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LIT 210 AMERICAN LITERATURES TO 1865

Essay 1 on Unit 3

Sounding a Nation: Many oi!"s o# t$" Eig$t""nt$ C"ntu%y &'(

)u" *%iday+ No,"-."% 11 /"i./"(+ .y "-ai/ Su."!t Lin": 210 ou%LastNa-" Essay 1

&4/us "/"!t%oni! %oug$ d%a#ts "-ai/"d as a s"4a%at" atta!$-"nt+ in!/uding %it"%s C$"!7/ist and 2

""% Editing R"s4ons"s o% $a%d !o4i"s o# %oug$ stu## o7ay(

To articulate some of your thoughts about how these early voices speak about American issues of e

pluribus unum, consider two or more voices from our readings in Unit 3, write a three-to-four-pagecomparison/ contrast essay. !heck with me if you have other interests to write on that may re"uire a

different approach.# $espond to our readings, lectures, and discussions in this 3rdUnit overview of the

ways different cultures and voices of eighteenth-century and a few early %&!# America constructpossibilities for defining 'American( e)perience. *hat are their different views of American identity+

!heck the doen suggested topics below. uild a thesis statement that answers a specific aspect of the

following general "uestions %# literary how do aspects of the form imagery, symbols, voice,

storyline# build the dynamics of the content or meaning themes# 0# historical on issues of Americanidentity, how do these different voices compare or contrast in content and form+ That is, compare how

their language use fits the purposes of their writing. oth literary and historical directions re"uire te)tuale)amples and close reading. 1ow does the te)t structure its story of America+ 2f nature and culture+2f American personhood+ s the narrative or poem structured in ways that include or e)clude difference

or that set strong boundaries, and how does their language reflect those inclusions or e)clusions+ That

was various ways of putting the same general "uestion.#

St%u!tu%" Try for a well-structured essay, with %# an intro paragraph that sets up a conte)t for the one-

sentence thesis statement ty4"d in .o/dtoward the end of the paragraph 4 deductive structure or if youwant to try inductive structure, put the bold-font thesis statement in the final paragraph# 0# a set of body

paragraphs that e)plain and give e)amples, drawing on te)tual citations, to support the thesis and 3# a

short concluding paragraph that does more than repeat the intro, suggesting other directions or

implications of the thesis which would first show up here in the inductive approach#. This clearstructure does not mean that the prose has to be stiff. e as lively or wacky as you want, as well as

rigorous in your critical thinking. There is room in literary criticism for personal response as well as

critical analysis.

Logisti!s will edit, grade, and respond to your paper online. 5 be sure to put the e)act spelling of

this heading, 210 ou% Last Na-" Essay 1, as your email6s sub7ect line. ecause of the overload in myinbo), cannot guarantee that you will get credit for your online work unless you make this your sub7ect

line. To read my editing responses, be sure to view my *ord.doc attachment of your edited paper in

Print Layout by clicking that option under the View Menu. f you are having trouble with the electronic

aspects of this assignment8or any other aspects8please talk with me.

R"9ui%"d %it" a s$o%t s"/#",a/uationat the end of the electronic paper file after the *orks !ited#

how did your writing process go what do you feel are the paper6s strengths and weaknesses and whatmight you change about the paper if you only had the time+

R"#"% to t$" guid"/in"s $andout #o% ;%iting and g%ading !%it"%ia

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e.g., social sciences or physical sciences#, as long as you are consistent. :ee the ;iana 1acker >>.#

*o%-at The essay should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins, in type of no less than %>pt. An

optional cover page with your name, the course, the date, and the assignment is ok to add space to the

essay pages#. nclude an original title. Again, the essay should include short, direct "uotations from the

te)ts to support your thesis. ?lenty of "uotations are welcome toward close reading. Use

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Co-.in"+ s"/"!t #%o-+ and=o% !usto-i>" t$" #o//o;ing to4i!s to #it you% o;n int"%"sts< :trive for

close reading of particular te)tual passages. n some "uestions, 6ve made suggestions for e)ampleswhich focus on particular writers, but you can apply almost any "uestion to almost any of the writings. f

you like, you can shape any "uestion as a comparison/ contrast between two writers. ?ick any of these

ways to generate and focus your topic.

n addition to the "uestions below, you may build from the discussion "uestion handouts any "uestion thatrelates to ways that these voices offer e)amples of or e)ceptions to the colonial binary or the ne)us of

e)change as options for relations.

%. !onsider taking seriously Fonathan =dwards6 ':inners in the 1ands of an Angry God.( *hat can you

find of value in his sermon+ $emember that the young =dwards went a long time before his conversion,that he had been genuinely terrified at the threat of sudden death in his fit of illness, and that he was

genuinely delighted to be spared. =dwards is interpreting the natural fact of the occurrence of sudden

deaths as a providential sign, which he then goes on to use as an argument to motivate a certain class of

the individuals in the audience to adopt a certain behavior. 1e sought meaning in his e)perience throughthe religious discourse of his era. s there any way that his discourse can translate into the 0%stcentury+

!onsider comparison/contrast with en7amin @ranklin or 2laudah ="uiano.

0. Fohn *oolman, as a Huaker and as an individual, defied many of the conventional views of his day

and was willing to stand up and take the heat for the things he believed in.

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L. Analye ?atriot and 9oyalist :ongs in terms of how the personal emotional force of the language might

be powered by political and economic factors working through those lyrics.

M. !ompare the poetry of @reneau to the non-fiction of Fefferson or @ranklin. *hat are similar and

different themes, and how does their different use of language and genre affect those themes+ @or

instance, how does Fefferson6s non-fiction approach to a discussion of slavery and its ine"uities differ

from @reneau6s poetic approach to slavery+ Are their different messages attributable in any way to theirdifferent forms+

&. !onsider comparisons and contrasts between one or two of the African American writers and any of

the others in this unit, e)ploring their views on religion, or national identity, or any issues of social 7ustice.

%>. ;iscuss the poetry of ?hyllis *heatley in light of writings on race by one of the other authors in this

unit, e.g. *oolman, Fefferson, @ranklin, ="uiano, or Apess.

%%. !ompare the voices of 5ative American and African American writers in this unit. 1ow are theirthemes and forms similar and different+ @or instance, in discussions of white racism, how do Apess and

="uiano use their language+ *here do they place themselves as narrator in relation to "uestions of race+1ow does each construct himself as an 'authority( on the sub7ect that they author with their words+

%0. n this unit we have discussed rhetorical strategies of 'mastering the master6s discourse( by which

women, minorities, and lower-class whites have sought to make their voices heard. *riters such as@ranklin, Fefferson, *arren, ="uiano, and *heatley have summoned the different rhetorics of religious

discourse, of classical philosophy, of civil lawmaking, of pastoral romance, and of epigrammatic

didacticism, among others, to e)press their messages of human rights, their moral instruction, theirphilosophical contemplations, etc. !hoose two writers from our unit, select specific lines from their

writing, and compare and contrast how they utilie specific discourses to convey their specific purposes.

e sure to map their larger political or cultural pro7ects, and then show how their language, their specific

diction, works toward those pro7ects. !onsider comparing and contrasting not only their strategies, buttheir different effects, successes, and failures, in regard to their specific audiences.

Et%a !%"dit: n no more than two pages, define and discuss any of our themes of colonial ideologycolonial fallacies binary vs. ne)us relations representations of race, class, and gender or another focus

that caught your attention so far, either in historical conte)t or in relation to present-day issues.