American Literature

Part 1: From Frederick Douglass’ “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” what pro-slavery arguments of its proponents does Douglass refer to or hint at in his narrative? How does he counter the various pro-slavery arguments? Provide quotes and cites to support your assertions. Part 2: What themes (messages, lessons, ideas, or concepts) or motifs (recurrent thematic elements in the work) did you notice within Douglass’ narrative? What do you consider to be the key passages in the narrative? Why are these passages so significant?

Reading Assignment Read Donald Barthleme’s “The School.” (Links to an external site.) Be sure to hit ‘more’ at the end of the first selection. Then read Don DeLillo’s “Videotape.”Preview the document As you explore these short stories, consider the following: https://legacy.npr.org/programs/death/readings/stories/bart.html who are the narrators? which characters from previous readings do they most resemble and why? in what ways are the new characters? what comment does each story make about modern American society? how is humor used by Barthelme to critique society? does Barthelme argue more about life and death, or about instructing the next generation? what’s his main target? if Barthelme is using humor to critique, what is DeLillo’s strategy? does DeLillo argue more about life and death, or social behavior (such as voyeurism!)? what’s his main target? which text do you consider the most experimental and why? do you see similarity in Barthelme’s and DeLillo’s use of children? Discussion Questions: The general questions this discussion aims to answer are: what arguments regarding the condition of modern America do these experimental literary texts express? how does the experimental form of each story impact your reading experience? does experimental literature maintain the aesthetics of traditional literature? why or why not? do Barthelme and DeLillo show progress from the disillusionment of the lost generation?

Hi, I have my essay draft but it needs some corrections like the thesis statement that is underlined on the first page. It needs to be interpretative. The professor notes are through the essay in a little yellow folders. If you can please help me with the corrections. I will appreciate the help. Thank you!

1. Relying on Freytag’s pyramid (p. 851), outline the plot structure of Glaspell’s “Trifles,” and Ives'”The Blizzard.” 2. What are the clues that lead the women in “Trifles” to discover the murder and its motive? 3. Why do the men fail to see the clues that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover? 4. Do you think the women were justified in covering up for Mrs. Wright? 5. What is the significance of the play’s last line, spoken by Mrs. Hale: “We call it–knot it, Mr. Henderson.” 6. What is Neil’s profession in David Ives’ “The Blizzard” and how is it significant? 7. What is Jenny’s view of David’s work? 8. What is the a significance of the valise, “The Blizzard’s” only prop? 8. What happens to the characters at “The Blizzard’s” ending?

Please write an annotated bibliography on obesity with six sources and a explain what the source is about and it’s purpose, how the the source is relevant to the obesity research, the credibility of the source and how you know it’s credible also how did you find the source and PLEASE and a quotation or statistic to each source

Analytical Essay on either a short story or a poem choose one: Option #1 – Short Story We have recently read several short stories. As mentioned in the “Intro to Literature” video in Week 1, these stories are social critiques which present some kind of message (often several messages). With this in mind, I want you to write analytical essay (50pts) that explores ONE interesting theme, symbol, character or concept that you see in the ONE of the stories we’ve read AND make a significant claim as to its point or message. Option #2 – Poetry Pick ONE poem from the “Poems for Essay 1Preview the document” and write an analytical essay in which you make a significant claim about the poem or an aspect of the poem in the thesis and develop and support that claim in your essay. This essay needs to do more than “explain” the poem or simply walk the reader through the poem. Do not write an essay telling me what the poem is “about.” Realize that this essay is essentially the same as Essay #1, except you are using a poem as the text rather than a short story. For Both Options: What do you mean by “significant claim?” The significance refers to the importance of that symbol, the larger point or the meaning, the reason why the author is addressing this idea, or the message that the author is making about society, the social critique. What exactly do you mean by “an analytical essay?” This is an analytical essay, meaning “the examination of something in detail in order to understand it better or draw conclusions from it.” The ultimate goal of your analysis and your essay is to draw ONE MAIN conclusion from your examination and exploration. What is the author trying to say through this theme, symbol, character or concept? What is the author’s message? This is ultimately what makes your essay “significant” and this significance should be presented in your thesis. Realize that all good literature is a “social critique,” meaning that it presents a comment or a critique on society. The key here is that you are not just talking about the text, you are not just presenting random observations about the text and you are not just telling me that a symbol/theme/character/relationship/etc. exists (which, of course, I probably already know). With this type of essay, you are actually presenting a focused argument about the social critique while using the text as support for your argument. PLEASE do not fall in to the trap of simply writing about what happens in the text and not addressing why what happens to the text is significant in the grand scheme of things. How do I come up with a thesis for this essay? In this assignment, I am asking you to “write analytical essay (50pts) that explores ONE interesting theme, symbol, character or concept that you see in the text, AND makes a significant claim as to its point or message” or “write an analytical essay in which you make a significant claim about the poem or an aspect of the poem in the thesis and develop and support that claim in your essay” Although this is called an analytical essay, it is essentially an argument essay. An argument is essentially a “claim with support.” So you will want to look at a text, think of a significant message being made or concept being addressed, and then present an “argument” about that message or concept. An example for a thesis for this type of essay is: The author (insert author’s name) uses X (this would be the interesting theme, symbol, character, concept, relationship, etc) to show/suggest/argue/etc. (choose your favorite) Y (this would be the comment or social critique). You would then go on to “argue” how the author uses X to show Y and why it is significant (you do not have to write your thesis like this, but this should help you see how this “analytical” essay is essentially an “argument” essay). Do I need to use quotes? Yes. You always need to use quotes from the text. Using outside quotes (quotes from sources other than our text) is HIGHLY encouraged – See Using Outside QuotesPreview the document for help with this What other expectations are there for this essay? DO NOT try to read someone else’s analysis of the text; I am only interested in yours. However, feel free to look up unknown words or references and find information about the author. This is a full essay and should contain a snappy title (“Essay #1,” or “Every Little Hurricane” is NOT a good title), an introductory paragraph that contains a hook, background/context and a strong thesis (thesis/claim/controlling central idea); a series of body paragraphs with topic sentences, quotes, and analysis; and a concluding paragraph. It should be approximately 3 pages typed and double-spaced. To upload, click the “Submit Assignment” button. Then click “Choose File” to upload a file (doc, docx, or pdf) from your computer and then click “Submit Assignment.” Leave a comment if you have to tell me about the assignment. Please DO NOT post your essay in the “comments” section.

Narratives & Archives Project In this project, you will explore important questions about how historical memory, historical archives, and historical narratives are constructed. This document outlines your process and provides specifications for the deliverable that you will create. This deliverable may be a written document (e.g. a paper of 1000-1500 words), or you can use another format, as discussed below. Process You will interview three people in your life and ask each of them to define five documents/artifacts they might select to preserve to represent the present-day for a historian 500 years in the future. Revisit “thought experiment #1” from the introductory week to guide your conversation. Thought experiment #1: Imagine you were able to select five primary sources representing your community to this future historian. This is like a time capsule. These primary sources could be all sorts of artifacts — clothing, tools, text messages, newspapers, songs, TV/film, artwork, etc. “Your community” can be your family, your friend group, your neighborhood, your workplace, etc. What are the five things you would choose to include in the archive for this future historian? As you conduct these interviews, you will take notes. Make sure you clearly identify the five artifacts selected by each interviewee and ask them why they chose each one of those artifacts.. By the end of these three interviews, you will have an imaginary “archive” of 15 artifacts: 5 artifacts from each of your 3 interviewees. There is exactly one restriction: your interviewees may not be your fellow students in this course, nor students who took this course with me (Prof. Poole) in the past two semesters. Otherwise, there are no restrictions — the interviewees can be any age, in any relationship to you, and, while your deliverable for this project must be written in English, you can conduct the interviews in any language. Deliverable (what you will create and submit to earn your grade!) Your deliverable for this project will have two component parts: • a recap of your three interviews, listing the five sources each interviewee selected and briefly describing the interviewee’s reason for each selection. • an analysis of how an imaginary future historian might use the “archive” of sources selected by your three interviewees to write the history of 2020. This analysis has four components, outlined below. Note on Format Typically, the deliverable is a written document, approximately 1000-1800 words, but I am open to other forms, such as a PowerPoint presentation with embedded audio, a Padlet, a video “show and tell” presentation, or other forms of your choice. I have developed the following guidelines assuming a written document. Specifications for Deliverable Part 1: Recap Recap the interviews. Briefly, introduce your first interviewee in 1-2 sentences, and then list the five artifacts they chose, including 1-2 sentences summarizing why they chose each artifact. Then, repeat that for your second and third interviewees. This should look like a list, with three headings and five items under each heading. Part 2: Analysis Consider how the future historian in 2520 might construct a narrative about 2020 based on the artifacts your interviewees chose. Your analysis should address the following four factors: LIMITATIONS: What might be left out of the future historian’s narrative because of the limitations of this archive? What are the “gaps” in this archive? (1-2 paragraphs) INTERPRETATIONS: Identify one artifact from your archive that could be interpreted in at least two different ways. Briefly explain each of those ways. What might lead the future historian to choose one interpretation over the other? (1-2 paragraphs) MISREPRESENTATIONS: What might the historian inaccurately represent in their narrative of 2020, because they’re using only this archive to know about 2020? Identify some specific artifacts in this archive and discuss their potential for misunderstanding/misrepresentation. (1-2 paragraphs) ADDITIONS: Your turn: select five more artifacts from 2020 that you would add to this archive, in hopes that your adding these five artifacts would fill in some of the “gaps” that might lead the historian to misrepresent 2020. Just as you did for your interviewees in the recap section, list your five artifacts with a sentence or two about why you selected each one.

Part 1 and Part 2 should be at least 250 words each. That is why I selected 550 words, so if you could please just break it up as evenly as possible between both parts. ***Part 1: There are quite a few subtopics to choose from within this forum question part 1; you need not address them all. Choose one or a combination of many that speak to you and run with it! In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriett Beecher Stowe uses the character Augustine St. Clare to state a popularly held notion at the time that slavery is worse for the master than for the slave. Discuss your thoughts about this notion. Discuss the concept that slaves are better off with their masters than they would be on their own. Look at how Stowe’s zeal for the subject of anti-slavery and her numerous Biblical references might impact her narrative as a whole. What, if any, qualities make it melodramatic or sentimental? Throughout this work there are overarching ideas about the institution of slavery, slave holders, families, politics and/or the economy. Consider and discuss any or a combination of these topics. ***Part 2: Harriet Jacobs in “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” presents herself as a teenager. Choose and describe some of the challenges Linda Brent faced while she lived under Flint; there are many and they are varied in complexity. Be sure to support your assertions with quotes and cites from the source.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the most popular novel of the nineteenth century. While the novel certainly propelled the abolitionist movement in the nineteenth century, and bolstered support for the abolition of slavery, many 20th and 21st century scholars have criticized the novel for its patronizing portrayals of African American characters. In the short excerpts we have read for our class, discuss either or both of these aspects (abolitionism in the novel and Stowe’s depiction of the African American experience). http://www.gutenberg.org/files/203/203-h/203-h.htm#link2HCH0044

Analyze an aspect of Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, then compare it to another work we have read for Unit 4. I will list below what we read in unit 4 so you can compare it to the “life of a slave girl”: Another thing we read in unit 4 was: Civil Disobedience By Henry David Thoreau 1849 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper2/thoreau/civil.html