2. Question #1: Going
Mainstream
Historically, how have America’s
disenfranchised (including the
poor, minorities, women, etcetera)
negotiated the push to assimilate?
What kinds of things do they let go
of in order to be part of American
mass culture, and what kinds of
things do they hang on to? How is
this demonstrated in literature?
3. Question #2: Salt Of
The Earth
What role does geography play in the
formation ofAmerican identity, and
how is that represented in literature?
Trace the importance of ecosystems
and cities, the connection to the land
and questions of land ownership, and
American regional cultures. How have
major changes to theAmerican
landscape shifted our collective sense
of self?
4. Question #3: A
Dream Deferred
How and why does the meaning of
“the American Dream” change over
the time period we have studied
(1865-2000)?What will the
American Dream be in forty years?
Use this semester’s reading to both
explore the past and speculate about
the future.
5. Question #4: OnThe
Move
Many of the texts that we have read
this semester depict internal
migration—characters moving from
one place to another within the
United States. Why are those
journeys a prominent feature of our
literature, and what does their
prominence explain about American
culture?
6. Question #5: Self And
Other
How is American identity formulated
through relationships, both positive and
adversarial? Survey the relationships
depicted in this semester’s literature.
Include relationships between
individuals, and between individuals and
institutions or ideas. How do connections
outside the self, healthy or
codependent, shape self-realization and
self-understanding within American
society?
7. Question #6: Speak
And Be Heard
What has historically gotten in the way
of a person’s ability to “tell their own
story” or shape their own narrative in
this country?What do instances of
editorial intervention, unstable
narrators, or differences between
writer and subject do to an
individual’s story, fictional or true?
What does this say aboutAmerican
culture?
8. Question #7:
War, Good God,Y’All
What role has violence
(wars, riots, terrorism, excessive
policing) historically played in the
post-CivilWar United States, and
what role do you think it will play
going forward? Use the literature
you read in this course not only to
explain the past, but to speculate
about the future.
