English 124-­‐Advanced Composition: Critical Reasoning & Writing Instructor: Sydney Brown Points: 50 Responding Critically to “Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” by Jane Tompkins FOCUS ON CONTENT ____________________________________________________________ Directions: Responses to 1-­‐10 should be in MLA format and style. For 1-­‐9, be sure to rephrase the question in your response. Due date is listed on course calendar. 1. Why did Jane Tompkins begin her research? 2. How did Perry Miller’s text complicate Tompkins’ research? 3. What does Perry Miller mean by “massive narrative” (103)? 4. List three massive narratives outside of Tompkins’ text. 5. For each of the following authors, list the text s/he wrote and/or research s/he did, when it was written, and the point of view and/or agenda with which Tompkins identifies the individual. •
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Perry Miller Alden Vaughan John Higham Francis Jennings Calvin Martin Charles Hudson James Axtell Norman Heard Mary Rowlandson William Wood Alexander Whitaker 6. How does Robert Berkhofer explain conflicting views about history? 7. Karen Kupperman, in her book Settling with the Indians (1980), argues what in regards to the way Englishmen looked at Indians? 8. What does Tompkins feel is the importance of Kupperman’s study? 9. What is the “dilemma” Tompkins found herself in at the end of her “course reading,” and how did she resolve it (631)? Paraphrase her predicament and resolution. 10. Review pages 26-­‐28 in your textbook, Writing Arguments, and then write a summary (no more than 250 words) of Jane Tompkins’ “Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History.” Pay close attention to the information given in the topic sentence for the summary of John F. Kavanaugh’s “Amnesty”: genre (article), title (“Amnesty?”), original source of publication (America magazine), author’s full name (John F. Kavanaugh), brief biographical information (Jesuit priest and professor of philosophy at St. Louis University), context (morality of the current U.S. treatment of undocumented workers) and author’s major claim (a frank dealing with “multiple causes of illegal immigration” (26). Model your topic sentence after this one—an important academic skill to master.