Portrayal Of American Life

Portrayal of American Life

Over time American life has proved to have changed quite rapidly. Before the

American Revolution people had no choice but to use handmade tools and goods in order

to move on. As America became more industrialized, availability of machinery helped to

ease the work load. Even though it seems that over time American life has had a drastic

change, we can still see how American life has been portrayed hopeless by writers that

lived it. Works such as Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the scrivener” and Mark Twain’s

“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” show what American life was like in

early developing America.

The emptiness of modern business life is an important theme. Taking place on

Wall Street, “Bartleby the Scrivener” emphasizes how dull and dreary American life

really is. The description of the office shows the inanimate features of the lawyer’s

office: “In that direction my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick

wall, black by age and everlasting shade.” The narrator also mentions that there are no

people outside at night, showing how isolated the work environment is. Just by looking

into