ABSTRACT
The epigraph by Thomas Aldrich (1895) vividly reflects the hostile anti-immigrant animus that surged across the United States of America by the end of the nineteenth century throughout the early years of the twentieth century. This period was stamped by contravenes rooted in anxieties concerning national identity, class, and genealogy and coupled with the country’s most turbulent events. In addition, industrialization and prosperity along with racist and xenophobic ethos triggered the sense of loss and uncertainty among most Americans who did not seem to heed any light at the end of the tunnel. Such anxieties were not alien to the public discourse of the era that witnessed draconic changes in all facets of life across the country. This chapter offers a thematic historical survey and analysis of the influential and developmental processes of political, social, religious, and economic shifts which have played a dominant role in shaping a new America. More, it sets this historical survey of the era against our examination of racism, materialism, and identity that permeate the novels.
