American literature

Short Answer Questions:

1.  Discuss several of the masters and/or overseers Frederick Douglass describes in his narrative, and how he seems to feel about each of them.

2. Discuss Frederick Douglass’ experience learning to read.  Who helped him?  How did he help himself?  And how did being able to read change his life?  

3.  Among other things, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a good deal about the evils of slavery.  Discuss how his view of slavery are apparent in “Ichabod!” and “The Hunters of Men.”

4. Analyze any three important symbols in the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville (at least one symbol must come from each writer’s work).

5. Discuss the sexual symbolism in “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids.” How does the bachelors’ paradise symbolize sterility and insensitivity? How does the maids’ Tartarus symbolize oppression and the denial of human love, fertility, and creativity?

6. Summarize any poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and any poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.

7. Discuss “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids” as an indictment of social conditions in the 19thCentury.

8. Poe’s “morbidity” has long attracted those who would diagnose his ailments and gain insight into the working s of his mind. Discuss the appeal of Poe and his works to psychoanalytical and psychological critics.

9. Certain pervasive themes recur in Hawthorne’s stories. These include: the individual’s isolation from the community; the influence of the past on the pre sent; the consequence of sin and guilt; the process of initiation; the limitations of self-reliance; the evil of manipulation.” Select one of these themes as a means of interpreting any one of Hawthorne’s stories.

10. In one Poe story and one Poe poem, discuss his fascination with beauty, death, and women.  

11. “The Purloined Letter” has been called the prototype of all detective stories. Comment on Poe’s contribution to the development of the detective story, including the creation of characters that have become conventions of detective fiction: the master sleuth who helps the police; the uninformed narrator who mediates between detective and reader; the helpless policeman, and the clever villain.

12. Discuss what Frederick Douglass’ life was like after he escaped slavery. What were some of his accomplishments?