American Literature and the Consolidation of the American Exceptional Culture

Abstract

The present paper treats comprehensively the contribution of literature in general and American literature in particular to the consolidation of the social myths that help society adopt changes especially the ones brought by the industrial boom to finally build an independent and even an exceptional culture . The research paper focuses on two short stories: the first is Nathanial Hawthorne‘s “Rappacini‘s Daughter” while the second is Melville’s “The Tartarus of Maids”. In both literary works the writers through the portrayal of America as a garden and their acceptance of industry in it tended to consolidate the famous old American myth which presents the United States as a city (industry) upon a hill (pastoral).