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Essay Instructions: In the early works of the course, we see Nature presented in multiple ways. The elements, animals, and nature are mentioned by the Iroquois as they outline their political process; “nature” has a very different meaning to Jonathan Edwards—a Puritan discussing philosophical and religious living— in A Divine and Supernatural Light and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God; later, American writers present nature when discussing their spiritual beliefs and how to go about living in the world.

In this assignment, you will compare and contrast the concept of “nature” from the earliest writings (The Iroquois League & the work of Jonathan Edwards) to the later American idea of nature found in the work of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman.

This assignment should reflect your understanding of the works you’ve chosen to discuss, and explain—based on research—how the earlier work influences the later pieces, and analyze how the literature reflected the culture of the time. Historical context is discussed in the textbook, and can be used as supporting material in your paper.

The final paper must include a thesis—this is a statement which you will be supporting throughout your paper. You will make claims and provide evidence to show those claims are true. Support your claims by citing research—quotes or ideas—from other authors. When citing an author, it’s best to explain how the quote supports your original idea, present the quote, and then show how that quote advances your claims.
This paper should focus on the ideas, beliefs, values, images, and writing of literature at hand, and in the context of the selected works. Your personal life experiences should not be used as evidence in making your claims. Keep your ideas rooted in the text. For sources other than the primary works found in the textbook, it is recommended you turn JSTOR.

Writing the Final Paper
-Must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the approved APA style guide.
-Must include an introductory paragraph with a succinct thesis statement.
-Must conclude with a restatement of the thesis and a conclusion paragraph.
-Must use at least 3 professional resources, works cited and on reference page.
-Must use APA format.
-Must include reference page according to APA format.
-Must include Running Header. No footnotes needed

Readings from “Concise Anthology of American Literature”. 7th edition. McMichael, G. and Leonard, J.:
-Thomas Hariot’s “A Brief and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia” pp. 19-24
-“The Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson at the Court at Newton November 1637” pp. 24-27
-“The Constitution of the Five Nations” pp. 28-31
-Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” pp. 148-167
-Benjamin Franklin from “The Autobiography” pp. 199-247
-Thomas Paine pp. 270-279
-Red Jacket “The Indians must Worship the Great Spirit in Their Own Way” pp. 369-371
-“Benjamin Franklin Slept Here”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature”, “Self-Reliance”, and “Concord Hymn
-Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” pp. 618-630
-Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, and “Benito Cereno” pp. 661-747
-Frederick Douglass “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”, and “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” pp. 765-781
-Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” from Walden. pp. 784-872
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life,” “The arsenal at Springfield,” and “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” pp. 899-904
-Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” pp. 923-944
-Harriet Ann Jacobs’ “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” pp. 990-1011
-Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” and “Second Inaugural Address” pp. 1019-1020
-Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” pp. 1032-1097
-Emily Dickinson pp. 1134-1155

Essay Instructions: Choose four of the following questions to respond to. Write at least 200 words (a well developed paragraph) for each response. Keep in mind that this is a minimum; I think that you will want to write more. If you use sources in your response (even those I have provided for you), be sure to cite them, using MLA format. Quotations from the textbook require only a page number. Again, please choose different poems or stories than those you used in your reading responses and use a different writer (or writers) for each question.

#1)During the 1920's African American writers began to make significant contributions to American literature, especially during the Harlem Renaissance. Choose one or more stories or poems from this literary movement to discuss, perhaps applying the ideas in Langston Hughes' essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain (1511-13). Again, you should discuss poetry or fiction from this era in your response, not just Hughes' essay.

#2) In the section called "Modernism Abroad and On Native Grounds," the editors say that "[m]any writers chose to identify themselves with the American scene and to root their work in specific regions" of the country (1188). Discuss one or more poems or stories by authors that chose to focus on a particular part of the United States. Again, you may wish to use quotations from this introductory material, but you should also use quotations from the poem or story itself.

#3)Women writers also became more prominent during this time, despite the fact that "to some extent, male modernists tried to define their movement by defining women out of it" (1082 6th edition). In the 7th edition, the editors assert that "the increasing prominence[of women writers]. . . generated a backlash from some male modernists, who asserted their own artistic seriousness by identifying women writers with the didactic, popular writing against which they [male writers] rebelled" (1189). Discuss at least one poem or story by a woman writer, showing how her work fits into the literary trends of the era.

#4) Discuss one or more stories or poems that reveal political and social concerns during this time period (World War I and II, the Great Depression, Roosevelt's New Deal, etc.). Notice that many women writers dealt with these issues in their writing. Again you must apply general concepts about these social/political issues to the story of poem.

Please use MLA format. I will be faxing the neccessary book sources and reading material tomorrow at 8am. Please place 2 quotes in each paragraph. The reading material is already marked and shows which story goes to which question.
There are faxes for this order.

Essay Instructions: • Paper is 2,100 to 2,450 words in length.
• Paper uses six sources.
• Paper is on one of the following themes:, A NEW START is the theme chosen
• Paper includes the exploration of the ongoing meaning of this concern from the time of the first European explorations of the continent through 1860 as it emerges in American literature.
a. Why is this theme or concern important?
b. How does this theme or concern change over time?
c. Would early settlers recognize this theme or concern in the work of later writers, or would later Americans' interpretations of the theme seem too alien?
d. Does this theme or concern rise and fall in importance? How and why?
e. Are certain periods dominated by one theme and other periods by other themes?
f. How aware are American writers of this theme?
g. How aware are American writers of the history of this theme?
h. What theoretical or conceptual concerns define American understanding of this theme?
i. Is this theme or concern seen as more properly concern of one group or another? Why?
j. Do writers working in different genres treat the selected theme differently? If so, how and why?
k. Do American writers with different backgrounds treat the selected theme differently? If so, how and why?

Essay Instructions: From Professor,

Write a paper of approximately 25 pages in length, on the topic you proposed. I would be happy with a paper between 20 and 25 pages with one citation, quote, etc. per page.. Please do not exceed 25 pages of content. It needs to have a Works Cited page at the end, and the whole thing must be formatted in MLA style. In order for your thesis paper to be approved it must first meet my approval, and then the approval of a second reader. Once you have both mentor's and second reader's approval, you are done, and will receive a grade for the seminar as you would for any course.


Proposal

"The Internal Struggle For Identity And Equality In African-American Literature"

The story of the African-American journey through America?s history is one of heartbreaking desperation, victimization, as well as one of amazing inspiration and victory. This internal struggle to acquire identity and equality reflects the progress in literature and culture that has been achieved within the African- American community. The themes from African-American history to modern times establishes the African-American experience with a rich record in which to examine the literary works from its beginnings in ?slave narratives?such as, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of O. Equiano or The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. These early writings and others allowed black writers to find new ways in which to express themselves individually, and as a people. This early process of education and emancipation in works such as these, was the beginning of the creation of an identity. Authors such as W.E.B. Dubois enable other stages of occur in African-American culture.
The development and celebration of African-American people is outlined in W.E.B. Dubois and his efforts at legitimizing the African-American culture and experience are vital to the evolution and survival of it as it is subjected to discrimination not only from without, but from within as well. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody examines the negative aspects of living in a white dominated society in the 20th century. Other works which show the progressive evolution of Africa-American literary development include Lanston Hughes? I, Too, Sing America and gives people a voice who don?t have one. The ability of African American authors to write powerful works such as Native Son by Richard Wright has given Americans of all ethnic backgrounds a chance to see into the mind of those that are abused, and uneducated, preventing escape from detrimental behaviors that ultimately cause prejudice. Moving on to 21st century and many African-American writers have entered mainstream America.
Modern stories written by African-American writers such as Zadie Smith?s On Beauty shows the African-American experience has integrated fully in many sectors of mainstream American society and the ?internal struggle? has yielded rewards. America has changed and many racial norms in society have been realized that were not possible in marriage, economics, and societal institutions in the past. African-American writers mentioned here have had a definite impact on African-Americans in general, helping to change their society for the better, as well as an influence on ?White America.?It is through writers like these that all people can learn from and appreciate the many freedoms that some Americans take for granted, and were only gained fairly recently by African-Americans through patient sacrifice and suffering. This has made not only them stronger in identity and equality, but has made America a stronger and wiser nation.

Primary Sources:
Douglass, Frederick. The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Gutenberg.
2006. Web.
DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Penguin, 1989.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Life of Equiano Olaudah. Dover. 1999.Print.
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The

African Written By Himself. Gutenberg. 2006.Web.

Gates, Henry L. and Nellie Y. Mckay, eds. The Norton Anthology of African-American Literature.
New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. Print.
Moody, Anne. Coming of Age in Mississippi. New York. Dell Books. 1992.Web.
Smith, Zadie. On Beauty. Penguin Press. New York. 2005.Print.
Wright, Richard. Native Son, New York: Harper Perennial, 1998.
.
Secondary Sources:

Hill, Michael D., Hill, Lena M.Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man: A Reference Guide: A Reference

Guide.2008.Web.

Green, Lisa J. African American English. A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge:

Cambridge UP, 2002.
Hughes, Langston. ?The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.? The Norton Anthology

of African American Literature. Gates, Henry Lewis, Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay, eds.

New York: Norton, 1997. 1267-1271.
Posnock, Ross. Color and Culture: Black Writers and the Making of the Modern Intellectual.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Sitkoff, Harvard. The Struggle for Black Equality. New York. Hill and Wang. 2008.Print..
Young, A. African American Literature. A Brief Introduction and Anthology. New York, NY: Addison-
Wesley. 1996.Print.