Classic american literature on spheres ideology
This is an assignment that focuses on the classic american literature on spheres ideology. The paper compares and contrasts two treatment divisions.
The classic american literature on spheres ideology
Please choose one of the below topics about which to write a 5 pp., double-spaced critical essay in 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Please submit Microsoft Word files (or Google Docs, or Pages files) rather than PDFs.
The essay should be titled, paginated, and follow MLA or Chicago citation conventions, including a list of works cited. Eligible works include: “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman, “The Wide, Wide World” by Susan Warner, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs, “Bartelby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, “Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain, or any of the following Emily Dickinson Poems: Her breast is fit for pearls, “Faith” is fine invention, I’m wife; I’ve finished that’ Some keep the Sabbath going to Church, I like a look of Agony, There’s a certain Slant of light, I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
They shut me up in Prose, I showed her Heights she never saw, I dwell in Possibility, I heard a Fly buzz – when I died, I started Early – Took my Dog, My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun, Publication – is the Auction, Tell all the truth but tell it slant.
Analysis
1.As we have seen, much of nineteenth-century American literature engages separate spheres ideology. This is located women’s activity and authority within the private. Also, domestic realm and that of men in the public realm of politics and the economy. a.Many of Emily Dickinson’s poems are rich with domestic imagery. Yet, Dickinson occasionally distances her speaker from the domestic sphere (as in Poems 656, 764). Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” similarly complicates separate spheres ideology. Although the story is set in a Wall Street office, Bartleby makes this space his home. Analyze the ways in which works by these white, middle-class authors critique and/or reinforce separate spheres ideology and, relatedly, conventional gender roles. In addressing these questions, focus on either two poems by Dickinson or on Melville’s story.
The classic american literature on spheres ideology
Alternatively, you might compare and contrast Dickinson’s and Melville’s treatment of gendered divisions. b. As Harriet Jacobs suggests with her portrayal of Linda Brent’s grandmother in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Separate spheres ideology had limited applicability outside white, middle-class households. How do nineteenth-century writers of color complicate and critique separate spheres ideology by portraying alternative kinds of home and family life? How might these Black or indigenous domesticities model alternative forms of American identity? (Keep in mind that there is, of course, no monolithic American identity; you will want to avoid referring to “the American identity”. Analyze the significance of alternative constructions of American identity.)
2. Secondly, analyze satire and/or irony in “Bartleby the Scrivener” or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. How does Melville or Twain critique through tone? What role does humor play in such moments? Be sure to identify the object of Melville or Twain’s critique, and what precisely the critique is.
The classic american literature on spheres ideology
3. In Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman proclaims himself “the poet of the body.” In fact, most of our nineteenth-century works call attention to embodiment. Predictably, these texts depict bodies in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. But these bodies are also pregnant, sick, hungry, injured, drunk, weak, dying, captive, hidden, displayed, violent, covered, or exposed – among myriad other corporeal states and conditions. (And sometimes bodies seem to disappear from our texts entirely!) Conducting close readings of one or two texts, analyze the significance of these embodied representations of American identity. (Keep in mind that there is, of course, no monolithic American identity; you will want to avoid referring to “the American identity” and instead analyze the significance of various corporeal manifestations of American identity.)
4. Lastly, conduct an analysis of the various versions of one of Dickinson’s poems — these may include fascicles, letter-poems, and/or different published editions. How do even slight editorial changes stabilize and/or distort meaning? Does Dickinson’s poetry offer multiple, even contradictory, interpretations? If so, how? If choosing this prompt, be sure to focus on poems that we did not analyze extensively in lecture: alternate versions of several poems are below.
