Am+Lit+I

**__American Literature I__**

//All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.// --T. K. Whipple, //Study Out the Land//


 * **Syllabus for Spring 2012** : [[file:ghc - 2131 syll spr 2012.rtf]]
 * **Themes and Timeline** : [[file:ghc - 2131 themes and timeline.rtf]]
 * __** [|Brief Timeline of American Literature and Events (from Dr. Campbell at WSU)] **__
 * === [|Guide to Early American Literary Movements and Authors (from Dr. Campbell at WSU)] ===

//__**The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles**__//__**, by John Smith**__

 * [|Smith's Explorations of the James River]
 * [|1632 Engraving of Pocahontas Saving Smith]
 * [|Smith's Map of Virginia (PDF)]
 * [|Map of Smith's 1608 Explorations (after his release by the Powhatans)]

__**//Of Plymouth Plantation//, by William Bradford **__

 * [|The Pilgrim Hall Museum's Brief Outline of the Bradford's Journal]
 * [|Front page of Bradford's Journal]
 * [|1677 Map of New England]
 * [|The Plymouth Colony Archive Project]
 * [|Map of Native Tribes of New England]
 * [|"Sexual Misconduct in Plymouth Colony" (including Granger's case), from the Plymouth Colony Archive Project]
 * [|Pequot War Summary, with Map]

__**//New English Canaan//, by Thomas Morton**__

 * [|1621-1630 Timeline, Featuring Map of Mass. Bay and Depiction of Morton's Maypole]
 * [|Boston Globe Article celebrating Morton's Contributions to the Area]
 * [|A History of Morton and Merrymount at New England Folklore]
 * [|University of Glasgow's Americana Collection, Including a page from New English Canaan]

__//A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson //__

 * [|Description of Some Important Sites Described in the Narrative, from UMass]
 * [|Cover of the Narrative, from a 1773 Edition]
 * [|Mary Rowlandson Home Page, featuring a map of the Journey]

__**Hannah Dustan**__

 * [|Monument to Hannah Dustan in Boscawen, New Hampshire, Where She Is Believed to Have Killed 10 Natives]
 * [|Historical Marker in Boscawen]
 * [|Website Memorializing Dustan and Her Family]

__ //Letters from an American Farmer//, by Crevecoeur __

 * [|Images from Early America, including 1769 Charleston Posting for Slave Sale]
 * [|Slave Trade Statistics (from the University of Dayton)]
 * [|Long Island University's //Journey from Slavery to Freedom//]
 * [|Electronic Text (UVA)]
 * [|First Edition (1782) of LfaAF]
 * [|Map of Revolutionary War-Era America]

__**"Rip Van Winkle," by Washington Irving**__

 * __[|N.C. Wyeth's illustrated version, from the 1920s]__
 * __[|Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre Version of "RVW"]__
 * <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">__[|1896 Short Film Based on "RVW"]__
 * <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">__[|Image of RVW from Nineteenth Century]__

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">__"Young Goodman Brown, " by Nathaniel Hawthorne__

 * [|The Trial and Hanging of Martha Cory for Witchcraft]
 * [|University of Missouri Law School's Salem Witchcraft Trial Page]
 * [|Timeline of the Salem Witch Trials]
 * [|Arrest Warrant for Sarah Cloyce, for Witchcraft]

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">__//The Pioneers// and //The Last of the Mohicans//, by James Fenimore Cooper__

 * [|Statue of Cooper in Cooperstown, New York]
 * [|JFC Society's Introduction to Cooper, Featuring Guides to the Leatherstocking Tales]
 * [|JFC Society's Guide to Cooper's Plots and Characters]
 * [|UVA Guide to //The Pioneers//, Featuring Brief Analysis of Natty Bumpo (Hawkeye)]

__<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"The American Scholar," by Ralph Waldo Emerson __

 * [|Online Text of the Essay]
 * [|Emerson at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
 * [|Emerson at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

<span style="color: #cc2c2c; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">__**//A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass//, by Frederick Douglass**__

 * [|PBS Biographical Sketch of Douglass]
 * [|Short Discussion of the "Sandy" Section of Douglass's Narrative]
 * [|Copy of an 1845 edition of Douglass's Narrative, from the UNC American South Project]
 * [|Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress]
 * [|PBS: History Detectives: Slave Songs (Narrative Chapter II)]
 * [|Douglass National Historic Site in D.C.]
 * [|Ad for 1840 Slave Auction in New Orleans]
 * [|Virginia Slave Auction - Slave Inspection]

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">__Slavery and John Brown: Grimke, Emerson, Thoreau__

 * [|Text of Thoreau's "Plea"]
 * [|Text of Union Song about Brown ("John Brown's Body")]
 * [|Article and Slideshow ("American Martyr, American Terrorist") about Brown, from the Washington Post]
 * [|Historian Howard Zinn Commerates the 150th anniversary of the Harper's Ferry Raid]
 * [|Article by Tony Horwitz that compares the Harper's Ferry Raid to 9/11]
 * [|Short Biography of Brown, from PBS]
 * [|Map of Slave/Free States in America, 1789-1858]
 * [|Atlanta Slave Auction in 1864]
 * [|PBS's "Slavery and the Making of America"]
 * [|"Slavery in Antebellum Georgia," from the New Georgia Encyclopedia]
 * [|Virginia Slave Auction - Slave Inspection]

__<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Walt Whitman __

 * [|Whitman at the Academy of American Poets]
 * [|The Whitman Archive]
 * [|Whitman's Edited Copy of "O Captain, My Captain"]
 * [|Leaves of Grass Exhibit at Library of Congress]

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">__//Walden//, by Henry David Thoreau__

 * [|Annotated //Walden//, from the Thoreau Reader]

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">__**//Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl//, by Harriet Jacobs**__
 * [|Reward Poster for Jacobs]
 * [|Jacobs's Tombstone in Cambridge, Massachusetts]
 * [|1867 Letter from Jacobs to Ednah Dow Cheney, from Edenton]
 * [|PBS Biographical Sketch of Jacobs]
 * [|University of Virginia Documents Related to Jacobs]
 * [|1861 Edition of Incidents, from the UNC Archives]

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> __Edgar Allan Poe__

 * [|"The Raven," from the Simpsons]
 * [|Climactic Scene from Roger Corman's 1964 Version of the Masque of the Red Death]
 * [|Poe Society Homepage]

<span style="color: #800000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">__**<span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Significant Terminology **__
 * Antebellum Era:** The Antebellum Era in America extends roughly from the founding of the Republic to the beginning of the American Civil War. It is characterized by the beginning and expansion of the Industrial Revolution (particularly in the North), the expansion of slavery (particularly in the South), and the westward expansion of the American Frontier.


 * Bildungsroman**: (German for "formation novel) a genre that deals with the development and growth of a young person, usually from youth/adolescence to maturity/adulthood. The bildungsroman focuses on the coming of age of the protagonist and the experiences and changes that mark this development.These narratives are frequently autobiographical.


 * Captivity Narrative**: a story of a person or people captured by uncivilized or savage enemies. The stories often feature a violent capture, followed by a period of captivity characterized by hardship and deprivation. The captivity frequently ends with the main character's restoration and redemption. For further information, including Richard Slotkin's influential definition, see [|http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/captive.htm]


 * Colonialism**: the production and maintenance of colonies in one area by people (or government) from another geopolitical area, for the purposes of economic gain, expansion of power and property, religious conversion, and/or refuge. Sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the colonizing body, resulting in a set of complex relationships between the controlling area and the colony as well as between colonists and the indigenous population. The interactions and relationships caused by colonialism are varied and multi-faceted, with colonizers, colonists, and indigenous populations often having equally powerful influences on one another. The colonial era in the United States extends approximately from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Revolutionary War that began 10 years later.


 * Domestic Fiction**: genre popularized in the eighteenth century and nineteenth centuries. The focus of domestic fiction is on the family and home; female vulnerability is a key plot device; the plot emphasizes female empowerment and triumph and foregrounds emotion (and often tragedy); and it works to demonstrate the triumph of Christian virtue.


 * Epistolary Novel**: a novel in which the narrative is carried forward via a series of documents, often letters. This form has the advantage of giving the author an opportunity to present feelings and reactions without the intrusion of the author. It also lends a sense of realism because of its imitation of the mechanisms of real life and of immediacy because the letters seem to be written in the midst of action.


 * Free Verse**: a form of poetry that refrains from meter, rhyme, and other musical patterns. What free verse may be free of is arguable; however, by the nineteenth century important American poets such as Whitman and Dickinson were not only willing to use blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), but were able to set aside traditional forms such as rhyme, meter, and regular rhythm, which had been significant (if not essential) components of poetry for centuries.


 * Frontier**: a geographical and political space between civilization and wilderness, thus existing as a fringe or boundary area. In his famous 1893 essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" Frederick Jackson Turner argues that the frontier has been the dominant influence in American history. While Turner's contention is debatable, what is indisputable is the fact that up till 1890, when all the free lands had generally been claimed, the steady westward movement of the frontier was a major aspect of American history.


 * Gothic**: a genre of fiction first developed in Europe and America in the second half of the eighteenth century that combines elements of magic, mystery, horror, and romance. Setting and story are often as important as character in the gothic, and the atmosphere is usually of a brooding and unknown terror that creates suspense and melodrama in the narrative. Extreme emotional states, and the thrill of experiencing them, are characteristic of the gothic, as are the supernatural, hauntings and ghosts, death and decay, madness, and dark secrets.


 * Noble Savage**: an expression of the notion that primitive human beings are naturally good, and that whatever evil they develop is the product of the corrupting action of civilization. The phrase suggests an idealized image of natural human nobility and the state of nature in general. Such idealizations were often used in depictions of Native Americans in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.


 * Slave Narrative**: biographical and autobiographical stories about the experience of slavery (and often the escaping from it). Beginning in 1789 with the publication of Olaudah Equiano's //The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano// and continuing through the WPA collection of oral narratives in the 1930s, over six thousand accounts of slave life were documented. For further information see [|http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/slave.htm] as well as [|UNC's slave narrative collection].

Transcendentalists believed in living close to nature and taught the dignity of manual labor. They strongly felt the need of intellectual companionship and emphasized spiritual living. Every person's relationship to God was to be established directly by the individual, rather than through a ritualistic church. They held that human beings were divine in their own right, an opinion in opposition to Puritanical New England tradition. As a result, self-trust and self-reliance were to be practiced at all times, because to trust the self was really to trust the voice of God speaking intuitively in all of us.
 * Transcendentalism**: a philosophical movement that began in America early and mid-eighteenth century. Transcendentalism is defined by a reliance on intuition and the conscience, and a transcending of physical and empirical limitations through that reliance. Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott were Transcendentalism's chief American proponents.


 * Typology**: a theory of history that studies the allegorical symbols of the Bible and reads them as precursors for later events; for example, typology suggests that Jonah is an early type of, or precursor to, Christ. Originally used to connect the Old and New Testaments, groups such as the Puritans used typology to directly connect themselves and their situations and experiences to the larger narrative of Christianity.

<span style="color: #800000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Response Paper Topics**__ 1: John Smith has been viewed both as a self-aggrandizing and inaccurate historian and as the savior of the Virginia colony and friend to the Native Americans. What is your perspective on Smith? Defend your position through textual quotations and analysis. **[Text from 1.11; Response Due 1.18; 500 words]**

2: What is William Bradford's vision of "America," at least the America of the Puritan settlement in New England? What does he cite as the biggest threat to the achievement of this vision? Define his vision through textual quotations and analysis. **[Text from 1.18-23; Response Due 1.25; 500 words]**

3: Taking their inspiration from the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament, Puritans such as Bradford envisioned their settlement as a "City on the Hill" (Matthew 5:14). Thomas Morton was clearly seen as a threat to that dream. How did he and his followers differ from the Puritans? Is he more sympathetic in his own voice than in Bradford's depiction of him? **[Text from 1.25; Response Due 1.30; 500 words]**

4: How does Mary Rowlandson shape her experience through Biblical stories and theology? Look especially at her language choice, the structure of her narrative, her editorial asides, and her depictions of Natives and Americans. **[Text from 1.30-2.6; Response Due 2.8; 500 words]**

5: What political ideas do you find embedded in Crevecouer's seemingly simple narrative of an American farmer? Think especially about the nature of American character and how that relates to views about slaves, immigrants, land, labor, and government. **[Text from 2.13-15; Response Due 2.20; 500 words]**

6: "Rip Van Winkle" is, in multiple ways, a story about independence and freedom, and of the gaining of it, in terms of both the personal and public. What are the signs, signals, and meanings of freedom and independence in the story? What does it mean in the story to be free and independent? Is there any relationship in the story between the community's past, symbolized by Henry Hudson and his crew, and the promise of the new republic, symbolized by the American flag and the election? **[Text from 2.15; Response Due 2.22; 500 words]**

7: “Sleepy Hollow” is a story that is very concerned with the telling of stories, and the meanings and uses of stories. What powers and effects do stories and tales have within "Sleepy Hollow"? How does the story call attention to itself as a constructed text and accentuate this made/controlled aspect of stories and storytelling? **[Text from 2.20-22; Response Due 2.27; 500 words]**

8: How does Hawthorne depict the Puritans in "Young Goodman Brown"? How does his depiction differ from the Puritans' own representations of their community? Look particularly at his word choice and his use of the forest and the "fellow traveler." **[Text from 3.12; Response Due 3.14; 500 words]**

9: In //The Pioneers// and //The Last of the Mohicans//, what is Cooper's image of the American frontier? What does it represent in his work? Are there any heroes in these narratives? **[Texts from 3.14-3.21; Response Due 3.26; 500 words]**

10: How does Douglass try to define, and persuade the reader of, the horrors, problems, and pains of slavery? How does he attempt to remove himself from them in the //Narrative//? **[Text from 3.26-4.4; Response Due 4.4; 500 words]**


 * Use Emerson's "American Scholar" to define the values and meaning of American individualism. **[N/A for Spring 2012]**

11: In the "Spring" chapter of //Walden//, Thoreau says that "there is nothing inorganic," and he works to connect humanity to nature and the natural world. How does he make this connection, and why/how is spring such a clear example of it for him? **[Text from 4.4; Response Due 4.11; 500 words]**

12: Slave narratives written by males often emphasize the physical brutality of slavery, and the journey from this brutality to a realization of manhood and freedom. Jacobs, though, focuses more on traditionally domestic concerns such as home life and family, and how slavery corrupts and damages them. How does her focus on these concerns work as an indictment of the system of slavery as a whole? **[Text from 4.9-11; Response Due 4.16; 500 words]**

13: In Poe's work he is telling versions and variations of ghost stories, a genre that has grown into gothic and horror fiction. Use one or two of his texts to define the characteristics of the horror story. What elements in each text are frightening, or are meant to be frightening? Are they frightening for modern audiences? Why or why not? **[Texts from 4.23; Response Due 4.25; 500 words]**

14: What does America and being an American mean to Walt Whitman? Why does he value it? Pay close attention to his poetry to answer this question, in terms of themes, images, and form. **[Texts from 4.25; Response Due 4.30; 500 words]**

15: Does Dickinson's poetry differ from your expectations of poetry? Begin by defining your assumptions about poetry, and then note how she exemplifies or defies those assumptions. What makes her writing poetry? **[Texts from 4.30; Response Due 4.30; 500 words]**

**__Research Paper Topics__** 1: John Brown was one of the most controversial, intriguing, and polarizing figures of his time, viewed variously as a terrorist, a freedom-fighter, an abolitionist hero, and a delusional fanatic. Write an analytical biography of Brown that focuses on his political activities in the late 1840s and 1850s, including his actions in "Bleeding Kansas" as well as his raid on the armory at Harper's Ferry, which led to his hanging. This paper should incorporate at least three outside scholarly or professional sources and should be 1,000 words.

2: The institution of slavery existed in North America for approximately 300 years, and the practice of chattel slavery/slavery-for-life existed from 1654 until 1865. Select a significant incident in the history of slavery and, using several outside sources, provide an analytical overview of the incident (800 words). To accompany your written overview, include a visual document that is indicative of the contemporary culture of slavery. Examples of significant incidents include the 1857 Dred Scott case, Nat Turner's 1831 slave insurrection, the //Amistad// revolt and subsequent court case in the last 1830 and early 1840s, or the 1811 German Coast Uprising in Louisiana. Examples of accompanying visual documents include wanted posters for Turner, legal or fiscal documentation concerning slaves, and imagery of slave auction sites.

3: Michael Mann's //The Last of the Mohicans// is deeply engaged with Cooper's notions about, and concerns with, the frontier and colonial/American interactions with Native Americans. A number of other films have also engaged with ideas that are important in the course; //The Scarlet Letter// (1995), //The Patriot// (2000), //Pocahontas// (1995), //The New World// (2005), and //Amistad// (1997) are just a few examples. Select one of these films and then, using several professional/scholarly resources, demonstrate and analyze how the film's narrative explores and exemplifies one of the major concepts that we have dealt with in this course. Examples include colonialism, the noble savage, and European/Native interaction in //The New World// or //Pocahontas//, the slave narrative in //Amistad//, typology and biblical imagery in //The Scarlett Letter//, or notions and images of the forging of an American identity in //The Patriot//. This paper should be 1,000 words and should consciously and explicitly avoid plot summary.

4: Beginning in February of 1692 and continuing for the next 12 to 15 months, the Salem Witch Trials mark one of the most intriguing and troubling periods in American history, in part because they resulted in the arrest of over 100 people and the conviction and execution of 20 of those arrested. Write an overview of the Salem Witch Trials that includes an explanation of the use of spectral evidence in the trials and that highlights one or two of the major figures involved (such as an accused witch, a judge, or an important religious or community figure). Incorporate into the paper at least one visual document related to the trials, such as an arrest warrant or a contemporary depiction of the trials. This paper should be approximately 1,000 words in length and should avoid a simple summary of the chronology of the trials.

5: Before the Virginia Company succeeded in its colonial attempts with the 1607 group that included John Smith, there was an earlier English attempt at colonization in America, led by Sir Walter Raleigh. The story of the “lost colony” of Roanoke, and the mystery of its disappearance, has intrigued scholars for centuries, and continues to do so. Research this colonial effort and, in a research paper, explain why and how the colony was formed, as well as what it looked like and who the important figures were. Then, explore one or two of the theories about what happened to the colony, and any evidence that supports those theories. Incorporate into the paper at least one visual document related to the colony. This paper should be approximately 1,000 words in length.

__SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER__** (Paper that received an "A" grade in Spring 2010):