Assignment: "The US Experience: Reading US Protest Literature In A Time of Rebellion"
Paper 1: Interrogating "American"(US) identity (1250-1500 words)
Task
"All men are created equal." This declaration of the equality of human beings was radical in its time, and has come to us through the centuries as a basic principle of democracy. And yet, as our readings show, the practices of US society have been challenged-and were challenged even in the 18th century-by various American voices, for not living up to the promise of the phrase. The debates around these questions have produce different and contradictory ideas of what "American identity" actually means.
The purpose of this paper is to allow you to think through the ways in which different voices and texts have interrogated "American" (US) identity and wrestled with its meanings in their efforts to protest the current state of affairs and redefine freedom. Choosing no more than 2 textsand at least one from the syllabus, write a paper revealing that American identity didn't just form automatically but was a historical development, the product of a struggle over ideas and principles.
You have freedom to decide which themes and topics to write about (samples are below). You might contrast two texts to show diametrically opposite views of what it means to be "American." You might trace contradictions - like texts using religion to define American identity despite the idea that the US separates "church and state." Make sure you consider how form connects to content: study the aesthetic strategies used by these texts(narrative strategies, perspectives from below, symbolism, metaphor, etc.) to challenge the existing state of America and to reconfigure our vision of it.
Basic Requirements
The formatting requirements for papers appear on the syllabus; please use MLA or APA style. A good guide for MLA and APA formatting is the Purdue Online Writing Lab: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html
I would like you especially to remember that:
• Your goal is to construct an argument, which requires a strong thesis statement, an organization of paragraphs that logically builds up your argument, and textual evidence to support your claims.
• You must cite the text directly. If you are not citing the text directly, you are probably only discussing its political content and not itsaestheticstrategies. Analyze what's in front of you and how it works, don't merely summarize the position. Examine how a text works, and not only whether you agree with it.
• Create a distance between your critical voice and the voice of the text/s you're analyzing.
• You may include outside research that is relevant to the paper, but the text from the syllabus must remain at the center. Examples would include: comparing the anthology's excerpt from Letters from an American Farmer with another excerpt, recovering the deleted, anti-slavery paragraph from Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration, bringing in background material on John Brown in discussing his revised Constitution, etc.
• Always include a "Works Cited" page (MLA) or detailed footnotes (APA).
Suggestions for Topics (you can construct your own as well!)
1. How can Letters from an American Farmer be read in relation to 1776? Do its descriptions of slavery and racial inequality expose American identity as hypocritical, or does the text employ the principles of the Declaration in making its claims? What strategies does the text use to persuade its readers and to engage their sympathies? How is the slave represented in the text in relation to the narrator?
2. The Seneca Falls Declaration represents an important moment in American history, where the abolitionist and nascent feminist movements intersect in powerful ways. How does the text seek to rewrite the Declaration? What sorts of parallels does it construct between the anti-British revolutionaries and those taking a stand against women's oppression? How does its vision of liberation compare with those of 1776? How does it seek to use what Trodd calls the "politics of appropriation"?
3. Howard Zinn's "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress" is an all-out attack on one of the foundational myths of American nationalism, namely, that 1492 represented a moment of progress, discovery, and civilization that we should honor and cherish. Against this myth, Zinn asks readers to read Columbus against the grain, and to take up the perspective of Native Americans (or "Indians"). What are the strategies Zinn uses to convince his readers of his claims-and not to turn them away? Are Europeans and Americans as a whole the problem here, or does Zinn differentiate between individual figures?
4. As can be expected, Sherman Alexie's book of short stories approaches the question of 1776 and American identityin very different ways than that of an essay or manifesto. Nevertheless, as the title itself reveals, the text is very much immersed in questions of American identity, self-perception, and culture. Discuss the various strategies Alexie uses to both interrogate mainstream notions of American identity and history, and to insert his voice into the plethora of American voices. How does humor work in this regard? What is the effect, in terms of Alexie's larger project, of the not-so-positive representations of many of his Native American characters? What is the effect of the many Native voices he portrays in the text, and changes between 1st- and 3rd-person narrators?
5. In her introductory remarks, Trodd mentions how texts like The Black Panther Party's Manifesto (1966) and even Ho Chi Minh's declaration of independence for Vietnam from the French (1945) cite the "Declaration of Independence" positively as a framework for their demands. Locating these texts, examine the ways in which they both pay homage to and expand/rewrite the original document in light of their own circumstances. Assess their attempts to stretch the principle of equality to racial and national groups not obviously included in the original text.
6. Read foundational American texts-Common Sense, the "Declaration of Independence"--through the lens of the "history from below" approach advocated by Zinn. Explore the multiple layering's of power embedded in such texts, as they both advocate and limit revolution and freedom.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.