Over the years, people have had many different experiences in the United States. Differences in people, era, and many other factors cause a country's ways of life to change, giving us different perspectives on what the United States used to be like. Although the main characters in the novels The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, and The Boys in a Boat, by Daniel James Brown, live completely different lives, they were both able to provide an insight into American experiences, culture, and experiences. the society in which they lived. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To begin with, the two novels described what the American culture in which they each lived was like. In The Color Purple, the protagonist, Celie, was a poor African American girl who was married off to a man, but Celie explained that "he beat me like he beat children" (Walker 22). In American culture during the times Celie worked for her husband, African American men were dominant over African American women. Men treated their wives like slaves even though they were all lower class in America. In The Boys on the Boat, Joe did not grow up in an ideal family as his father told him that “…he would have to leave home. Joe was ten” (Brown 36). Joe's father chose his new wife over his own son. The Great Depression was going on at the time, so many people did everything they could to cut back on expenses, and this was one way to do it. These two books have completely different plots, however they both demonstrate how American culture has had an effect on their lives. Additionally, in each book there is information about American society as it was at the time the story is set. In The Color Purple, it is obvious that whites have priority over African Americans when the mayor's wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia, "...would you like to work for me, be my maid?" (Walker 85). This shows how African Americans in the United States have been treated very poorly by Caucasians. Discrimination and segregation in American society at that time was at an incredible rate and was getting worse and worse as time went by. The company was also seen in The Boys in the Boat when he explained that “it was the fourth year of the Great Depression” (Brown 8). At that time, one in four Americans, ten million people, were out of work. Society in America was in a very unstable state. The amount of stability often changes in each country and this is seen when these two books are compared to each other. Finally, these characters both go through different American experiences. Celie, for example, had very few opportunities in life, so when she got the chance when Shug said, “You'll come back to Tennessee with me,” she immediately accepted (Walker 177). Celie didn't have many choices in life, like many African Americans at the time. During this era African Americans in the United States were in a much lower class and social status. In the book The Boys in the Boat, for example, the young men on the boat had a dream and “…worked harder than ever to come first in the 1936 Berlin Olympics” (Brown 351). The only thing these guys had to do, to make their dreams come true, was to have pure dedication and commitment towards their team. In this generation in America there were many difficulties with money, however people knew that to pursue their dreams and goals they had to work hard and never give up, this was their American experience. It is obvious that everyone has different experiences in their life, the same applies.