Literature of Early America:
A Meeting of Peoples and Cultures
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a
look at the pre-1800 experiences of Native
Americans, slaves, and Puritans through
their oral traditions and writing.
Materials for today:
Grab a textbook and be ready to take notes
and answer questions
Vocab builder: Our textbooks breakdown American literature chronologically. Who can
define that for me? Make sure you take notes on words in red that we discuss.
Khronos = Greek for time + logia = Greek for “study of”
What other words have chrono in them?
Synchronize / Chronometer / Chronicle (a history of events in time order without
interpretation) / anachronism
Take a look at this timeline
1492
A. Puritans
B. Native Americans
C. African Slaves
1620
1619
Can you match the dates
above to the groups on
the left?
Why are the dates
significant to each group?
Can you find the answers by looking at the timeline (pages 4 - 8) and
reading the Historical Background on page 4 of your textbooks?
We’ll be looking at literature from
these three groups…
1492:
Columbus
“discovers”
America
A. Puritans
B. Native Americans
C. African Slaves
1620: Pilgrims
land at
Plymouth Rock
1619: First
African slaves
are brought to
Jamestown, VA
Can you guess what were the
foremost concerns of the
literature of these groups?
Indians/Native Americans:
What’s in a name?
Discussion questions for you before we proceed to the
myths…
• Did Columbus really discover America? Where did he
land in 1492? What is it about the word “discover” that
might be insulting to native people?
• Why are Indians called Indians? Is there a connection to
Columbus? Where did he land? Where did he think he
was?
• Are Native Americans really native?
• What are some stereotypical images of Indians? How
can we avoid using them?
American Originals: Indians arrived here by crossing the Bering
Strait about 12,000 years ago. Even though they technically
immigrated here, they were also here first.
Stereotype
Who wants to define it and try using
it in a sentence?
a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type
of person or thing.
The stereotype of an Indian wearing a feather war bonnet is not accurate.
Only a few Western tribes wore these.
Native Americans have often been stereotypically
portrayed:
• as “obstacles to progress”
• as “bloodthirsty savages”
• as stoic (indifferent to pain) and emotionless
• as laconic, reluctant speakers.
One of the most damaging and stubborn injustices done to
Native Americans is how they have been portrayed in film
and TV, as we’ll see in this clip.
Other common ways Indians are
stereotyped or misleadingly portrayed
 Before Europeans arrived, the Indians had no blanket term for themselves. As
our textbook map (page 3) shows Indians are actually made up of dozens of
distinct peoples with their own myths, languages, and customs.
 Sometimes we talk about Indians as if they were extinct, like the
dinosaurs. For example, some filmstrips and books may have titles like "How
the Indians Lived," as though there are not any Indian people living today.
 Anachronisms. For example, A movie set before 1540 should not show
Indians on horses or riding in wagons. These things did not exist in the
Indian world at this time.
 Native Americans should be viewed as heirs of long traditions extending
back before contact with Europeans. Their history doesn’t start when white
people made first contact with them.
Source:ANTHROPOLOGY OUTREACH OFFICE
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
1996
Characteristics of Myths
1.
Used to explain the ORIGINS of the universe, earth, seas, people, animals, fire,
wind (natural world), etc. Technical term: Cosmogony (from Greek Kosmos
[universe] + gonos [offspring]) Pronounced like mahogany = the creation or
origin of the world or universe. Compare to genealogy.
2. May include nonhuman characters (gods and goddesses, spirits, animals).
3. Might take place in an unformed, bare version of the world before living things
were created.
4. Tend to include archetypes: the hero, the trickster, the orphan, the caregiver,
the rebel…
5. They sometimes ask reader to accept strange or supernatural occurrences as a
normal part of the story (magic realism).
6. They address life’s big questions: Who are we? Why are we here? What is our
purpose?
7. They include moral elements: Examples of right and wrong behavior.
8. They attempt to make sense of opposites (dualities like light/dark,
summer/winter, mortality and immortality, being and nothingness).
9. Because we name things to help give order to life, myths tend to include lists of
names for plants, animals, etc.
10. Myths may be stories that are used as part of rituals or ceremonies.
Source: http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~mmagouli/defmyth.htm
Vocabulary
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Chronology: Relating to time. Using time as an organizing
principle.
Stereotype: a biased, fixed or clichéd idea about a group or thing.
Stoic: indifferent to pain (or pleasure)
Laconic: marked by using words sparingly; terse or concise
Cosmogony: (rhymes with mahogany) theories or explanations of
the origins of the universe
Magic Realism: a seemingly realistic story that includes fantastic
elements that are taken for granted.
Duality: The state of being two, or of being divided into two;
twofold division or character; twoness.
Anachronism: A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an
event, circumstance, or object.
DO NOW • READ THE POEM, ANSWER THE QUESTION, BE READY TO DISCUSS
"The Blood Sonnets” by Sherman Alexie
"When my father left me and my mother and siblings to binge drink
for days and weeks, I always wept myself into nosebleeds. And, sure,
you might think this is another poem about a wounded father and son,
but, honestly, the only blood was mine. And it flowed from absence,
not from a punch or kick.
"My father, drunk or not, was kind and passive and never lifted a
fist to strike. Drunk daddy only hit the road. And I would become the
rez* Hamlet who missed his father so much that he bled red ghosts.
Years later, in Seattle, my nose bled when my mother called and said,
'Your father is dead.'”
*rez = Native American slang for “reservation”
Q: What does it mean to you that, “years later,” when Alexie gets
news of his father’s death, his nose bleeds?