ENGL 2110-006: Essay #2–The Longer American Lit Essay

American Literature I

Fall 2016

Essay #2–The Longer American Lit Essay

In this class, you have had to endure discussions running the gamut from various aspects in literature which helped to create “America” (fuck yeah!), The American Narrative, and my ranting and raving about almost everything. Now we come to the moment you have all been waiting for: the dreaded longer essay.

Many of you thus far have developed some terrific ideas regarding some of the works in regard to exploring the idea of what it means to be an American in class discussions, many of which I had not previously considered. You have also had some nice insights in discussing multiple works in your answers on the midterm essay.

With this in mind, I would like for you to write a minimum 1,200-word essay for the following:

Choose an author (or authors) that you think best illustrates the notion of what the American Narrative or the American Ideal represents to you and use textual examples (and, if you wish, an outside example for context) to support your ideas.

In other words, you can explore any number of ideas here, and I am pretty open to how you approach this. Some of the themes you could tackle include:

What does it mean to be an “American?” (This is broad but think of some of our discussions).
How have the Purtians impacted American literature as we know it today?
Discuss the idea of the “self” and the use of “I.”
Discuss the nature and purpose of autobiography
Since many of the authors we have covered have either attended Harvard or value a college education, explore how the attitude has shifted. Have we gotten away from the core value of what a college education represents?
Buggery in the time of the Pilgrims

You could examine autobiography with Ben Franklin and Frederick Douglass, or the idea of the “self” with Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman, or compare Anne Bradstreet to what Emily Dickinson accomplished in her era.

If you wish to write an essay using a current work of literature in context with one we have covered in class (or any from your Norton Anthology), feel free to knock yourself out. I ask that whatever you do, please remain anchored in the main work from the eras we have discussed and use at least one author we have covered. This should make things a bit easier.

For secondary sources, you can consider using a work like From Puritanism to Postmodernism by Richard Ruland and Malcolm Bradbury, or any critical book or article on any aspect of American literature for context.

Now some of you have brought up some angles on the works we have covered that have been a revelation, and if you wish to explore this further in this essay, that would be fine. I love hearing these new perspectives on old works, and I hope you can continue “the conversation” through this essay.

Note: Don’t just gloss over works and just talk about biographical information. You must direct your analysis toward the author and their works primarily. Translated, demonstrate to me you have read the works about which you are writing! I’m interested in your insight into these works, not what history has to say.

The basic requirements once again for your essays are as follows:

I ask that you use the MLA format for headings and page numbers like so:

(In the UPPER LEFTHAND CORNER):

Name

ENGL 2120-002

Professor Cathy Whaley

Day Month Year

Use 12-point font, preferably Ariel, to be consistent.
Create a good title for your essay. Remember, a title is a clue for what the reader will encounter
When referencing any works in the Nortons, just include the page numbers as in-text citations, you don’t need a Works Cited page for this.
However, and this is not a requirement for this essay, if you choose to reference a work not in your Norton, do add in-text citations as well as a Works Cited page.
Do use quotations from the works you chose. You may also paraphrase, but make sure you use MLA in-text citation for either. But you must do either and not generalize basic info!
By all means, do not regurgitate the work you are writing about. This is a bad habit when you are unsure of what you want to say. YOU SPEAK ABOUT THE WORK, YOU DO NOT LET THE WORK SPEAK FOR YOU! I cannot stress this highly enough.
If you reference/quote from any work outside the Nortons, please include a Works Cited page at the end since you will be using quotes and paraphrasing.
Considering some of you may use more contemporary works along w/ the works that comprise this class, you may include a “For Further Reading” page that has works you have reviewed or read while preparing this essay, whether you quote from them or not. This is always helpful for the reader.

……………….Answer Preview………………..

Name

ENGL 2120-002

Professor Cathy Whaley

Day Month Year

Blueprinting the American Dream

Over the course of time, the American narrative has proved to be a unique and resilient concept that we Americans have come to understand thus defining it in numerous ways based on our individual experiences. Not rooted in religion or lineage, being different from any other…..

MLA

1264 words