Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is a very famous and praised American writer. Poe's writings are often very gothic and dark romanticism. Most of his works are very dark and gloomy. His writings also often revolve around the concept of death, whether it's the actual physical thing, mental aspect, premature death, mourning/sadness, and the afterlife (or sometimes spirits coming back like Madeline in "The Fall of the House of Usher").
In his poem "The Raven", the narrator is mourning the loss of a Lenore. He starts to hear sounds and starts to be really anxious and anticipates something is to happen. He starts to talk to the raven that comes into his house, because everyone talks to the birds that fly into their rooms instead of shooing them out. That one raven manages to get him so worked up and he starts to get less sane with each 'Nevermore'. The poem also takes place in the middle of the night. Poe had set up a very dark, gloomy, and depressing feeling with the setting, the mourning, and the loss of sanity.
In "The Fall of the House of Usher" so many things are put together. There were so many sensory elements, some of them being hyperesthesia, hypochondria, and anxiety. The house was old and cracking. They included the romanticism themes such as going mad and basically exploring the dark side. In the end, Poe gives us another questionable ending with what happened with Roderick, was it him going mad or was it the house in the end? (The house would have given the final blow but did he die from the insanity?). In 'The Raven' you don't exactly know what happened to the narrator. Poe is a very complex writer, he adds in so many elements but he still makes his readers think and analyze and voice their opinions a lot. He gives you endings, but there's always a twist with ending, so basically it's you make up what you think happened... I myself believe that Poe's writings take a very high reading comprehension ability to properly get a minimal understanding of the piece of work that Poe has provided us with.

What Makes an American?

I think being an American is all about the spirit. We never know what we are. Most people know who they are but probably a couple hundred generations we were all the same race. There have been many times where people flee from one place to another, where do they technically belong? For babies who were smuggled into a country at birth, they might think they're American the entire time since they grew up here their entire life, but do they belong to that other country where they remember nothing about or do they belong here? If you had changed your citizenship from another country, are you now American or are you still from your origin roots? There are many people who have US citizenship but still say they're from so and so. What about the people who ran away from their countries to escape to the US?

The US was created and found to welcome people of all backgrounds and help people escape prejudice. Being an American is what you feel you are. If you feel that you'd rather be known as an American than something else and you feel that you are worthy enough for a title. To be an American you should also be accepting of others because that is why it was created, so people can have a place to be accepted. You need to love the country and to appreciate the fact that you're here. If you don't even know anything about your roots, then is there even a point to be that? It's like this question, is it something that makes you up more or less important then something that you make up?