Final Exam

Before taking the "Major American Authors" course, I defined a major American author as someone who is born in America and writes about historical American events for recreational purposes. After taking this course, my definition has developed a much deeper meaning. Now, I think that a major American author does not necessarily have to be American, but his or her work is based on historical American events to remind readers of American values that may have been forgotten, regardless of the time period.

Various reasons cause Americans to forget some of our country's most important values, and stories such as Frederick Douglass's The Heroic Slave re-emerges them. In times of slavery, economical factors pushed for the preservation of this principle, and Americans were ironically denying African Americans the rights which the Founding Fathers fought so hard for. The Heroic Slave, especially Madison Washington's speech on the Creole, served as a reminder that America was founded upon the values of freedom and equality. In addition, the scene with Grant and Williams in The Heroic Slave contains themes of refuting racial stereotypes and acknowledging the positive aspects of a different race, things that still apply to society today. After the September 11th attack, there was a period of suspicion towards those seemingly of Arab or Muslim descent. America is a land of diverse cultural heritages, and people of all ethnic groups are treated equally as other Americans. Yet, the September 11th attack caused Americans to forget these values and view people of another race stereotypically. Stories such as The Heroic Slave help bring up these values again. Since Frederick Douglass's work reinforces American values to readers both during and after the time his work was written, he represents what a major American author is.

Besides freedom and equality, another thing that I believe Americans value is the family. Yet, many circumstances can cause someone to hold other things more importantly than family, especially money and wealth. Lost money can always be earned back, but a lost family is not always able to be earned back. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited demonstrates this really well and stresses the idea of not letting such a valuable thing like family slip through your fingers. In the story, Charlie was completely taken by his sudden wealth from the stock market and put his family aside. After the crash of 1929, Charlie not only lost his wealth, but also his family. Though he was able to earn some money back from business in Prague, he still had a long way before he can win back his daughter, Honoria. No matter the time period, it is undeniable that this is a materialistic world, and most people tend to spend all their time pursuing their materialistic desires rather than paying attention to their family. I believe that Babylon Revisited would be able to remind readers about the importance of family over wealth regardless of the time period, so Fitzgerald also shows what a major American author is.

Taking the "Major American Authors" course has reshaped my views of a major American author. Instead of an American author writing a story on a historical American event solely for entertainment, I believe a major American author is an author who writes a story with historical American references to resurface fundamental American values that may have been forgotten. Whether during the time the story was written or in later time periods, these stories would still be able to appeal to readers, just like the stories we have read in this course. I learned a lot from this course, and UNC should definitely continue teaching it.