Native American
Literature
Native Americans and the Settlers
(1490s – and on C.E.)
• Dozens of unique American Indian tribes were scattered
across North and Central America when the first colonists
landed. The Aztec empire was by far the largest, with millions
of natives within its borders.
• The colonists and Indians had a relationship through trade that
eventually lead to an interdependence between both groups.
**How was each group dependent on the other?
• Native Americans soon had
to struggle to survive: disease
epidemics, settlements
overtaken by settlers and
conquistadors, and mass
extermination were all great threats.
Belief Structure and Way of Life
• There are differences between tribes, but all
of the tribes have a strong ties to nature –
typically having a Creator God and numerous
spirits that often take on the form of animals
or control the elements. NATURE IS CYCLIC.
•
Stories existed in the oral tradition. They were
strongly tied to American Indian spirituality and
tradition. Stories went hand-in-hand with
ceremonial festivals, dance, costume, & music.
• Creation, mythical hero, and trickster stories are
the dominant story-types. The latter two often
taught morals and lessons. Most tribes had their
own unique story of creation.
“The Sky Tree”
• A creation myth of the Huron – a Native American people
around the Great Lakes region.
• The Earth Diver Myth – common among Northeast Native
American cultures, this myth states that the earth was
originally covered by water until some creature dives down
to bring up a clump of earth which is placed upon the back of
a great turtle, forming North America.
***
• Review: What aspects of the settings in this myth are
creation-story archetypes? What other
mythological/religious stories have used the same
archetypes?
• What does the rooting of the tree represent?
“Coyote Finishes His Work”
• A story from the Nez Perce, a Native American people
of the Plateau culture (Oregon and Washington area).
***
• Review: What traits make Coyote a trickster archetype?
• What aspects of life on earth are explained in this myth?
• What metamorphoses (plural!) take place in this myth?
• OPTIONAL BONUS: Read then illustrate and label a
scene from “Black Elk Speaks”
“The Sun Still Rises in the
Same Sky” Review
• 1. Why did scholars have problems recognizing the traditions
of Native American literature?
• 2. What three generalizations does Bruchac make about
American Indian oral tradition?
• 3. Identify three comparisons Bruchac makes between
American Indian and Western views of the world.
• 4. What does Bruchac’s title suggest?
Sitting Bull’s Sun Dance and
the Modern Sun Dance
“Wounded Knee Creek”
• Reflect for a page on the importance of language to
the Native Americans, Plenty Horses, and any man
or woman of today.
• Be sure to indicate that you understand Plenty
Horse’s situation in your paper.
Puritan
Literature
The Puritans (1420s – 1690s C.E.)
• Puritans left England to seek out religious freedom after years
of persecution. Which king first caused their persecution and
why?
• Puritans felt a great deal of doubt over whether they, as
individuals, were one of the saved or damned. They believed
those who were saved would automatically live exemplary
lives of temperance, virtue, and simplicity. Thus, the Puritans
overall exhibited a lot of restraint and self-reliance.
• Puritans focused on the importance of covenants, and they
used contracts often in government. This laid the groundwork
for America’s constitutional democracy, but also allowed the
“saintly elect” in Puritan government to act rather
undemocratically.
Characteristics of Puritan Writing
• The Bible is the model for all writing. There was
emphasis placed upon the individual’s life and how it
connected to biblical events.
• Diaries and histories
were very common.
• Puritans wrote very simply and plainly. They
appreciated sincere clarity of expression over
complicated figures of speech.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)
• Born into a family of Puritans,
Bradstreet accepted her parents’
religious teachings and put them
into her poetry and writing.
• After having eight children with her husband, the governor of
the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Bradstreet started writing for
her own enjoyment. When her poems were discovered she
was called “The Tenth Muse” back in England. She was
flustered by the attention, Puritan women believed that they
lived to serve their husbands and families and nothing more.
• Bradstreet is better remembered today not for her elaborate
earlier poems but for her personal lyrics pertaining to her life
in America.
John Edwards and Types of Persuasion
• Edwards, the writer of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God”, was remarkably a member of both the Puritans AND the
Rationalists. He was between both worlds, fiercely passionate
about his religion but a man who also believed in personal
intellect and the awesome power of the human will.
***
• FORMS OF PERSUASION:
* Logical – speaking to pure reason, this is the best solution
because of A, B, and C.
* Emotional – full of imagery to evoke an emotional response,
fear was typically the emotion evoked in Puritan writing
Silly Speech Concept Examples
• Why rabbits deserve American citizenship
• Waffles vs. Pancakes
• Why there should be dyslexic-friendly
street signs.
• Why dogs should be required to wear
doggy diapers in public.
The Rationalists
The Rationalists (1690 - 1800 C.E.)
• A group of philosophers and scientists in Europe
began calling themselves rationalists. This ushered
in the Age of Reason (The Enlightenment).
• Concepts and people of this era:
“I think, therefore I am.” – Rene Descartes
Leibniz’s discovery of the laws of calculus
Which incredibly famous scientist was a rationalist?
• Most of our founding fathers were rationalists. They
were thinkers and tinkerers.
Characteristics of Rationalism
• Rationalism is the belief that human beings can arrive
at truth by using reason, rather than by relying on the
authority of the past, religion, or intuition.
• Deism is the belief that the universe is orderly and
good. God is compared to a clockmaker, he created
the perfect mechanism of this universe then left his
creation to run on its own, like a clock.
• Focus is placed upon human perfection. Rationalists
believed that man is inherently good and each man
has the potential to perfect himself through rationality,
kindness towards his fellow man, and diligence.
Benjamin Franklin
• Franklin was a:
- publisher
- inventor
- scientist
- writer
- diplomat
- philosopher
- negotiator
• He rose from poverty despite dropping out of school early in order
to work. Ironically, he helped found a school later in life (the
Academy of Pennsylvania) as well as the first public library in
America.
• Franklin was the head diplomat negotiating with France and
England for decades, he sailed home when the Revolution became
unavoidable.
“Autobiography” Review Questions
• 1. Do you think Franklin is being completely serious in this
excerpt? Is he using irony or self-mockery anywhere?
Explain your answer.
• 2. What does Franklin say must happen before people can
depend on correct moral behavior?
• 3. Why does Franklin place temperance first on his list?
• 4. What inferences can you make about Franklin’s attitudes
and beliefs based on his plan to achieve moral perfection?
Franklin’s Epitaph written when he
was twenty-two years old.
The body of
B. Franklin, Printer
(Like the Cover of an Old Book
Its Contents torn Out
And Stripped of its Lettering and Gilding)
Lies Here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be Lost;
For it will (as he Believ’d) Appear once More
In a New and More Elegant Edition
Revised and Corrected
By the Author.
Patrick Henry
• One of the most persuasive figures
in Virginia politics.
• After the Boston Tea Party and
England’s imposed Intolerable Acts,
the colonists had to choose between
showing allegiance to England
(which promised to become more
lenient if the colonists pledged their
loyalty) or declaring their independence as a new nation.
• Henry delivered his “Speech to the Virginia Convention” with
great emotion and fervor and persuaded the delegation to
declare the American Revolution.
“Virginia Conference” Review Questions
• 1. According to the first two paragraphs of this speech,
why is Henry speaking out?
• 2. Identify the rhetorical questions in the fifth paragraph of
the speech. How does this technique make Henry’s
speech more persuasive?
• 3. Summarize Henry’s use of
“appeal to reason” in the fourth
paragraph.
• 4. Summarize Henry’s use of
“appeal to emotion” in the final
paragraph.
More Types of Persuasion
• FORMS OF PERSUASION:
* Loaded Words - words that are likely to incite a
conflict because they are hurtful and usually cause a
negative or defensive reaction
* Rhetorical Question – questions asked for effect with
no answer anticipated. (It is assumed that the
audience agrees with the speaker on the answers thus
there is no reason to speak them.)
* Repetition – a technique used to stress an idea over
and over again
Time to write an Editorial!
• Look over the handout.
• Half of you will take the side of pro-British rule; half of
you will take the side of pro-independence. This will be
an editorial in response to Patrick Henry’s speech.
• Follow directions on the handout.
• Produce as a newsletter to print.
The Romanticists
The Romanticists (1800 – 1860 C.E.)
• Education – lyceum organizations
• Reform – for the mentally ill, women’s rights, child labor, and
abolition
• Westward expansion – after the Louisiana Purchase, pioneers
moved west, the Gold Rush occurs
• A reaction to Rationalism – real industrial life was grim, escape to
imagination
• Writers no longer infatuated with freedom from England, but in
new possibility and past lessons.
Romanticist literature
• Values feeling and intuition over reason
• Inner experience and the imagination
• Unspoiled nature over “artificial” civilization
• Youthful innocence over “sophistication”
• Individual freedom and rights
• Nature’s beauty is the pathway to the spiritual
• Wisdom, the supernatural, and myth/folklore
The American Romantic Hero
• Is youthful, innocent, and pure
• A “personal” sense of honor
• Understands & knows people from “within”
• Loves nature, avoids towns
• Quests for a higher truth in the natural world
Answer these questions in your notebooks.
• 1. How do you know right from wrong?
• 2. Do all people know right from wrong?
• 3. Does everyone have the same idea about what is right and wrong? In
other words, do all people share the same values about what is right and
wrong? Explain.
• 4. Is it right or wrong to obey an authority higher than yourself, such as God,
your parents, or the government when you disagree? Explain your position.
• 5. Can you count on yourself to always do what is right? Explain:
• 6. In Christianity, the devil is known as a great deceiver, someone who lies
and deceives. With that in mind, how do you know that what you believe to
be right is not actually wrong?
• 7. Does truth ever change? In other words, can something be true for you
but not for someone else? Explain:
• 8. How do you know that something is true?
Transcendentalism – Emerson/Thoreau
• Everything in the world is a part of the “Divine
Soul”
• The physical is a doorway to the spiritual/ideal
world
• Self-reliance and individualism over blind
conformity and tradition
• Spontaneous feelings and intuition are superior
to deliberate intellectualism and rationality.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
• A writer for intellectuals AND the general public. He wrote
complicated philosophical essays but gave speeches that were
easily accessible by the masses.
• Emerson labeled himself as a “poet.” One who observed the
world in prose.
• Emerson attended Harvard and was indifferent to his path to
become a minister (eight generations of his family had been
ministers).
• His wife’s death and Emerson’s growing disbelief of central
doctrines of his religion caused him to resign his ministry. He left
for Europe and conversed with influential writers there for a year.
After returning to America, he started giving lectures from “a new
pulpit.”
Nature review
• 1. According to the first paragraph, how would
people respond if the stars came out only one night
every thousand years? What theme from the essay
does this image relate to?
• 2. Review the essay and write a sentence
simplifying the main idea of each paragraph. (You
should have six main ideas for six paragraphs.)
• 3. Explain the image of the transparent eyeball.
• 4. Cite an example of personification used in Nature.
Self-Reliance review
• 1. “Imitation is suicide.” Explain what
Emerson means by this:
• 2. Explain in detail the statement: “Trust
thyself: Every heart vibrates to that iron
string.” What theme does this relate to?
• 3. Interpret in detail the meaning of the
metaphor of society being a joint-stock
company.
• 4. How does Emerson define “good and
bad?”
Henry David Thoreau
• Thoreau had a similar message to Emerson,
except his literary brilliance was overpowered by
his lack of social skills and ambition.
• He stood by his principles, for example, he lost
his job as a teacher when he refused to whip a
child. He also went against established rules
purely because they were rules.
• Thoreau moved to Walden Pond purely to
discover the simple aspects of life that are
overlooked by living a fast-paced life amongst
other humans.
• A political activist, his “Civil Disobedience”
inspired other great passive resistance leaders
such as Gandhi and MLK Jr.
Allusions
• What is an allusion?
***
• 1. Identify the allusion and what it literally refers to.
*
• 2. How does the allusion relate to the event or idea
described in the text? (What is the common
connection or theme?)
*
• 3. How does the allusion add meaning to the event
or idea? How does it affect your reading of the
text?
Walden review
• 1. How does Thoreau answer the
questions implied in the title “Where I
Lived, and What I Lived For”?
• 2. What arguments does Thoreau
present in “Solitude” to demonstrate
that he is not lonely in his isolated
cabin?
• 3. Paraphrase this metaphor from
page 220: “I wanted to live deep and
suck out all the marrow of life.”
Civil Disobedience review
• Paradox – a statement that expresses the complexity of life by
showing how opposing ideas can be both contradictory and true at
the same time
***
• 1. Explain what Thoreau finds wrong with majority rule. What does
he say is the only obligation he has the right to assume?
• 2. To what does Thoreau compare his night in jail? (page 239) How
does he explain his unusual comparison?
• 3. Explain the truth behind these paradoxes:
• a. “I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my
townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break
through, before they could get to be as free as I was.” (pg. 238)
•
b. “I felt as if I alone of all my townsmen had paid my tax.” (pg.
238)
Romantic Poetry review
• 1. How does “Thanatopsis” reveal the Romantic
conviction that the universe, far from operating like a
machine, is really a living organism that undergoes
constant cyclic changes? How does the human speaker
feel about this view of the universe?
• 2. At the end of “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls,” the
tide continues to rise and fall, although the human
traveler does not return. How does this contrast reveal
the poem’s theme?
• 3. Discuss the images Longfellow uses to describe his
wife in “The Cross of Snow”. What do these tell us
about her? What is the importance of using the cross as
a symbol of his grief.
Dark Romanticists
• A raw, maddening view of humanity,
opposite to the optimistic
Transcendentalists
• Explored the good vs evil conflict within
the psyche
• Found horror and evil behind the artificial
“social exterior” of man
Washington Irving
• Irving wrote many satirical works in his
youth, going by many different
pseudonyms, such as Deidrich
Knickerbocker and Gentleman Jonathan
Old style.
• He was sent to England in his twenties and
became inspired by German folklore and
legends. He took these influences and
gave them a new voice, an American
voice.
• Irving gave the United States its first
international literary celebrity at a time
when England criticized America as
incapable of producing good writers.
“The Devil and Tom Walker” Review
• 1. How does the physical setting of the story reflect the
moral decay of the characters, and, indeed, of the
whole society presented in this story? Give examples.
• 2. A satire is a story that mocks some human folly. If
Irving’s story is a satire, what human follies is he
mocking? What details in the story reveal that Irving
was specifically critical of the values held by the
Puritans of Boston?
• 3. What is the story’s theme or main point based upon
the narrator’s comment in the final paragraph?
“The Fall of the House of Usher” Review
• 1. What does Roderick believe is the source of his problems?
• 2. Why won’t Roderick leave the house when it seems to be
having such a devastating effect upon him?
• 3. Describe the symbolism of the following:
a. The crumbling mortar
b. The vacant, eyelike windows of the house
c. The inverted reflection of the house in the dying pond
• 4. How can Hawthorne relate to this story on a personal
level? What issue often haunts his stories?
Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Hawthorne was handsome, had a loving wife, and yet there was
always a darkness and gloom that surrounded him.
• When Nathaniel was a student, he tried to live an unassuming life
by hanging out in taverns instead of following intellectual pursuits.
But over time, his ambition and ideas burned through, catching
the attention of writers such as Emerson and Thoreau as well as
his friend President Franklin Pierce.
• Hawthorne felt an overwhelming guilt for coming from a family
that was involved in the Salem Witch Trials. He used themes of
personal responsibility, guilt, and the overwhelming force of a
family’s dark history in a lot of his writing.
• After years of working in England, Hawthorne returned home to a
pre-Civil War America that he felt even further estranged from.
Never quite finding kinship with others, dwelling within the
darkness in man’s heart, Hawthorne died from his solitude. (as
quoted by Emerson)
Group work
• In groups of 2-3, you will read one of
Hawthorne’s short stories:
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
“Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”
“Young Goodman Brown”
“The Birthmark”
• Complete a handout
• Rewrite the story to be read
and performed aloud for the class (three
minutes max.)