ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to assess how representations of homelessness in American literature have “express [ed] and shap[ed] the social context that produced them”. Homelessness in American Literature: Romanticism, Realism, and Testimony looks at literature as a site of ideological conflict over the topic of homelessness and, in turn, intends to examine such related issues as the home, work, charity, and American identity. In the United States, homelessness has played an important role in defining national character and establishing American identity. The chapter shows how the strength, health, and sense of opportunity Whitman and most of the other tramp writers portray contradict the hunger, unemployment, and homelessness that many tramps experienced. Critics frequently address homelessness indirectly or in passing while dealing with related themes such as alienation, exile, escape, rebellion, the city, travel, the other, domesticity, and the home. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
