This document is a discussion prompt for an American Literature course focusing on works from the Civil War to present that deal with racial and ethnic identity. It includes 3 parts for students to respond to in their weekly forum post. Part I asks students to discuss a surprising fact about one of the authors. Part II discusses how changing the location in the works might affect perspective. Part III examines the strong female characters in some of the works and asks students to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of one character. The prompt requires a minimum 300 word response engaging with at least two classmates' posts.

1. $25 for short notice & tons of reading...... Due Sunday
LITR221 – American Literature from the Civil War to Present
Week 2 – Racial and Ethnic Identity
Part I:
Name one surprising fact you discovered about any of this
week's authors. Why did it surprise you?
Part II:
Most of the works this week were somewhat specific in terms
of location. How might the perspective have changed if the
events were placed in a another location? For instance,
lynchings took place in the North, as well as the South. What is
the significance of placing "Song for a Dark Girl" in the South?
How would the impact have changed without that information?
That is only one example.
Part III:
Although the focus of the week was race and ethnicity,
Morrison, Hurston, and Walker present strong female
characters. What characteristics do these stories imply are
desirable? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of any one of
these characters. Use examples from the text to support your
argument.
Submission Instructions:
As with every "main" forum post, please make comments
substantive (in at least 300 words). Use quotations to support
your points, but make sure to balance them with your own
original ideas. Finally, please engage two of your classmates in
their forum posts to help further our conversation. Please be
sure to check back to read and respond to anyone who

2. responded to your forum as a common courtesy. Respond to
classmates' posts in at least 100-150 words each.
Reading & Resources:
"A Month in the Country" by Jay Wright
"Song for a Dark Girl" by Langston Hughes
"How it Feels to Be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston
"Sula" by Toni Morrison
or
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
"What You Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie
"The Third and Final Continent" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Conversion of the Jews" by Philip Roth
"The Day the Cisco Kid Shot John Wayne" by Nash Candelaria
or
"The Last of the Menu Girls" by Denise Chavez
Student Response #1 – Martin
Part I:
One interesting fact I discovered this week is that Native
American Author, Sherman Alexie suffers from bi-polar
disorder. This has played into his work. Through the
depression times he speaks of struggling to leave his bed
however, when in the manic state he beams of writing entire
novels in two weeks. From this he argues that most of the
world’s great art comes from manic periods of an artists life. I
have never put much thought to associating great writers and
their mental limitations…or might it be their mental strengths.
For example, greats like Sylvia Plath who plummeted into
depression while still in college. Similarly there was Ernest
Hemmingway (one of my personal favorites as he lived in my
home state of Idaho) who too suffered from depression and
bipolar disorder. (McCann)
Finally, I found it interesting that Alexie spoke of harnessing
this disorder and utilizing its powers to produce his works.

3. Part II:
In the poem, A Month in the Country, author Jay Wright
describes escaping the wiles of New York to the countryside of
New Hampshire. In it he eloquently describes in detail the
picturesque scene of this home, and its “right” perfectness that
it portrays, but he is haunted by the silence and uneasiness of
being alone, not only in person but in color as well. But being
in the New England area he can sense that all of the locals (to
include the dogs) are likely more uncertain of his lone presence
than he is of theirs combined.
Transversely were he to have ventured from the wiles of city
life in the South into the countryside of a state like Mississippi
or Louisiana this suspicious state would be quite different. The
fear of accompanying the night would not be that of the wind
however likely all unplaced sounds would lead to fear of self
preservation and living to see another day. Likely too the
childlike ignorance found in the little girls greeting would never
be found in the South at that time. In fact there likely would be
no salutations at all but more disgust and disdain for his very
presence.
Part III:
Although the focus of the week was race and ethnicity,
Morrison, Hurston, and Walker present strong female
characters. What characteristics do these stories imply are
desirable? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of any one of
these characters. Use examples from the text to support your
argument.
In Alice Walker’s Everyday Use, the character named Dee
(Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo) expressed both characteristics
of strength and weakness. From the start the narration from the
mother details of how Dee was the strong one, never looking
back by getting her education looking to the future and
somewhat ashamed for her poor and simple upbringing. In fact
the mother recalls how when their old dingy house burned to the

4. ground concentrating till the last board fell to the blaze. Dee
was also living a blessed life being allowed to go to Augusta for
school and how through this she became far more educated than
her mother an sister. She was also a determined woman wanting
nice thing and looking to the future and power from being
smothered by the people who oppressed her (that is after all
why she changed her name). But inside all of this strength there
also can be found weakness. When asking her mother for her
grandmothers hand stitched quilts, the mother expressed how
she had promised them to her sister and in this she was put off.
Not thinking of other just herself and how she wanted to hang
them up and display them, whereas her sister would likely use
them until they wore out and felt only she could appreciate
them.
However, here she was the one who moved on, has nice things
and living a life of luxury, yet she still could not appreciate her
own sister’s needs…the same sister who had watched Dee get
everything in life!
Sources:
McCann, Kim.
"5 Writers who suffered from mental illnesses & the impact it
had on their art."
The Airship. 9 December 2014 .
Student Response #2 – Dana
PART I
A surprising fact that I learned about an author this week was
that Toni Morrison was the only one, out of these authors, to
win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1993. She won it for being
an author "who in novels, characterized by visionary force and
poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American
reality" (Good Reads). And in 2001 she was named one of “The
30 Most Powerful Women in America” by the Ladies Home
Journal (Good Reads). Most of the information I read about her
was actually in Wikipedia, I know that source is frowned upon

5. but it had so much information on her in one place. She is such
an accomplished author. Her book, “The Bluest Eye,” was great
and was made part of Oprah’s Book Club many years back.
From what I’ve read about her she seems so humble, even with
her great accomplishments.
PART II
I think that the importance of the settings for these stories is to
help the reader better imagine the story. You almost feel as
though you are a part of it. For instance, Zora Neale Hurston’s
“How it Feels to Be Colored Me,” she begins by describing the
little town she grew up in. It made me feel like I was there.
Either as someone walking down the street, receiving one of
Zora’s greetings, or standing in the yard with her, as she
watched the white people pass through the town on their way to
or from Orlando (Hurston). Without having that information or
even changing the location, I think the story would have had a
completely different meaning. I know I would have imagined it
differently.
If you get the chance, you really should read her novel, "Their
Eyes Were Watching God." This is a great book!
PART III
I thoroughly enjoyed the stories by Morrison, Hurston, and
Walker. Their stories brought the reader to see that a strong
woman was a desirable characteristic. In Walker’s story this is
seen in Dee’s (Wangero) character. From the beginning she is
clearly a strong, independent person. She also seems to flaunt
her “blessed” life of being able to go off to school and gaining a
great amount of knowledge over her mother and sister. She is
quite determined to have a better life than she did living in that
small three room house. She changes her name in an attempt to
overcome what she considers that oppression of her given name.
She later returns home and tries to take a couple handmade
quilts that her grandmother made. Her mother informs her that
they were promised to her sister and Dee, thinking only of
herself, points out that her sister will only use them and wear
them out but that she will hang them for display and appreciate

6. their pricelessness. In this, her weakness is seen when she fails
to account for and appreciate her sister’s needs and feelings.
Dee realizes that you don’t always get what you want just
because you think you are the better person.
Works Cited
N.a. “Good Reads.” Toni Morrison. Goodreads.com. n.d. Web.
10 Dec 2014
Hurston, Zora N. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” N.d.
hccs.edu. Web 10 Dec 2014