Unit III: American Classic, 1840-1870
Week 10: Literature, Politics, and Social Justice
Please READ:
- Chief Seattle 229-231
- Harriet Hanson Robinson 232-235
- "Moral Struggle" p. 253
- Harriet Beecher Stowe 259-264
- "Women Novelists of the Nineteenth Century" p. 265
- Frederick Douglass 266-268
- Sojourner Truth 269-70
- Abraham Lincoln 271-272
- Lee 273-4
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton 283-286
- Satanta 343
- Chief Joseph 344-345.
- Please also begin reading Huckleberry Finn. Try to get through at least a third of it this week.
CONSIDER for discussion:
- What is the place of social criticism and commentary in literature? Some of this week's readings were written as political and social commentary; others were written as literature with a social message.
- From what you know of American history, how effective were these various pieces of literature in changing peoples' awareness of real problems?
- What utility for us does the social criticism of a bygone era have? Do they address problems that are still with us?
Contents of this page © Copyright 2001, 2003, 2006 by Bruce A. McMenomy.
Permission to download or print this page is hereby given to members of Scholars Online for purposes of personal study only. All other use constitutes a violation of copyright.