The Establishment And Decline Of A Myth

American Midwest has been glorified, idealized and subverted by American novelists throughout history. From the idealized asylum of freedom in early travel notes and poetic prophesies, to the region stricken by poverty and solitude in Hamlin Garland's country novel, to the representation of genteel past in Willa Cather's Midwestern novels and the small towns satirized by Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis, image of Midwest in literature has gone through tremendous change.On the basis of existing research and publications, this thesis, by studying literary work on Midwest, explores and summarizes how the myth of Midwest has been established, popularized and has decayed in history and analyzes the spiritual journey American people have gone through implicit in the evolution of this myth. This thesis is made up of six parts. The first part is an introduction of Midwest as will be studied in this thesis, historical background of this region and a review of previous researches, with an intension to illuminate the foundation the whole thesis is based on and give an outline. The second part is trying to illustrate how Midwest is established as an agricultural utopia in people's mind. This part will introduce frontier theories and analyze early literary works depicting Arcadian West. The third part will discuss farmer's frontier as reflected in country novels, the disillusionary small community with its constraints and prejudice represented by Hamlin Garland and Howe's work. The fourth part will introduce another set of picture for Midwest, the joyous celebrations of the land and the people represented by Willa Cather's nostalgic work in which the constant relationship and the special connection between Midwestern people is prized. The fifth part will look at how the myth of Midwest is destroyed by writers such as Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis. Lastly, the conclusion part will review the process of decline of Midwestern myth and analyze the psychological journey Americans have gone through reflected by change in the image of Midwest.