Read these instructions carefully. For this exam, you will choose ONE of the prompts below and answer it in a fully-developed, articulate essay. Your essay should include a thesis and clear topic sentences; in addition, your answers should utilize appropriate quotes from the text to prove your ideas and illustrate/support/defend your points. The paper should be typed in 10 or 12 point Times New Roman font/one inch margins and should include a works cited page. Look carefully at the guidelines below. Good luck.
For this paper, you will contextualize the themes below both within and across the periods we have studied (Beginnings to 1820, 1820-1865). In other words, if you choose to answer question 1, you will examine the similarities/differences that two different writers from the Beginnings to 1700 exhibit when writing about nature. Further, you will compare/contrast how the sensibilities about this theme and how it is handled by authors from the Beginnings to 1820 are similar to/different from the ways authors from 1820-1865 discuss that same theme. You will choose two different works from two different authors per period. However, merely comparing and contrasting these works within and across periods is not enough—you must take into consideration WHY Columbus’ view of nature is similar to/different from Mary Rowlandson’s (writer from same time period as Columbus) AND from Edwards/Brown (1700-1820), as well as Emerson and Hawthorne’s views of nature (1820-1865). If you have questions, DO NOT hesitate to ask me!
- Nature has been a recurring theme throughout the works we have studied this short semester. While some artists view nature as a vibrant, beautiful thing that represents all that is good and wholesome, other authors take a different approach. In a well-developed essay, contextualize the views authors in the different periods we have studied this short semester. Use two different works by two different for each period. What cultural/historic/economic/scientific factors may account for why authors within and across these different literary periods see nature in a similar or different light? Use quotes from the texts to defend your answer.
- The English playwright Thomas Kyd once wrote, “There is no play without a woman in it.” Like nature, women have been a constant throughout the works we have read this short semester. However, the roles of/attitudes about women change across these periods. Using two works from each of the periods we have studied this short semester, compare and contrast the role of women within and across these literary periods. Take into consideration any cultural/historic/economic factors that might explain the differing/changing perspectives of women in these works.
- Racial issues existed in this country long before the South’s “peculiar institution” and the war fought over it. As early as the first explorers/settlers, Europeans had very strong opinions (and, very often, misconceptions) about race. In a well-developed essay, discuss how artists from the varying periods we have studied this short semester dealt with the theme of race. Note similarities/differences within and across these periods, and take into consideration any cultural/historical/socio-economic/religious/scientific factors that may have played a role in how these artists handled this subject.
- While many people describe America as a “Christian Nation,” most historians would disagree. Be this as it may, religion/spirituality has ALWAYS played a prominent role in this country. In a well-developed essay, contextualize the theme of religion/spirituality within and across the periods we have studied using two works from each period to illustrate your point. Take into consideration any cultural/historical/intellectual/spiritual phenomena that might account for these similar/different views of religion/spirituality.
- Before there was an “America,” writers in the periods we have studied this short semester exhibited some of the basic principles thought to make up “The American Dream.” Some may say that this dream is just that—a dream—and therefore doesn’t exist and never did, while others may have very different ideas about what that dream entails, and there is certainly evidence in the works we have read this short semester to support all three ideas: The American Dream is real, The American Dream is a lie, or The American Dream is different depending on whom you ask. In a well-developed essay, contextualize the idea/principles of The American Dream within and across the periods we have studied this short semester. Make sure to use two works from each period to illustrate your point, and be sure to take into consideration any cultural/socio-economic/historical/religious/spiritual/racial phenomena that may account for these similar/different/non-existent views of The American Dream.
