DO NOT WRITE ON THIS HANDOUT.
DO NOT WRITE ON THIS HANDOUT.
Directions: This is an incomplete outline. On your own paper, copy this outline and fill in any missing information.
Your copy of the outline should be organized and numbered exactly as this one is.
American Literature: Beginnings – 1900 introduction
I.
Essential Questions in American Literature
A. What makes American literature American? (p. lxxxvii)
1. Literature is American because it ______________________.
2. Thematic vocabulary (define these words)
a. Beliefs
b. Diversity
c. Freedom
d. Heritage
e. Immigration
f. Individualism
g. Liberty
h. Self-reliance
3. Answer the following in a well thought out, well-constructed paragraph. Choose one
item in your home that most represents American to you. What does this item say
about America?
B. What is the relationship between literature and place? (p. lxxxviii)
1. To dwell in a place is to live in it fully, to ______________________.
2. Thematic vocabulary (define these words)
a. Environment
b. Frontier
c. Landscape
d. Natural
e. Range
f. Region
g. Resources
h. Rural
i. Urban
j. Wilderness
3. Answer the following in a well thought out, well-constructed paragraph. Would you
ever consider leaving Earth to spend time on a space station or in a colony on another
planet? Why or why not? What qualities do you think are needed to be a pioneer or
explorer?
C. How does literature shape or reflect society? (p. lxxxix)
1. Literature is a product of _______________________.
2. Thematic vocabulary (define these words)
a. Humorist
b. Myth
c. Persona
d. Regionalism
e. Satire
II.
f. Social critic
g. Storytelling
h. Vernacular
i. Visionary
3. Answer the following in a well thought out, well-constructed paragraph. Which three
famous Americans strongly influence you? Your list can include television
personalities, writers, movie actors or directors, athletes, politicians, etc. Tell why you
have selected each person and how each person influences you.
Historical Background (p. 4-5) – Read the paragraph(s) under each subheading and record 2 important facts that
relate to the challenges that Americans faced at each period in history.
III.
IV.
V.
A. The First Americans
1.
2.
B. Puritans, Pilgrims, Planters
1.
2.
C. The Age of Reason
1.
2.
D. The Birth of the Nation
1.
2.
EQ – Literature and Place (p. 6-8) – Copy and answer the following questions.
A. What was the New World’s natural environment?
B. How did the attitudes of the colonists differ from those of most Native American cultures
regarding environment?
C. Are our contemporary attitudes toward the land more like those of the colonists or those of the
Native Americans?
EQ – Literature and America (p. 9-10)
A. Define theme –
B. Early American themes
1.
2.
3.
C. What was uniquely American about those themes?
EQ – Literature and Society (p.11-13)
A. What social and political forces affected early American literature?
1.
2.
3.
B. What were the major roles of early American writers and how did those roles relate to society?
1.
2.
3.