In the essay written by Harold Bloom “Dumbing down Americans” and the essay written by Steve Almond, “The Bloom is Off the Mark both writers agree that they share the appreciation and the writing style of the elder writers. They concurred on the idea that writing should be about awakening mercy and discovering dark emotions (pretty much anything that expands you mind). Both writers also agree on the fact that older writers wrote for quality and the younger generation is writing for quantity. Almond says although he has never read a Harry Potter book he agrees with Bloom that it is probably filled with clichés. They difference appears when the have different opinions on writing styles. Almond reports that instead of attacking the writers, he should be excoriating the true opponents of creative enlightenment. Mr. Almond argues that culture discourages creativity not the writers, and deep thought, he thinks that such actions are not profitable. I feel that beliefs on good literature may differ from others. I believe that when reading good literature it should include some of the following characteristics: good literature should have good sentence structure. The ideas have to be good ones, ones that are interesting and engaging. The information must be clear and make sense. The characters have to be believable, and well developed. The writing should definitely be able to capture the reader’s emotions, transfer the experience to the reader. All good stories have to have a setting, a plot; it must show consistency and have some sort of imagery. I think that good literature should be understandable. If the reader can imagine what is going on they will understand it better. I feel that bad literature is a story that rambles, it has no meaning, the characters are not believable, and nothing makes sense.