers. He talks of the Christian religious hypocrisy of preaching water and taking wine to justify the white superiority over the black slaves, as illustrated in his quote that he was hateful of the hypocritical nature of Christianity in the land as that of fraud and defamation of God. Throughout several chapters, he gives a vivid description of the horrors he faced from one slave master to the other and the ultimate escape to freedom (Douglass 10).

“Rip Van Winkle” is an American short story based on European history, legends, and myths. It is a story about a simple-minded, easygoing man called Rip who is a henpecked husband to his nagging wife. Rip resides in the Catskill Mountains village. While hunting in the mountains, Rip meets an explorer who intoxicates him voluntarily and goes into a deep sleep, only to wake up after twenty years have elapsed. On returning to his village, he finds that things have changed for the worst (Donnelly 3). Therefore, the story is my favorite because it depicts a moral lesson that change is always inevitable and should be welcomed, and those who stand in the way of progress will always suffer the consequences.

Lastly, the story of Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” is my last favorite. It is a short story of fantasy where Prospero, a prince, and other wealthy nobles hide in their abbey in an attempt to eliminate a plague called red death. The prince with other nobles organizes a masquerade ball where, unfortunately, the prince and other guests die after a disguised mysterious figure called red death attacks them when the prince confronted it. It’s my favorite because it illustrates how it is the common nature of people to try to mystify certain diseases as associated with evil, yet it is not (Poe 3).

The Least Favorite Readings

A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is one of the least favourites. Rowlandson, as an American woman during the era of colonialism, was kidnapped after being captured by native Indians during an attack. She was held captive for 11 weeks. She explains her ordeal events that she saw and experienced during her captivity until her ultimate release. The story is my least favourite because it was written in the first-person narration, partly objective because the writer describes her feelings and thoughts, thus making the story emotional and very boring (Rowlandson 2).

The second story is the Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca. It describes the travelling adventures of Cabeza as the first European to travel on foot across North America. On the course of his travelling, he acted as a faith healer to the natives and a trader. He further gives a vivid description of native America, including the culture, traditions, and way of life before and during the colonial era. It is my least favourite reading because of its anthropological historical accounts that are not captivating and enjoyable to me (Cabeza 2).

Lastly, of the least readings is the Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. It is a story of Equiano on how he was captured into slavery, first as a slave for his fellow African and then his journey through the trans-Atlantic slave trade route to the new world of America. He describes the cruelty of the travelling on the ships, packed and piled like wood. The story is not all that touching as it was written through imagination and research (Equiano 4).

Work cited

• Alvar Cabeza de Vaca, Rolena Adorno, Patrick Charles Pautz, The narrative of Cabeza de Vaca (2003). Print.
• Edgar Allan Poe, The Masque of the Red Death (2010). Accessed on 18th April 2016
• Edouard Le Roy, Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (2003). http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/summary.html or cited on 18th April 2016
• Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (2008).
• http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/sovereignty/facts.html on 18th April 2016
• Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa the African (2014), Lushena Books
• Washington Irving, Jennifer Donnelly. Rip Van Winkle and other stories (2011), Washington Irving at http://www.enotes.com/topics/rip-van-winkle retrieved on 18th April 2016

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