[An Essay from My Heart]

American literature is not merely a collection of stories; it is a vast cultural map that carries the spirit, history, conflicts, and hopes of a society. In particular, Mark Twain, Younghill Kang, and John Steinbeck reveal the complex face of America through their distinct backgrounds and perspectives. Reading their works opens a pathway to understanding the United States, and for immigrants and international students especially, their writings offer a more vivid cultural education than any textbook.

This essay examines the birth years and backgrounds of these three writers, their major works, and their literary contributions, while exploring how their writings serve as meaningful guides to understanding America and American culture.

1. Mark Twain (1835–1910)

First, Mark Twain was born in 1835 in Florida, Missouri, and grew up along the Mississippi River. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and “Mark Twain” was a pen name derived from a riverboat term measuring water depth. Having lived through the turbulent years before and after the American Civil War, he captured the contradictions of American society and the hypocrisy of human nature with sharp humor.

Second, his major works include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Prince and the Pauper. Among them, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often regarded as a pinnacle of American literary realism, portraying slavery and racial tensions through the eyes of a young boy in a layered and nuanced manner.

Third, Twain’s literary contribution lies in bringing “American language” to the center of literature. Instead of polished British English, he employed Southern dialects and colloquial speech to convey the authentic voices of ordinary Americans. This played a decisive role in establishing a distinct American literary identity.

Fourth, for immigrants and international students, Twain’s works serve as excellent texts for understanding the American mindset—its humor, love of freedom, and skepticism toward authority. The individualism, adventurous spirit, and questioning of social norms characteristic of American society are vividly embodied in Huck Finn’s journey.

Fifth, at the same time, Twain did not conceal America’s darker history—slavery, racism, and moral hypocrisy. Rather than glorifying America, his works provide a critical lens through which to understand it. For readers from other cultures, this enables a deeper and more balanced insight.

2. Younghill Kang (1898–1972)

First, Younghill Kang was born in 1898 during the Korean Empire and immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. As a young man from colonized Korea and one of the early Korean international students in America, he stood at the intellectual crossroads of East and West. His experience as an outsider within American society became the defining background of his literary world.

Second, his representative novel The Grass Roof is strongly autobiographical, depicting the coming-of-age story of a Korean youth and his journey to study in America. In East Goes West, he delicately portrays the cultural conflicts and identity confusion experienced by immigrants in a new land.

Third, Kang’s literary contribution lies in introducing an authentic Asian voice into American literature. He was not merely a provider of exotic subject matter; rather, he fused Eastern philosophical reflection with Western literary style, opening a new literary horizon. His works reveal both the inclusiveness and the exclusiveness of American society.

Fourth, for immigrants and international students, his novels function as a mirror. The loneliness, discrimination, and tension between ideals and reality felt in a foreign culture remain deeply relevant today. His writings help readers understand the psychological and cultural struggles of adapting to American society.

Fifth, at the same time, his works demonstrate that America is not a monolithic culture but a multilayered space where diverse ethnicities and ideas intersect. Through his perspective, readers come to see America not only through the lens of the mainstream, but through the eyes of one who lives at the margins.

3. John Steinbeck (1902–1968)

First, John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas, California. Growing up in an agricultural region, he witnessed firsthand the suffering of laborers during the Great Depression. These experiences formed the foundation of his socially engaged literary realism.

Second, his major works include The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden. In particular, The Grapes of Wrath exposes the structural injustices of American capitalism by portraying the lives of migrant farmers during the Great Depression.

Third, Steinbeck’s literary contribution lies in bringing the voices of the socially marginalized to the center of literature. He emphasized human dignity and communal solidarity, and in 1962 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Fourth, for international students and immigrants, his works provide insight into the economic realities and class structures of American society. America may be known as a land of opportunity, yet his novels reveal that it is also a space marked by fierce competition and inequality.

Fifth, Steinbeck evokes universal empathy by portraying human suffering and hope in ways that transcend national boundaries. Through his works, readers confront not only the historical context of American society but also fundamental questions about human existence.

Mark Twain portrayed the American spirit of freedom and humor; Younghill Kang illuminated the inner life and cultural conflicts of the immigrant; and John Steinbeck depicted the suffering and solidarity of the socially marginalized. Though each writer approached America from a different angle, all three embedded the truths of a complex society within their literature.

For immigrants and international students, their works are more than reading material—they are cultural gateways and training grounds for reflective thought. If history and political theory explain the “structure” of America, literature reveals the “heart” of its people.

To immerse oneself in the worlds of these three writers is to travel into the inner landscape of American society. Literature crosses borders, transcends language, and deepens our understanding of humanity. And it is precisely there that the true joy of American literature begins. ***

February 19, 2026
 
 

At Sungsunjae (崇善齋)

{Solti}

한국어 번역: https://www.ktown1st.com/blog/VALover/348441