American literature

Choose a different author from the list below for each question. Use each author only once.

A. F. Scott Fitzgerald ("Babylon Revisited")      B. Willa Cather ("Neighbor Rosicky")     

1. How would you describe the protagonist in the work of your first author?  Clearly identify three of the protagonist’s most important characteristics and supply examples that support your idea.   

2. Using the definitions from the course lectures, discuss how the idea of naturalism or modernism is depicted in your author’s work. For naturalism, you will be looking for ways that the characters are portrayed as victims of their society or economy.  For modernism, you will be looking for ways the text challenges traditional ideas and/or portrays the failure of the American Dream.  Give examples of the particular period you find in the story or poems. 

250 words