It is essential to first analyze Walker's and Marshall's essays through each of the themes of identity, independence, and inspiration, respectively. Then these themes will be drawn out of Hurston's work to show the similarity between each of these writers' works. ... Through identifying with her mother, Marshall finds that they have things in common because they both express their creativity in an art form: one in the oral tradition and the other in the written tradition: The role of art in this tradition unifies the seemingly disparate themes ...

• Word Count: 3271
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

Although opposing Bennett's idea that slavery is not empowering, Claude McKay sees slavery as a source of power in his sexual poem, "America. " With the opening of the poem, McKay makes it clear that the America he visualizes is a woman as he writes, "Although she feeds me bread of bitterness/And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth/Stealing my breath of life, I will confess/I love this cultured hell that tests my youth! ... In the following lines, McKay describes how America arouses him: "Her vigor flows like tides into my blood/Giving me strength erect against her hate " (lines 5...

• Word Count: 2535
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography