Effects of Enlightenment in American Literature (Essay Sample)

Effects of Enlightenment in American Literature
Enlightenment defines a movement that took place in the 18th century, focusing on science and reason rather than faith, and it had a profound effect in literature. The movement sprouted new and novel developments such as the philosophies of freedom and liberty. Enlightenment literature shifted towards more open and objective subjects such as democracy and the voice of reason. The ideals of enlightenment entailed the rejection of misleading religion manifesting in the form of church dogma and instead, embraced all the ideas founded on reason. There were advances in empirical science as well as skepticism towards the conventional traditions and sense of authority. The ideals of enlightenment bright massive changes in American literature, ranging from the subjects that proponents addressed to the conventional ideas that they opposed based on the lack of empirical evidence.
Religion had contributed to the rise of Calvanism perspectives prior to the rise of the enlightenment age, but the movement changed all this (Koskenniemi 109). The rise of Deism had also insisted that God was the most powerful clockmaker who ascended to heaven after the creation narrative. In the new age and movement, however, new ideas emerged, informed by enlightenment ideals, including the need to attain leadership through meritocracy rather than through the birthright mechanism that had been propagated in religion (Khan Academy Paragraph 4). Enlightenment advocates such as John Locke emphasized on the need to rely on observations and the scientific method as they insisted on the need to observe human rights (Khan Academy Paragraph 4). Most of the American literature that emerged after the enlightenment ideals, therefore, focused on universal themes of human rights such as the rights of women, universal voting rights, and the exercise of equality. There are various books that were written to focus on the Civil Rights Act of 1875, with typical examples being The Warmth of other Suns (Khan Academy Paragraph 4). Ideally, it is a movement which not only changed the literary discourse in the country, but also gave the assurance of human rights observations.