Heath Anthology

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The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Third Edition
Paul Lauter, General Editor

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Karcher (Temple University)

General Information

Abstract

The syllabus is designed to take full advantage of the multicultural resources offered by the Heath Anthology. Beginning with Native American Traditions and ending with Whitman and Dickinson, reading assignments have been grouped together in a dialogic format to allow for comparing the divergent cultural values, experiences, and perspectives of Native Americans and Europeans; Spanish and English colonizers; Puritan, Spanish, and African captives; Catholics, Puritans, Quakers, and Enlightenment philosophes; African Americans and whites; abolitionists and non-abolitionists; men and women. The syllabus also invites comparisons among various art forms (Native American ritual poetry, slave songs, and Anglo- American formal poetry from the Puritan era through Dickinson; Native American and Mexican American oral tales and Anglo-American short stories in the legendary, romantic, and realistic modes; sermons, essays, autobiographies, captivity narratives, slave narratives, and orations).

Population

Discussion (mostly), with occasional lectures (e.g. at important historical turning points where new concepts have to be introduced, or when dropped threads from the previous week's discussion need to be picked uP) Class size: 35 students; Class level: sophomore to senior (the course is required for English majors and is supposed to be a prerequisite to higher-level literature courses, but due to schedules and availability, many end up taking it late in their course work; the course is also required for education majors and is taken by many others as a humanities elective; in general about 50% of the class consists of English majors)

Bibliography

Required Text: Heath Anthology of American Literature, I

Bibliography of useful texts : On the Zuni, I have used Ruth Benedict's Patterns of Culture (besides Chapter 4 on the Zuni, her discussion of the Kwakiutl potlatch in Chapter 6 is useful for illuminating aspects of the Tlingit and Tsimshian trickster tales, since all three are Pacific Northwest cultures with similar features). Also helpful on the Tlingit is the essay by Laura F. Klein, "Contending with Colonization: Tlingit Men and Women in Change," in Eleanor Leacock and Mona Etienne, eds., Women and Colonization: Anthropological Perspectives. On the Navajo Changing Woman story, Raymond Friday Locke's T he Book of the Navajo is helpful. On Native American traditional literature in general, Paula Gunn Allen's essay "The Sacred Hoop" (available both in her book by that title and in her MLA volume (Studies in American Indian Literature) provides a very useful framework.

On the trickster tales, Barbara Babcock-Abrahams's "'A Tolerated Margin of Mess': The Trickster and His Tales Reconsidered," and the extract from Levi-Strauss, both reprinted in Andrew Wiget, ed., Critical Essays on Native American Literature, are almost indispensable.

On the slave songs, H. Bruce Franklin's The Victim as Criminal and Artist, Chapter 3, provides an excellent starting point. See also Lawrence Levine's chapter on the spirituals in Black Culture and Black Consciousness.

On Caroline Kirkland and Alice Cary, the excellent introductions by Sandra Zagarell and Judith Fetterley are very helpful.

General Pedagogy:

For this course, students are required to write two papers of 5-7 pages each. In addition, they are assigned five or six take-home quizzes in which they are to explicate three pre-selected passages from the readings for the coming class period; on the last of these quizzes, they are free to choose either a poem by Dickinson or a comparable section of a poem by Whitman to explicate. There is also a final essay examination.

Readings & Pedagogy

Introduction

A lecture providing an overview of the course, a review of the debates over the canon that culminated in the Heath Anthology, and a discussion of the attacks on so-called "PC" (on which I invite comments by students)

Unit #1

Native American Traditions (2 sessions):

Readings for Unit #1: Native American Traditions-- Winnebago, Pima, Zuni: pp. 3-7 ("Colonial Period"), 22-40 ("Native American Traditions," "This Newly Created World," "Emergence Song," "Talk Concerning the First Beginning"); 2641-63 ("Native American Oral Poetry," "Sayatasha's Night Chant"); Native American Traditions-- Navajo, Tlingit, Tsimshian : pp. 40-52 ("Changing Woman and the Hero Twins"); 59-66 ("Raven and Marriage," "Raven Makes a Girl Sick")

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #1: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the first half of the semester.

Unit #2

Spanish Colonizers and Native Americans (2 sessions): Readings for Unit#2: Spanish Explorers, Captives, Conquerors: pp. 7-10 ("Colonial Period"); 67-69 ("Literature of Discovery"); 69-80 (Columbus: Journal of the First Voyage to America), 89-99 (Cabeza de Vaca: Relation); 120-31 (Villagra: History of New Mexico) ; Spanish Colonizers and Native Americans: 52-55 ("Coming of the Spanish and Pueblo Revolt," Hopi); 431-32 ("Pueblo Revolt and Spanish Reconquest"); 433-40 (Otermin, "Letter on Pueblo Revolt") ; 756-61 (Report by Delgado) ; 80-88 ("Virgin of Guadalupe")

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #2: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the first half of the semester.

Unit #3

English Colonists in Virginia and New England: (3 sessions)

Readings for Unit #3: English Colonists in Virginia and the Puritan Mission in New England: pp. 10-21 ("Colonial Period"); 146-59 Smith : True Relation, General Historie, "Description of New England," "Advertisements"); 172-76 (Frethorne, Letters) ; 188-99 (Winthrop: "Modell of Christian Charity"); Puritan Colonists and Native Americans: pp. 210-32 Bradford : Of Plymouth Plantation); 317-42 Rowlandson : Narrative of Captivity); Puritan Poetry: 256-60, 272-73, 276 Bradstreet : "Prologue," "Author to Her Book, "Before the Birth," "To My Dear Husband," "Letter to Her Husband," In Memory of My Grandchild"); 295-97 "Bay Psalm Book" and "New-England Primer" ), 304 (Psalm 23); 308, 309 (New England Primer: Alphabet, Verse) Edward Taylor 342-46, 363-65, 366-67, 373-74 ("Huswifery," "Upon Wedlock," "Prologue," "Meditation 26")

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #3: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the first half of the semester.

Unit #4

Colonial Period (5 sessions) Readings for Unit#4: Colonial Period 1700-1800--Varieties of Eighteenth-Century Religious Experience, Puritan and Quaker: 448- 69 ("Colonial Period); 512-16, 545-66 Edwards : "Personal Narrative," "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"); 604-10 Woolman : "Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes"); Who (What) Are Americans?--Revolutionary Ideals and their Contradictions: 890-91, 895-907 Crevecoeur : "Letters from an American Farmer" #3, #9); 957-64, 965-71 Jefferson : Declaration of Independence; Notes on the State of Virginia, Queries 6, 11, 14 [xerox handout], 18); 1042-43, 1059-61, 1067-68 Freneau : "To Sir Toby," "The Indian Burying Ground"; Who (What) Are Americans?--African American Voices: 694- 712 Vassa/Equiano : Interesting Narrative); 712-15, 718, 720-24, 727- 28 Wheatley : "On Whitefield," "On Being Brought from Africa," "To University of Cambridge," "Phillis's Reply," "To Washington," Letter to Occom), 685-94 Prince Hall : "Petition," "Charge to African Lodge"); Who (What) Are Americans?--Native American Voices: 728-35 Occom : "Short Narrative"); 1752-53 ("Issues and Visions"); 1753-60 Apes : "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man"); 1760-69 Boudinot : "Address to the Whites"), 1769-72 Seattle/Suquamish: Speech); Who (What) Are Americans?--Benjamin Franklin, Embodiment of the American Dream: 776-80, 823-81 Franklin , Autobiography)

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #4: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the first half of the semester.

Unit #5

Transition to the Nineteenth Century (1 session)

Readings for Unit#5: Myths, Tales, and Legends: 1214-16 ("Myths, Tales, and Legends"); 1216-22 Schoolcraft : "Mishosha"); 1228-36 (Hispanic Cuentos: "La comadre Sebastiani," "Los tres hermanos"); 1238-39, 1248-60 Irving : "Rip Van Winkle")

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #5: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the first half of the semester. The first paper is due after this session.

Unit #6

Versions of Transcendentalism (2 sessions)

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #6: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the second half of the semester.

Unit#7

Women's Rights and Representations of Women (5 sessions)

Readings for Unit#7: Women's Rights: 1825-26, 1886-90 (S. Grimké : Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, #8); 1580-82, 1604-26 Fuller : Woman in the 19th Century); 1893-95, 1897-99 (Stanton: "Declaration of Sentiments"); 1899-1902, 1903-1904, 1907-1908 Fern : "Hints to Young Wives," "Soliloquy of a Housemaid," "Working- Girls of NY"); 1908-13 Sojourner Truth ); Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women: 2063-65 ("The Flowering of Narrative"); 1322-25, 1333-44, 1362-64 Poe : "Ligeia,""Oval Portrait"); Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women: 2065-69, 2101-2132 Hawthorne : "The Birth-mark," "Rappaccini's Daughter"); Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women: 2286-2307 Kirkland : A New Home); 2596-2613 Cary : "Uncle Christopher's"); Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women: 2400-2404, 2431 note 1, 2438-64 Melville : Encantadas Sketch #8, "Paradise of Bachelors and Tartarus of Maids")

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #7: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the second half of the semester.

Unit #8

Multiple Perspectives on Slavery (4 sessions)

Readings for Unit #8: Slavery and Rebellion: 1781-91 Walker , Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World); 1858-71 Higginson , "Nat Turner's Insurrection"); Slavery through the Eyes of Slaves: 1637-1704 Douglass : Narrative); 2671-74, 2676-79 (Slave Songs: "Lay Dis Body Down," "Steal Away," "There's a Meeting," "Many Thousand Go," "Go Down, Moses," "Didn't My Lord"); Women and Slavery : 1723-50 Jacobs , Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl); 1795-98, 1809-12 Child : "Preface" to Appeal, "Slavery's Pleasant Homes"); A Fictional Perspective on Slavery: 2464- 2522 Melville : "Benito Cereno")

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #8: See the attached list of quizzes and paper topics for the second half of the semester.

Unit #9

The Emergence of American Poetic Voices (2 sessions)

Readings for Unit #9: Emergence of American Poetic Voices- - Whitman : 2638-40 ("Emergence"); 2709-12, 2778-88, 2790-91, 2793- 98, 2810-17 (Whitman, "Sleepers," "There Was Child," "In Paths Untrodden," "Out of the Cradle," "When Lilacs Last"); Emergence of American Poetic Voices-- Dickinson : 2838-44 and Poems # 219, 258, 280, 315, 328, 341, 435, 465, 520, 569, 632, 712, 754, 1129

Writing and Pedagogy for Unit #9: Students must choose either a poem by Dickinson or a section of a poem by Whitman to explicate in a mini-paper of 1-2 pages.

Quizzes

Quiz #1

(Take Home) Carefully analyze THREE of the following passages. I do not want you merely to paraphrase them, but rather to explain their significance as key statements of personal or cultural beliefs or as key passages for understanding the meaning or function of the work. Pay close attention to the language and imagery. Where appropriate, comment on the cultural information embedded in these quotations. You may also comment on the relationships you see between the texts represented here. Be sure to identify each passage and to relate it to the work's main themes.

1. "'Although I knew very well that the hilltop was not a place for flowers, since it is a place of thorns, cactuses, caves and mezquites, I was not confused and did not doubt Her. When I reached the summit I saw there was a garden there of flowers with quantities of the fragrant flowers which are found in Castile; I took them and carried them to the Queen of Heaven and She told me that I must bring them to you, and now I have done it, so that you may see the sign that you ask for in order to do Her bidding, and so that you will see that my word is true.'"

2. "The missionary did not like the ceremonies. He did not like the Kachinas and he destroyed the altars and the customs. He called it idol worship and burned up all the ceremonial things in the plaza."

3. "What grieved us most were the dreadful flames from the church and the scoffing and ridicule which the wretched and miserable Indian rebels made of the sacred things, intoning the alabado and the other prayers of the church with jeers."

4. "Finally, to such an extreme do the iniquities reach that are practiced against the Indians by governors and alcades mayores, as well as by the judges of residencia, that, losing patience and possessed by fear, they turn their backs to our holy mother, the Church, abandon their pueblos and missions, and flee to the heathen, there to worship the devil, and most lamentable of all, to confirm in idolatries those who have never been illumined by the light of our holy faith, so that they will never give ear or credit to the preaching of the gospel. Because of all this, every day new conversions become more difficult, and the zealous missionaries who in the service of both Majesties are anxiously seeking the propagation of the gospel, most often see their work wasted and do [not] accomplish the purpose of their extended wanderings."

Quiz #2

Quiz #3

(Take-Home)

Carefully analyze THREE of the following passages. I do not want you merely to paraphrase them, but rather to explain their significance as key statements of personal or cultural beliefs or as key passages for understanding the meaning or function of the work. Pay close attention to the language and imagery. Where appropriate, comment on the cultural information embedded in these quotations. You may also wish to draw comparisons with earlier readings for the course. Be sure to identify each passage and to relate it to the work's main themes.

1. "Having emerg'd from the Poverty and Obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a State of Affluence and some Degree of Reputation in the World, and having gone so far thro' Life with a considerable share of Felicity, the conducing Means I made use of, which, with the Blessing of God, so well succeeded, my Posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their Situations, and therefore fit to be imitated. That Felicity, when I reflected on it, has induc'd me sometimes to say, that were it offer'd to my Choice, I should have no Objection to a Repetition of the same Life from its Beginning, only asking the Advantage Authors have in a second Edition to correct some Faults of the first."

2. "Revelation had indeed no weight with me as such; but I entertain'd an Opinion, that tho' certain Actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them; yet probably those Actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own Natures, all the Circumstances of things considered. And this Persuasion, with the kind hand of Providence, or some guardian angel, or accidental favourable Circumstances and Situations, or all together, preserved me (thro' this dangerous Time of Youth and the hazardous Situations I was sometimes in among Strangers, remote from the Eye and Advice of my Father), without any wilful gross Immorality or Injustice that might have been expected from my Want of Religion."

3. "In order to secure my Credit and Character as a Tradesman, I took care not only to be in Reality Industrious and frugal, but to avoid all Appearances of the contrary. I dressed plainly; I was seen at no Places of idle Diversion; I never went out a-fishing or shooting; a Book, indeed, sometimes debauch'd me from my Work; but that was seldom, snug, and gave no Scandal; and to show that I was not above my Business, I sometimes brought home the Paper I purchas'd at the Stores, thro' the Streets on a Wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem'd an industrious thriving young Man, and paying duly for what I bought, the Merchants who imported Stationery solicited my Custom, others propos'd supplying me with Books, and I went on swimmingly."

4. "It was about this time that I conceiv'd the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any Fault at any time; I would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a Task of more Difficulty than I had imagined: While my Care was employ'd in guarding against one Fault, I was often surpriz'd by another. Habit took the Advantage of Inattention. Inclination was sometimes too strong for Reason. I concluded at length, that the mere speculative Conviction that it was our Interest to be compleatly virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our Slipping, and that the contrary Habits must be broken and good Ones acquired and established, before we can have any Dependance on a steady uniform Rectitude of Conduct. For this purpose I therefore contriv'd the following Method."

Quiz #4

(Take-Home)

Carefully analyze THREE of the following passages. I do not want you merely to paraphrase them, but rather to explain their significance as key statements of personal or cultural beliefs or as key passages for understanding the meaning or function of the work. Pay close attention to the language and imagery. Be sure to identify the context and to relate each passage to the work's main themes.

1. "I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it. I shall never forget it whilst I remember any thing. It was the first of a long series of such outrages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a participant. It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass."

2. "Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tigerlike fierceness."

3. "These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty--to wit, the white man's power to enlave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom."

4. "This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self- confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free. The gratification afforded by the triumph was a full compensation for whatever else might follow, even death itself. He only can understand tht deep satisfaction which I experienced, who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery. I felt as I never felt before. It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom."

5. "We were linked and interlinked with each other. I loved them with a love stronger than any thing I have experienced since. It is sometimes said that we slaves do not love and confide in each other. In answer to this assertion, I can say, I never loved any or confided in any people more than my fellow-slaves, and especially those with whom I lived at Mr. Freeland's. I believe we would have died for each other. We never undertook to do any thing, of any importance, without a mutual consultation. We never moved separately. We were one; and as much so by our tempers and dispositions, as by the mutual hardships to which we were necessarily subjected by our condition as slaves."

6. "I was afraid to speak to any one for fear of speaking to the wrong one, and thereby falling into the hands of money-loving kidnappers, whose business it was to lie in wait for the panting fugitive, as the ferocious beasts of the forest lie in wait for their prey.... It was a most painful situation, and, to understand it, one must needs experience it, or imagine himself in similar circumstances. Let him be a fugitive slave in a strange land--a land given up to be the hunting- ground for slave-holders--whose inhabitants are legalized kidnappers--where he is every moment subjected to the terrible liability of being seized upon by his fellowmen, as the hideous crocodile seizes upon his prey!--I say ... let him feel that he is pursued by merciless men-hunters ... in the midst of plenty, yet suffering the terrible gnawings of hunger,--in the midst of houses, yet having no home,--among fellow-men, yet feeling as if in the midst of wild beasts, whose greediness to swallow up the trembling and half-famished fugitive is only equalled by that with which the monsters of the deep swallow up the helpless fish upon which they subsist,--I say let him be placed in this most trying situation,--the situation in which I was placed,--then, and not till then, will he fully appreciate the hardships of, and know how to sympathize with, the toil-worn and whip-scarred fugitive slave."

Quiz #5

Carefully analyze THREE of the following passages. I do not want you merely to paraphrase them, but rather to explain how they illuminate the meaning of the work. Pay close attention to the language and imagery. Be sure to identify the context and to relate each passage to the work's main themes.

1. "As master and man stood before him, the black upholding the white, Captain Delano could not but bethink him of the beauty of that relationship which could present such a spectacle of fidelity on the one hand and confidence on the other. The scene was heightened by the contrast in dress, denoting their relative positions. The Spaniard wore a loose Chili jacket of dark velvet; white small clothes and stockings, with silver buckles at the knee and instep; a high-crowned sombrero, of fine grass; a slender sword, silver mounted, hung from a knot in his sash; the last being an almost invariable adjunct, more for utility than ornament, of a South American gentleman's dress to this hour. Excepting when his occasional nervous contortions brought about disarray, there was a certain precision in his attire, curiously at variance with the unsightly disorder around; especially in the belittered Ghetto, forward of the main-mast, wholly occupied by the blacks. "The servant wore nothing but wide trowsers, apparently, from their coarseness and patches, made out of some old topsail; they were clean, and confined at the waist by a bit of unstranded rope, which, with his composed, deprecatory air at times, made him look something like a begging friar of St. Francis."

2. "His attention had been drawn to a slumbering negress, partly disclosed through the lace-work of some rigging, lying, with youthful limbs carelessly disposed, under the lee of the bulwarks, like a doe in the shade of a woodland rock. Sprawling at her lapped breasts was her wide-awake fawn, stark naked, its black little body half lifted from the deck, crosswise with its dam's; its hands, like two paws, clambering upon her, its mouth and nose ineffectually rooting to get at the mark; and meantime giving a vexatious half-grunt, blending with the composed snore of the negress. "The uncommon vigor of the child at length roused the mother. She started up, a distance facing Captain Delano. But as if not at all concerned at the attitude in which she had been caught, delightedly she caught the child up, with maternal transports, covering it with kisses."

3. "Among other things, he was amused with an odd instance of the African love of bright colors and fine shows, in the black's informally taking from the flag-locker a great piece of bunting of all hues, and lavishly tucking it under his master's chin for an apron."

4. "As he saw his trim ship lying peacefully at her anchor, and almost within ordinary call; as he saw his household boat, with familiar faces in it, patiently rising and falling on the short waves by the San Dominick's side; and then, glancing about the decks where he stood, saw the oakum-pickers still gravely plying their fingers; and heard the low, buzzing whistle of the hatchet polishers, still bestirring themselves over their endless occupation; and more than all, as he saw the benign aspect of nature, taking her innocent repose in the evening; the screened sun in the quiet camp of the west shining out like the mild light from Abraham's tent; as charmed eye and ear took in all these, with the chained figure of the black, clenched jaw and hand relaxed. Once again he smiled at the phantoms which had mocked him, and felt something like a tinge of remorse, that, by harboring them even for a moment, he should, by implication, have betrayed an almost atheist doubt of the ever-watchful Providence above."

5. "But to kill or maim the negroes was not the object. To take them, with the ship, was the object."

6. ". . . the negro Babo showed him a skeleton, which had been substituted for the ship's proper figure-head, the image of Christopher Colon, the discoverer of the New World; . . . the negro Babo asked him whose skeleton it was, and whether, from its whiteness, he should not think it a white's. . . ."

7. "As for the black--whose brain, not body, had schemed and led the revolt, with the plot--his slight frame, inadequate to that which it held, had at once yielded to the superior muscular strength of his captor, in the boat. Seeing all was over, he uttered no sound, and could not be forced to. His aspect seemed to say, since I cannot do deeds, I will not speak words. Put in irons in the hold, with the rest, he was carried to Lima. During the passage Don Benito did not visit him. Nor then, nor at any time after, would he look at him. Before the tribunal he refused, When pressed by the judges he fainted. On the testimony of the sailors alone rested the legal identity of Babo. "Some months after, dragged to the gibbet at the tail of a mule, the black met his voiceless end. The body was burned to ashes; but for many days, the head, that hive of subtlety, fixed on a pole in the Plaza, met, unabashed, the gaze of the whites; and across the Plaza looked towards St. Bartholomew's church, in whose vaults slept then, as now, the recovered bones of Aranda; and across the Rimac bridge looked towards the monastery, on Mount Agonia without; where, three months after being dismissed by the court, Benito Cereno, borne on the bier, did, indeed, follow his leader."

Quiz #3a

Carefully analyze THREE of the following passages, paying close attention to the language and imagery. I do not want you merely to paraphrase them, but rather to explain their significance as key statements for understanding the meaning of the work as a whole. Be sure to identify each passage and to set it in its context. If you wish, you may also draw comparisons with previous readings.

1. "It was the fatal flaw of humanity, which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain. The Crimson Hand expressed the ineludible gripe, in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust. In this manner, selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death, Aylmer's sombre imagination was not long in rendering the birth-mark a frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than ever Georgiana's beauty, whether of soul or sense, had given him delight."

2. "What mean you, foolish girl? Dost thou deem it misery to be endowed with marvellous gifts, against which no power nor strength could avail an enemy? Misery, to be able to quell the mightiest with a breath? Misery, to be as terrible as thou art beautiful? Wouldst thou, then, have preferred the condition of a weak woman, exposed to all evil, and capable of none?"

3. "But at length, as the labor drew nearer to its conclusion, there were admitted none into the turret; for the painter had grown wild with the ardor of his work, and turned his eyes from the canvas rarely, even to regard the countenance of his wife. And he would not see that the tints which he spread upon the canvas were drawn from the cheeks of her who sate beside him."

4. "There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold, then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated."

Exams

Final Examination

This exam will consist of TWO ESSAY QUESTIONS, to be chosen from the following list. Try to show as much breadth as possible in your choice of questions. In questions that involve comparisons, choose texts that allow you to draw contrasts as well as comparisons (e.g. across cultures or historical periods, between races or genders, between different literary forms). You should discuss a total of SEVEN different authors or texts between the two essay questions. At least TWO of your authors or texts should be from the first half of the course. Be specific in supporting your generalizations with references to texts, though not of course quotations.

1. Choosing FOUR representative texts, two of which should be Native American and two of which should be Spanish and/or English, compare and contrast the religious and cultural values they reflect.

2. Choose FOUR of the following, and compare and contrast the perspectives they offer on what Christianity has meant to different peoples at particular historical moments. Be as specific as possible in your references to the relevant texts: the Hopi; the Virgin of Guadalupe; Father Carlos José Delgado; the Hispanic "cuentos"; John Winthrop; Mary Rowlandson; Jonathan Edwards; John Woolman; Phillis Wheatley; Gustavus Vassa/Olaudah Equiano; Samson Occom; Elias Boudinot; Chief Seattle; David Walker; Frederick Douglass; the slave spirituals.

3. "What is an American?" Choose FOUR authors representing different answers to this question. One of your authors should be Crevecoeur. Refer to specific texts, and discuss them in as much detail as possible.

4. From the beginning the "American dream" (or the dream of a "New World") has been articulated and experienced very differently by different classes and ethnic groups, and sometimes within the same ethnic group by men and women, or by those who celebrated and those who questioned the dominant view. Choose FOUR authors or texts to illustrate these differences.

5. In 1845 Margaret Fuller wrote, "Though . . . freedom and equality have been proclaimed only to leave room for a monstrous display of slave-dealing and slave-keeping; . . . still it is not in vain that the verbal statement has been made, 'All men are born free and equal.'" Do you agree? Choose at least THREE writers, including Jefferson, and discuss the uses to which they have put the Declaration of Independence.

6. Benjamin Franklin's ideal of the self-made man and Emerson's ideal of self-reliance have been central to American ideology. Explain how Franklin and Emerson defined these concepts, and discuss the ways in which they have been applied or redefined by TWO of the following: Thoreau, Fuller, Douglass, Jacobs, Whitman, Dickinson.

7. Compare and contrast the cultural purposes and literary styles of FOUR of the following: (1) a Native American trickster tale; (2) a Hispanic "cuento"; (3) a story by Irving, Poe, or Hawthorne; (4) any of the three Melville stories we have read; (5) either Cary's "Uncle Christopher's" or Kirkland's "A New Home--Who'll Follow?"

8. Compare and contrast the narrative point of view used in THREE of the following: (1) "The Birth-mark" OR "Rappaccini's Daughter"; (2) "Benito Cereno"; (3) "Ligeia" OR A New Home--Who'll Follow OR "Uncle Christopher's." What effect does the narrative point of view have on the reader in each case? How does each author use point of view to influence the reader's interpretation of the story?

9. Compare and contrast the poetry of FOUR of the following: Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Phillis Wheatley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson. You should consider such points as: the subject matter and purpose of the poetry; the verse form; the language and imagery used; the way in which the poet presents herself/himself (i.e. the poetic persona). You will not be able to do justice to this question unless you remember specific poems well enough to illustrate your generalizations with quotations. [If you have read other poets in the anthology besides the ones listed you may include ONE example from these poets among your four choices.] 10. Compare and contrast the perspectives on slavery provided by FOUR of the following: Thomas Jefferson; Hector St. John de Crevecoeur; John Woolman; Gustavus Vassa/Olaudah Equiano; David Walker; Thomas Wentworth Higginson; Frederick Douglass; Harriet Jacobs; "Slavery's Pleasant Homes"; "Benito Cereno."

11. Compare and contrast the perspectives on women's lives or on the issue of women's rights provided by FOUR of the following: Anne Bradstreet; Sarah Grimké; Margaret Fuller; Fanny Fern; Sojourner Truth; Harriet Jacobs; "The Birth-mark" OR "Rappaccini's Daughter"; A New Home--Who'll Follow?; "Uncle Christopher's"; "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids" OR the "Hunilla" sketch from The Encantadas.

12. Compare and contrast the attitudes toward nature displayed by Hawthorne's scientist characters in "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "The Birth-mark" with those reflected in the Navajo "Changing Woman" story and the Zuni "Talk Concerning the First Beginning."

Instructions for Final

This exam will consist of TWO ESSAY QUESTIONS, to be chosen from a list of 10 to 12 possibilities. Try to show as much breadth as possible in your choice of questions. You should use the examination as an opportunity to demonstrate the extent to which you have conscientiously read and digested the assigned works. If you have missed or done badly on any quizzes, you may significantly improve your grade by demonstrating mastery on the exam of the texts covered by those quizzes. (Conversely, if your exam merely rehashes your papers and makes no attempt to discuss works on which you have missed quizzes, it will exhibit the gaps in your class preparation.)

In questions that involve comparisons, choose texts that allow you to draw contrasts as well as comparisons (e.g. across cultures or historical periods, between races or genders, between different literary forms). You should discuss a total of SEVEN different authors or texts between the two essay questions. At least TWO of your authors or texts should be from the first half of the course. Be specific in supporting your generalizations with references to texts, though not of course quotations. (If you plan to discuss poetry on your exam, however, it would be a good idea to memorize some lines, since it is difficult to be specific about poetry without quoting it.)

Remember that the principles for writing a good essay exam are the same as for writing any other paper. An introduction should set up your essay and formulate its thesis, a conclusion should wrap it up, and your thesis should guide the development of your argument throughout. Obviously stylistic elegance cannot be expected on an exam, but your essays should still be clear, focused, and properly organized.

The best way to study for this exam is to reflect on what have been the main themes we have pursued in class discussions, or the kinds of linkages we have noted among groups of texts; to make up questions for yourselves along the same lines; and to note which texts (and within the texts, which incidents or examples) would be appropriate to discuss in answer to each question. If you find yourselves unable to recall the details of a text that would be an important one to include in answering a particular question, reread it.

Plan to spend approximately two hours writing your exam. A hastily written exam is nearly always superficial. If necessary, you will be allowed some extra time to finish, but do not count on being able to stay all day. Good luck!

Paper Topics

Paper #1

Write a coherent, insightful paper taking a comparative approach to the authors we have covered through Schoolcraft and Irving. This assignment requires no extra research; instead it enables you to reflect more deeply on the material we have covered and to explore texts and issues that interest you in more depth than we have been able to do in class. It also allows you to sample other selections in the Heath, if you so desire.

Be as SPECIFIC as possible: focus on specific texts, and illustrate your generalizations with examples or quotations. When you use quotations, introduce them with proper transitions, and analyze them as you do on quizzes in order to make your interpretations of them clear; do not regard quotations as self-explanatory. Orient your paper toward an audience of reasonably intelligent strangers who have not sat in on class discussions or read the assigned works.

Depth and originality of analysis, organization, coherence, clarity, stylistic smoothness, and mechanics will all be factors in determining the grade. (See the accompanying Checklist of Criteria for Evaluating Papers).

Here are some possible topics. You do not have to confine yourselves to the ones listed but should consult with me beforehand about alternatives.

1. Compare and contrast Anglo-American (or European) with Native American value systems; and/or compare and contrast the "history" each group tells of how it came to settle the land. Possible comparisons might be:

--the Zuni "Talk Concerning the First Beginning" or the Navajo "Changing Woman" story with Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation or Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative or Cotton Mather's "Life of John Eliot" (from the Magnalia) or Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and "Personal Narrative"

--the Hopi, Villagra, and Otermin versions of the Pueblos' conquest and subsequent revolt (if you choose this, be prepared to add significantly to what was said in class discussion)

--the Hopi "Coming of the Spanish" with Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative or Bradford's accounts of the Plymouth colony's relations with Native Americans or Smith's and Frethorne's accounts of Indian attacks in Virginia.

2. Choosing particular poems by Native Americans, African Americans, Puritans, and 18th-century whites (e.g. Philip Freneau or the women poets of the era), compare and contrast the functions poetry fulfilled for each and the relationship in each case between cultural function and literary form and language.

3. Compare and contrast the Spanish and English conquerors' aims, ideologies, religious beliefs or motivations, and relations with Native Americans. Possible comparisons might be:

--De Vaca's and Rowlandson's narratives of captivity (you may also wish to use the "Gentleman from Elvas" and the Roger Williams or John Williams selections)

--De Vaca's, Thomas Morton's, and Bradford's narratives

--Columbus' Journal and John Smith's various writings or Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation

--Fray Carlos José Delgado's "Report" or Francisco Palou's Life of Junipera Serra and Cotton Mather's "Triumphs of Reformed Religion: Or, The Life of John Eliot" from the Magnalia Christi Americana

4. The Tlingit and Tsimshian tricksters, the Virgin of Guadalupe, Pocahontas, Catharine Sedgwick's Magawisca in the Hope Leslie selection, Cooper's Natty Bumppo in the selections from The Pioneers and The Last of the Mohicans, and historical whites who have "gone Indian" (e.g. de Vaca) can be seen as different kinds of mediating figures, existing "betwixt and between" categories. Choose three or more from this list and explore the similarities and differences among them. You should also consider the cultural functions and purposes each of these mediating figures might serve.

5. Who (What) Are Americans? Write a different version of Crevecoeur's letter, taking into account some of the readings by Native, African, and Hispanic Americans and by women (if you are looking for other examples of women's voices besides Bradstreet, Wheatley, and Rowlandson, you may wish to sample the writings of Abigail Adams, Judith Sargent Murray, or the women poets of the Revolutionary era).

6. Using several of the following, discuss the contradiction slavery posed to the ideals of the American Revolution and/or of Christianity: Jefferson, Crevecoeur, Woolman, Franklin's "On the Slave Trade," Vassa, Wheatley, and Prince Hall.

7. Using some of the following, discuss the contradiction that Indian wars and the seizure of Native American land posed to the ideals of the American Revolution: Jefferson, Franklin's "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" or his "Narrative of the Late Massacres," Irving's "History of New York," and the selections by Willam Apes, Elias Boudinot, and Chief Seattle.

8. What is the American Dream? Drawing on some of the following, trace the changes this dream has undergone over time and suggest who may have been left out of the dream at various points: Smith, Frethorne, Thomas Morton, Winthrop, Bradford, Crevecoeur, Jefferson, Woolman, Franklin, Occom, Thomas Paine, Judith Sargent Murray, Juan Nepomuceno Seguin, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.

9. Compare and contrast the versions of Christianity represented in several of the following: the Virgin of Guadalupe story, Rowlandson's Captivity, Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" or "Personal Narrative," Woolman's Journal or "Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes," Elizabeth Ashbridge's "Some Account" of her life, Occom's "Short Narrative of My Life," Wheatley's or Jupiter Hammon's poems, Delgado's "Report," Francisco Palou's Life of Junipero Serra.

10. Compare and contrast Schoolcraft's "Mishosha" or "The Forsaken Brother," one of the Hispanic cuentos, and Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" or "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Be sure to consider the different cultural purposes served by each, including the differences between an orally transmitted folk tale, a literary version of a folk tale, and a short story drawing on "folk" traditions.

LENGTH: 5-7 pp. (longer papers will be acceptable)

Paper #2

Write a coherent, insightful paper taking a comparative approach to the authors we have covered from Emerson through Dickinson. This assignment requires no extra research; instead it enables you to reflect more deeply on the material we have covered and to explore texts and issues that interest you in more depth than we have been able to do in class. It also allows you to sample other selections in the Heath, if you so desire.

Be as SPECIFIC as possible: focus on specific texts, and illustrate your generalizations with examples or quotations. When you use quotations, introduce them with proper transitions, and analyze them as you do on quizzes in order to make your interpretations of them clear; do not regard quotations as self-explanatory. Orient your paper toward an audience of reasonably intelligent strangers who have not sat in on class discussions or read the assigned works, but avoid extensive plot summary.

Depth and originality of analysis, organization, coherence, clarity, stylistic smoothness, and mechanics will all be factors in determining the grade. (See my Checklist of Criteria for Evaluating Papers).

Here are some possible topics. You do not have to confine yourselves to the ones listed but should consult with me beforehand about alternatives.

1. Examine Emerson's doctrine of "Self-Reliance" in relation to one or more of the following, and evaluate its strengths and limitations:

--Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government"

--Fuller's Woman in the Nineteenth Century

--Sarah Grimké's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes

--Fanny Fern's "Soliloquy of a Housemaid" and "Working-Girls of NY"

--David Walker's Appeal

--Douglass's Narrative

--Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

2. Choose three writers from the following list, and compare and contrast their perceptions of the relationship between the individual and society: Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, Sarah Grimké, Walker, Douglass, Jacobs.

3. Apply Sarah Grimké's and/or Margaret Fuller's analysis of "the woman question" to one or more of the following:

--Hawthorne's "The Birth-mark" and/or "Rappaccini's Daughter"

--Poe's "The Oval Portrait" and/or "Ligeia"

--Melville's "The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maids" and/or the Hunilla Sketch from The Encantadas

--Elizabeth Stoddard's "The Prescription"

--Caroline Kirkland's A New Home--Who'll Follow

--Alice Cary's "Uncle Christopher's"

--Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

--Lydia Maria Child's "Slavery's Pleasant Homes"

--Emily Dickinson's poems (selections of your choice)

4. Compare and contrast the perspectives that two or three of the following provide on the relationship between privileged women and their marginalized or ostracized counterparts (prostitutes, workers, slaves):

--Sarah Grimké's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes

--Angelina Grimké's Appeal to the Christian Women of the South

--Margaret Fuller's Woman in the Nineteenth Century

--Fanny Fern's "Soliloquy of a Housemaid" and "Working Girls of NY"

--Lydia Maria Child's "Slavery's Pleasant Homes"

--Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin

--Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

--Harriet Wilson's Our Nig: Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

5. Compare and contrast the perspectives that Douglass and Jacobs provide on the institution of slavery, as it affected men and women.

6. Compare and contrast the rhetorical styles of Frederick Douglass and David Walker, the audience(s) each is addressing, and the messages each is offering. OR compare and contrast the perspectives on slave rebellion offered by Douglass's Narrative, Walker's Appeal, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson's account of "Nat Turner's Insurrection."

7. Apply one or more of the following works to an analysis of Melville's "Benito Cereno":

--David Walker's Appeal

--Douglass's Narrative

--Henry Highland Garnet's "Address to the Slaves of the USA"

--Wendell Phillips's "Toussaint L'Ouverture"

--Thomas Wentworth Higginson's "Nat Turner's Insurrection"

8. Compare and contrast the perspectives that Child's "Slavery's Pleasant Homes" and Melville's "Benito Cereno" provide on slavery. You may wish to consider the different literary techniques each story uses (including narrative point of view), the purposes these techniques serve, and the audience(s) to which each is addressed.

9. Compare and contrast Poe's "Ligeia" (or any Poe story of your choice) and Cary's "Uncle Christopher's" as horror stories. You should include some discussion of the way in which each author creates atmosphere and mood, and some analysis of what makes each a horror story according to your definition of the genre. If you wish, you may include Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" in the comparison, or substitute it for one of the others.

10. Compare and contrast Melville's "The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maids" and Cary's "Uncle Christopher's," focusing on some of the following points: the perspective each provides on the effects of patriarchal (and/or capitalist) ideology; the causes to which each story attributes the dehumanization and sterility it depicts; the kinds of contrasts each story sets up between oppressor and oppressed; the narrative point of view; the role of landscape and setting; the use of symbolism and metaphor.

11. Choose two or three works from the following list, and compare and contrast their literary styles: Hawthorne's "The Birth-mark" OR "Rappaccini's Daughter" (OR another Hawthorne story of your choice); Poe's "Ligeia" (OR another Poe story of your choice); Kirkland's A New Home--Who'll Follow?; Cary's "Uncle Christopher's"; Melville's "The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maids" OR "Benito Cereno" OR the Hunilla Sketch from The Encantadas

12. Compare and contrast Whitman and Dickinson as poets, focusing on one or more of the following: their poetic styles (including imagery); their creation of a distinctively American poetic style and language; their poetic personas (including the relationship between gender and persona); their treatment of death or of grief and loss; their treatment of sexuality (this is a complex subject and demands sensitivity to the covert sexual imagery in Dickinson as well as to the interplay between overt sexuality and coverty homosexuality in Whitman). You should feel free to sample the rich selection of Whitman and Dickinson poems in the anthology.

13. In the section "The Emergence of American Poetic Voices," the Heath includes Native American oral poetry, slave songs, folk songs of different white communities, and formal poems by Bryant, Longfellow, Whitman, and Dickinson. You may also wish to sample the poems by Emerson, Poe, Whittier, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper in earlier sections. Choosing particular poems or songs by Native Americans, African Americans, white communities, and poets in the formal tradition, compare and contrast the functions poetry fulfilled for each group and the relationship in each case between cultural function and literary form and language.





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