1

Tom Sawyer

Image: Daniel Chekalov

We’ll start with an American classic . If Mark Twain is considered "the Father of American Literature" , then it would also be fair to consider Tom Sawyer as the father of many great literary characters. And while it is true that "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" was heavily overshadowed by its sequel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", we have decided to choose Tom over Huck mostly because he was Mark Twain’s first and perhaps most iconic character.

Tom is introduced in the novel as an orphan boy who lives with his Aunt Polly in Missouri. Characterized by his penchant for avoiding work, Tom often uses his cunning and wits to skip school and chores. Perhaps his most famous feat is convincing the neighborhood kids that painting Polly’s fence was immense amounts of fun, and charging them for the privilege of doing his busy work.

2

Captain Ahab

Image: Austin Neill

Herman Melville tackled the issues of fanaticism and the battle between humankind and nature in his 1851 masterpiece "Moby Dick". In that sense, the character Melville chose as a vessel to portray these themes is definitively Captain Ahab, the frantic and monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship Pequod , hellbent on capturing the great white whale Moby-Dick.

While Ahab's obsession is fueled by revenge (since the whale bit off his leg), many critics observe how the captain’s mind doesn’t allow for any other feeling other than his mindless obsession with catching Moby-Dick. In the end, this hatred makes him forget to care for himself and his crew, and in their final battle, the whale drags Captain Ahab’s body beneath the sea.

3

Jack Torrance

Image: Luis Villasmil

Immortalized by Jack Nicholson’s superb performance in the 1980 film adaptation of "The Shining", Jack Torrance is arguably the tortured main character of this iconic horror masterpiece. Jack is a down-on-his-luck writer who gets hired as the winter caretaker of the fictional Overlook Hotel, a historical location in the Colorado Rockies.

Much like Captain Ahab, a big part of "The Shining" focuses on Jack’s fight against his own demons. However, where the Captain fails Torrance succeeds: While the dark presence that rules the Overlook possesses him and makes him attack his family, Jack overcomes these manipulations and sacrifices himself in order to save his wife and son.

4

Hester Prynne

Image: Debby Hudson

Hester Prynne might be the very first American heroin : The protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "The Scarlet Letter" faces public humiliation and the disdain of her fellow residents of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, who force her to wear a red "A" on her clothes after committing the sin of adultery.

Yet, Hester always maintains her dignity and love for her daughter Pearl throughout the rest of her life. In the end, the red "A" that decorates her tombstone is not a reminder of her transgressions, but a monument to her determination.

5

Ignatius J. Reilly

Image: mana5280

Ignatius J. Reilly, the bumbling protagonist of "A Confederacy of Dunces", is no hero. He is more of a man-child, an unemployed and unpleasant buffoon whining about the lack of morality in his birthplace, the beautiful city of New Orleans. However, there’s no denying that Ignatius is a wonderfully crafted character and an essential part of what makes John Kennedy Toole’s novel so unforgettable.

"A Confederacy of Dunces" is, undeniably, a unique book: Its characters are as particular and hilarious as the bizarre situations in which they constantly find themselves. In that regard, Ignatius is the perfect protagonist for this unparalleled masterpiece.

6

Philip Marlowe

Image: Michelle Ding

What image comes to mind whenever you hear the phrase "private detective"? Do you picture a sullen man dressed in a beige overcoat and matching fedora , immersed in intense inner monologues about unsolved cases? Well, if that’s the case, you can thank iconic American author Raymond Chandler for creating the quintessential private detective, Philip Marlowe.

Immortalized by the great Humphrey Bogart in the film "The Big Sleep", this chainsmoking detective is one of pop culture’s most iconic characters and one that has endured as a symbol throughout its 90 years of history.

7

Atticus Finch

Image: David Veksler

Just like Philip Marlowe, many consider Atticus Finch to be the quintessential American lawyer : After all, his character is defined by his honesty and dedication to justice. However, the depth of this character from Harper Lee’s "To Kill a Mockingbird" is not only determined by his morality, but for the unconditional love he feels for his two children, Scout and Jem.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" tells the story of the Finch family, which is intertwined with the prejudice-filled trial of Tom Robinson. Atticus acts as Tom’s defense attorney, as he battles the hateful mob mentality of this 30’s Alabama town.

8

The March sisters

Image: micheile henderson

It would feel wrong to separate the four March sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy - from Louisa May Alcott’s iconic novel "Little Women", so we have decided to include multiple characters in this entry. Alcott’s masterpiece describes the lives of these four sisters and focuses on their passage into womanhood.

Set in 19th century Massachusetts, "Little Women" is considered to this day to be one of the cornerstones of American literature . Not only that, many believe that the author was able to create a new form of sentimental literature with this book.

9

Blanche Dubois

Image: Lokesh Anand

Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire" proves itself to be a gemstone of American literature just by the genius in its title: While it might seem completely objective, referring to a real-life New Orleans streetcar line named "Desire", it also perfectly describes the unstoppable passion that involves the characters of this play.

In that regard, this play’s protagonist, Blanche Debois, is definitively unforgettable: A stunning yet down-on-its-luck Southern Belle who moves to her sister’s place in New Orleans. She is considered one of the most iconic characters in theater and was played on uncountable occasions.

10

Dorothy Gale

Image: ActionVance

We’ll end this article with one of the most popular American characters in our country’s history. Few characters are as iconic in pop culture as Dorothy Gale is: Immortalized by Judy Garland’s unforgettable performance, Dorothy’s trip to the wonderful land of Oz will forever be a part of American culture and history.

Perhaps the reason why this character is so memorable is the fact that, at the time when L. Frank Baum’s original book was published, Dorothy seemed to be just like every other American girl living on a farm. In a way, millions of American children were able to join Dorothy throughout her trip through the yellow brick road.

1

Snap the Whip - 1872

Image: Winslow Homer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Winslow Homer was a self-taught artist from Boston, best known for his Civil War paintings, which he created at the request of Harper's Weekly magazine. But after the war, Homer moved to a totally different subject matter: childhood. The artist painted the life of American children as a world unto itself, where adults seemed to have no influence.

Homer's children, like the ones depicted in Snap the Whip , can be compared to similar literary characters of the time, like Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer . They are potential America, the stock from which renewal will spring in the aftermath of the Civil War: young, strong, quick-witted, practical, and without pretense. The piece can now be viewed at The Met in New York City.

2

Whistler’s Mother - 1871

Image: James McNeill Whistler, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was a painter mainly active during the American Gilded Age and a leading proponent of the motto "art for art's sake." Whistler’s best-known piece is a painting entitled Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: The Artist’s Mother . While it is a portrait of his mother, the identity of the woman, according to the artist, should be of no interest to the viewer, only the formal layout of grays and blacks.

For Whistler, art was not about moral instruction or storytelling but, instead, about formal perfection. He believed that artists should not simply replicate what they see in nature but express their emotional response to it. Art should be filled with sentiment, not sentimentality. These ideas formed the basis of the Aesthetic Movement of the 1870s and 1880s and influenced several American artists.

3

Madame X - 1884

Image: John Singer Sargent, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

It may seem totally innocent to us today, but in the late 19th century, this piece was a true scandal. Madame X , by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), is a portrait of Virginie Gautreau, a young woman born in New Orleans who moved to Paris after her father’s death. There, she married a wealthy man twice her age and became the talk of the town, due to her independent character and her alleged infidelities.

Virginie posed for Sargent, the world's most sought-after portrait painter of his time, and the work turned out to be as rebellious, elegant, and striking as its model. Sargent always thought that this was his masterpiece, but the public hated it. Shortly before his death, he donated the painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, saying, "I suppose it is the best thing I have done."

4

The Child’s Bath - 1893

Image: Mary Cassatt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mary Cassatt (1845-1926) was not only one of the foremost American Impressionists but also an outstanding woman painter of the 19th century. She was raised and initially trained in Philadelphia before moving to Paris, where she befriended prolific Impressionists like Edgar Degas. However, Cassatt’s subject matter was very different from that of her French counterparts. She depicted a distinct world, drawn from her own strong family interests: sociable encounters over tea, fashionable women in theaters or drawing rooms, and mothers with their babies.

For example, The Child's Bath not only reflects Cassatt’s technical ability but also serves as a testament to her exploration of motherhood and female roles . Her approach succeeds in capturing everyday life, and the painting is remarkable for its composition and use of color. This piece, like many of her works, stands as a reminder of the value of small, deeply meaningful moments that make up culture and life in all its complexity.

5

American Gothic - 1930

Image: Grant Wood, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Perhaps one of the most famous houses in America is located in Eldon, a tiny community in southern Iowa. Contrary to what one might think, no one of distinction, notoriety, or power has ever lived in this house. Its fame is owed entirely to artist Grant Wood (1891-1942), who used it in the background of his painting American Gothic .

Wood enlisted his sister Nan to pose as the woman and recruited a dentist from Cedar Rapids, B. H. McKeeby, as the man. The painting won a prize in Chicago in 1930 and was instantly catapulted to national fame. Since then, it has been reproduced and satirized by popular culture to exhaustion and is now one of the most recognizable American paintings. Wood's American Gothic honors those who settled the land and has become an iconic representation of American identity and resilience.

6

Nighthawks - 1942

Image: Edward Hopper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) studied at the New York Institute of Art and Design and worked for many years as a magazine illustrator. Although he didn't particularly enjoy this job, it helped sharpen his compositional skills. Thanks to these influences, Hopper's work has come to typify the American Realism movement. His paintings convey the sense that the events depicted are taking place in front of the viewer in the here and now, as seen in his famous diner scene, Nighthawks .

In this stark, impassive, realist painting, Hopper evokes a powerful sense of urban alienation, highlighting the isolation. The bright fluorescent light in the all-night diner contrasts strongly with the surrounding gloom outside and immediately transports us to a scene from a film noir movie. Exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, Nighthawks is considered one of Hopper's masterpieces and is worth visiting at least once in a lifetime.

7

Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red) - 1949

Image: chummels

Mark Rothko (1903-1970), along with Jackson Pollock, was one of the greatest representatives of American abstraction . He is best known for his color field paintings. Through his work, he sought to achieve an ambitious utopia: to express the most basic universal emotions.

When Rothko painted Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White, and Red) he was arriving at a point of maturity in what was a highly nuanced and distinct visual style. He had abandoned any remaining references to recognizable imagery, and the result is a painting with a great expressive force. Rothko used to say that he preferred to paint large pictures because he wanted to be very intimate and human. In this work, he achieves this immersion entirely through his sensitive use of color.

8

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) - 1950

Image: Simi Iluyomade

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism and is best known for his "drip technique." Pollock's drip method entailed placing a canvas on the floor and then dripping, pouring, and at times throwing paint over its surface. Although his technique appeared to favor chance, the artist stressed that everything in his paintings was fully intentional.

One of his most emblematic works is Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) , which is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. If you ever have the chance to see this piece in person, know that Pollock believed contemplation of his paintings allowed the viewer to access personal and unconscious responses to the modern world. As Pollock advised, the viewer should look passively and "try to receive what the painting has to offer."

9

Twenty Marilyns - 1962

Image: pvdberg

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) started making paintings of Marilyn Monroe shortly after her death. He used a black and white publicity photograph taken by Gene Korman for the 1953 movie Niagara to create a stencil for silk-screen printing, a technique he had adopted for transferring photographic images to canvas. Over the course of four months, Warhol created more than twenty works based on the Korman photograph.

What Warhol called the "assembly line effect" of the repeated image aimed to criticize the supposed uniqueness of the work of art in a world of mass reproduction and mass media. Yet, the repetitive Marilyns are full of small variations, as the paint is applied by hand. Twenty Marilyns is such an iconic work of American art history that, in a 2004 article published in The Guardian , it was named the third most influential piece of modern art in a survey of 500 artists, critics, and other members of the art world.

10

Whaam! - 1963

Image: Eric Koch, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Apart from Andy Warhol, perhaps the greatest exponent of American Pop Art is Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). Lichtenstein was mainly drawn to action and true romance comic strips. Through his depictions of fighter pilots and tearful drowning damsels, he drew attention to the constructed nature of gender roles. Lichtenstein's exaggeration of these gender stereotypes in comic book characters led some critics to recognize his paintings as true works of art.

Whaam! , based on a comic book panel published by DC Comics in 1962, is Lichtenstein's witty and irreverent reaction to the contemporary popularity of Abstract Expressionism. With this piece, the artist attempted to deflate that movement's pomposity by presenting pictorial subject matter based on what was regarded as crass commercial art. Since Whaam! , Lichtenstein was viewed by the public eye as the ultimate American master of Pop Art.

1

Her torch has been replaced

Image: Mateus Maia

Lady Liberty is no longer holding her original torch. The first one, made out of copper and covered in gold leaf, was replaced in 1986 due to extensive damage. The current torch sports a 24-karat gold flame, which gleams in the sunlight by day and is illuminated by torchlights at night.

2

What happened to the original torch?

Image: Epicgenius, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The original torch is on display in the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island. It was removed on July 4, 1984, after leaks from rain and corrosion from the elements damaged it beyond repair. It was replaced in 1986 with the current replica and inaugurated by First Lady Nancy Reagan.

3

The view from the top

Image: Lowe, Jet, creator, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Visitors could originally climb up to a small observation deck inside the Statue of Liberty's torch. However, the structure was damaged in an explosion in 1916, and access to the torch has been closed ever since.

4

Lady Lighthouse

Image: Luke Stackpoole

From 1886 to 1902, the Statue of Liberty served as an official lighthouse, guiding ships and welcoming visitors into New York Harbor with 14 electric lamps housed inside the torch.

5

A gift from France

Image: Albert Fernique, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

To celebrate the centennial of American Independence and the friendship between the American and French nations, the people of France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1886.

6

Gustave Eiffel

Image: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Gustave Eiffel, the very same engineer behind Paris' most famous tower, designed Lady Liberty's inner iron framework. His design allowed the statue to withstand the strong winds and harsh weather conditions in New York Harbor. The entire puddled iron structure was replaced by corrosion-resistant stainless steel in 1986.

7

She wasn't always green

Image: Maarten van den Heuvel

Lady Liberty's outer shell is made out of copper. It originally had a shiny brown color, but exposure to the elements over time caused the copper to oxidize, giving the statue the famous green patina it is known for.

8

The New Colossus

Image: Gautam Krishnan

Emma Lazarus, the famous American author and poet, was inspired by the Statue of Liberty to write a poem titled The New Colossus . Lines from the sonnet are now inscribed on a bronze plaque on the statue's pedestal.

9

A challenging trek

Image: Zoshua Colah

Visitors to the Statue of Liberty's famous crown observation deck must do so by climbing 354 narrow steps. The view from the top, however, sure is worth it!

10

Visitors from the Seven Seas

Image: Laurenz Heymann

Lady Liberty's crown has seven rays or spikes. The number was chosen to mirror the Seven Seas of ancient literature, as well as the seven continents of the world, meaning Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Through this symbol, the Statue of Liberty extends her message of freedom across the globe.

11

Her left hand

Image: Ron Cogswell from Arlington, Virginia, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Besides the torch in her right hand, Lady Liberty is holding a tablet in her left hand. The tablet reads JULY IV MDCCLXXVI . In Roman numerals, that is July 4, 1776, the date of the American Declaration of Independence.

12

Broken chains

Image: Atsme, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Statue of Liberty stands 305 feet from the ground to the tip of her torch, making her one of the tallest statues in the world. At her feet lie broken shackles and chains, symbolizing the abolition of slavery, oppression, and tyranny.