Colonial American Literature
Your assignment: Choose 3-4 texts to discuss; using at least 2-3 quotes and citations (MLA parenthetical citations are fine) from each text, address the following broad question related to our assigned literary readings:
Using our readings, identify ways that early colonial experiences may have challenged existing beliefs. Show how writers adapted ideas, changed their circumstances, or responded to others.
You may wish to discuss beliefs and ways of thinking such as:
Thinking about the difference between “savage” and “civilized”
Attitudes toward wealth, material goods, and other comforts
Perspectives on governance, authority, and power
Ideas about gender–how men or women ought to behave, for example, and what it means when they don’t do so
Attitudes about writing itself: what writing is for, how we use it, and what makes good writing