Essay for Early American Literature Due: No Later Than December 6 via Elearn Dropbox Please respond to one of the following questions in a 3-4 page essay. You must include at least one outside source and adhere to MLA format 1. Discuss the themes and elements of Native American creation stories. How do the characteristics that resonate in these myths differ from those found in Judeo/Christian mythology? How might we account for their differences? Are there similarities between the Native and European origin stories? If so, how can we make sense of these and what do these similarities mean? 2. Consider the graphic nature of Casas’ accounts of the Spanish atrocities. Gleefully drowning children, dismembering pregnant women, and torturing captives over smoldering fires, the Spanish conquerors in Casas’ narrative engage in shocking brutality. Discuss why Casas might have chosen to represent so vividly the horror of the Spanish Conquest from the Indian point of view. How does his description reverse common European stereotypes about the “savagery” of American Indians? What kind of audience does he assume will read his work? Why might he think these accounts of violence will persuade them? Why does he consistently refer to the torture and murder of women and children? How effective is his strategy? 3. Compare Columbus’ descriptions of the islands’ plants, natural features, and native inhabitants in the first and second letter featured in The Norton Anthology of American Literature. What kind of language does he use in the first letter? How is it different in the second? What does Columbus seem preoccupied with? How else might we account for the different versions of the new world depicted in these letters? Consider the political project each letter was intended to serve. Why might Columbus insist that “Española is a marvel” in the first letter, and then portray it as an “exhausted,” unhealthy place populated by “cruel savages” in his later account? 4. At the conclusion of the excerpt from the Relation in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Cabeza de Vaca explains that the Indians refused to believe that he and his group were of the same race as the “Christian slavers” they encountered in Mexico. Their “naked and barefoot” appearance as well as their gentleness and generosity seemed to separate them, in the Indians’ minds, from the Spaniards. Look at this segment of the narrative carefully, examining it for indications of Cabeza de Vaca’s own racial and national identification. Does he see himself as “of the same people” as the Christian slavers? How has his identity as a European and as a conquistador altered over the course of this time among the Indians? To get at the issue of Cabeza de Vaca’s hybrid identity, chart his interesting use of pronouns in this concluding section of the Relation. When does he use “we” and “they”? Whom does he include when he refers to “we” and us”? 5. Bradford wrote Book I of Of Plymo ...

1. Essay for Early American Literature
Due: No Later Than December 6 via Elearn Dropbox
Please respond to one of the following questions in a 3-4 page
essay. You must include at least one outside source and adhere
to MLA format
1. Discuss the themes and elements of Native American creation
stories. How do the characteristics that resonate in these myths
differ from those found in Judeo/Christian mythology? How
might we account for their differences? Are there similarities
between the Native and European origin stories? If so, how can
we make sense of these and what do these similarities mean?
2. Consider the graphic nature of Casas’ accounts of the Spanish
atrocities. Gleefully drowning children, dismembering pregnant
women, and torturing captives over smoldering fires, the
Spanish conquerors in Casas’ narrative engage in shocking
brutality. Discuss why Casas might have chosen to represent so
vividly the horror of the Spanish Conquest from the Indian
point of view. How does his description reverse common
European stereotypes about the “savagery” of American
Indians? What kind of audience does he assume will read his
work? Why might he think these accounts of violence will
persuade them? Why does he consistently refer to the torture
and murder of women and children? How effective is his
strategy?
3. Compare Columbus’ descriptions of the islands’ plants,
natural features, and native inhabitants in the first and second
letter featured in The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
What kind of language does he use in the first letter? How is it
different in the second? What does Columbus seem preoccupied
with? How else might we account for the different versions of
the new world depicted in these letters? Consider the political
project each letter was intended to serve. Why might Columbus
insist that “Española is a marvel” in the first letter, and then

2. portray it as an “exhausted,” unhealthy place populated by
“cruel savages” in his later account?
4. At the conclusion of the excerpt from the Relation in The
Norton Anthology of American Literature, Cabeza de Vaca
explains that the Indians refused to believe that he and his
group were of the same race as the “Christian slavers” they
encountered in Mexico. Their “naked and barefoot” appearance
as well as their gentleness and generosity seemed to separate
them, in the Indians’ minds, from the Spaniards. Look at this
segment of the narrative carefully, examining it for indications
of Cabeza de Vaca’s own racial and national identification.
Does he see himself as “of the same people” as the Christian
slavers? How has his identity as a European and as a
conquistador altered over the course of this time among the
Indians? To get at the issue of Cabeza de Vaca’s hybrid
identity, chart his interesting use of pronouns in this concluding
section of the Relation. When does he use “we” and “they”?
Whom does he include when he refers to “we” and us”?
5. Bradford wrote Book I of Of Plymouth Plantation in 1630 and
Book II from about 1644 to 1650. Why are these dates of
composition significant and how does the content reflect (or not
reflect) the religious philosophy felt by the Puritans? How do
certain historical events color Bradford’s account? How might
his account of the hardships the group faced upon landing
affirm their claim both to the land and to spiritual purity? You
might also examine how Bradford’s tone and outlook changed in
the fourteen years that elapsed between the writing of Book I
and Book II.
6. Discuss and locate biblical and typological moments in
Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” and note similarities
between the Puritans and the Old Testament Hebrews. Consider
the significance of the Puritan’s insistence on understanding
their own history as prefigured by the Bible. What kinds of
pressures might this tendency to read biblical and divine
significance into everyday affairs put on individuals and on
communities? How might it work to comfort and reassure

3. people?
7. Both Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson were two
influential writers who articulated American ideals and
celebrated the potential of the American individual. Franklin
helped shape the foundational myth of the “American Dream”
by narrating his own rise from obscurity through hard work and
virtue. Forty years later, Emerson built on Franklin’s practical
ideas of self-improvement and made them more personal and
spiritual. How does each writer differ in his answer to the
question, what make and American? Discus the complexities
and evolution of ideas about individualism and the national
character as seen by both Emerson and Franklin.
8. Discuss biblical typology in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of
the Life of Frederick Douglass. Why is this significant and what
does it mean?
9. Discuss the tension between civilization and nature in
Hawthorne’s short stories. Why is this tension important?
10. What seems to be the central conflict at the heart of Irving’s
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and how does this contribute to
Irving’s view of America?
11. Discuss the role of identity and its destruction in Poe’s short
stories.
12. Discuss the role of women in Poe’s short stories. How do
they fit or challenge traditional female roles?
13. Discuss the role of women in Hawthorne’s short stories.
How do they fit or challenge traditional female roles?
14. Discuss biblical typology in Hawthorne’s short stories.
15. Discuss symbolism in Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener.”
16. Discuss the transformation of the Narrator in Melville’s
“Bartleby, the Scrivener.”
17. Discuss symbolism in Melville’s “The Paradise of Bachelors
and the Tartarus of Maids.”