Literature Research paper

Suggested Topics for American Lit.I Research Essay1.html

Topics for Research Papers -- American Literature I – You Must choose an American writer from your text or from the time period covered by this course. Concentrate on literary contributions. You may choose a writer that we have not studied. You may adjust or change these topics – you must follow the guidelines set out by the Research Assignment Sheet and must support your claims with proof from the text and clarification from your sources. I expect excellent work from this class. Use Smarthinking and the online Writing Center to help you!!! The questions and topics below are meant to help you think about each topic - not to define or limit you within their boundaries. They are not thesis statements. You will have to create and craft your own thesis statement. 

1. Frederick Douglas’s account of his life as a slave includes many amazing observations. Two in particular would make excellent papers – the hideous and destructive effect of slavery on the slaveholder shown by the fear invoked in the slave owner by the thought of a slave learning to read and the powerful effect that Mr. Auld’s prohibition had on Douglas. How he took from his master’s objection the knowledge that education could help him become free— How he pursued his education…There may be at least two papers in all this discussion. The fierce passion he had to educate himself makes me ashamed of the fact that I can take education for granted. Another thing that is very powerful is his equally fierce Christianity and his clear understanding that though his masters cloaked all that they did in Christian words, theirs was a false Christianity. While he abhorred their religion, he was a passionate and fervent defender of biblical Christianity. “The Slaveholder’s Religion v. Frederick Douglas’s Christianity,” “Slavery’s Degradation of the Slaveholder’s Character: A Look at Sophia Auld in the Writing of Frederick Douglas” (You would not have to restrict this to Sophia Auld.)

2. John Winthrop’s vision for Boston as “a city set on a hill” – from a speech given in 1630 aboard the Arbella and how it became a part of the United States’ vision of itself. (That phrase comes from the New Testament – you will need to know the context to write this paper.)

3. A theme in the poetry of Ann Bradstreet. Was she a radical in seeing the domestic world as worthy of poetry? (Were there British women who wrote poetry about domestic subjects? ) What does the fact that she was published say about the views of women in New England society? What type of education did she have – how does it show in her poetry?

4. Discuss the level of education among the early leaders of Plymouth Plantation and Massachusetts Bay Colony. Show examples of their learning from their work. Was education highly regarded in this world?

5. Major themes, subjects and style of any one of the poets that fall within the appropriate time frame for the course. Demonstrate the poet's contribution to the literature of this period in your discussion.

6. Fantasy and folklore in the work of Washington Irving. (You could take this topic several ways). How do these elements intertwine in Irving's writings to give his fantastic plots a feeling of folklore? How does Washington create "fairy tales" of New England similar to the fairy tales of Europe? Address both "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Headless Horseman" in your paper. You do not need to summarize the stories -- but pull out the elements of folklore and fantasy that you want to discuss. 

7. Research the conflict between Plymouth Plantation and Thomas Morton’s Merry Mount. This clash brings out two different views of life that may even be seen in America today under different guises. Elaborate and evaluate these events and the ideas behind them in some detail with help from sources and support from the texts. To the Puritans what did Merry Mount and Tomas Morton most likely represent? “Dancing ‘Round the Maypole In Earshot of the Puritans” If you choose this topic, you will have to evaluate your sources carefully. Depending on the “side” chosen by the author facts are often distorted.

8. Ideas and themes in William Bradford’s work that became part of the framework for American government and political thought. 

9. Look at John Hancock’s speech and Patrick Henry’s along with Benjamin Franklin’s Call to prayer from. Analyze the ideas in these works that helped to help create and express the values of this country. You could depending on your point of view – illustrate how those ideas survived or how they have been rejected or neglected.

10. The life and writing of Olaudah Equiano. This remarkable man’s writing shows his ability to create the most unlikely friendships, his gift for survival in horrible circumstances, and his tireless work as an abolitionist.

11. “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” shows the work of a highly skilled narrator even though it is the only surviving example of her work that we have. Discuss, evaluate, and illustrate her qualities as a narrator using passages from her work and outside sources to support your claims and perception. The book was wildly popular here and in England. What elements in her story are repeated in the fictional tales of James Fennimore Cooper or other similar tales?

12. Edward Taylor’s poetry compares favorably with British metaphysical poets. Pick three of his poems and discuss the qualities that make his work stand out among the poets of the new world. Explain some of the characteristics of metaphysical poetry that appear in his work. Discuss how the use of these images and figures of speech help to depict his view of God and God's character and love for human beings. 

13. “The Remarkable Life and Work of Phillis Wheatley” Read several of her poems and a biography of her life. Use these sources and others to discuss her poetry as a body of work or to pick three major poems for explication.

15. Compare the life and ideas of William Byrd to the New Englanders. Are their ideas and views of human beings different? Give examples and illustrations.

16. Some consider Jonathan Edwards to be the last Puritan. (Some say the Puritans have stayed with us and have just changed their rules! Exercise everyday, don't eat read meat, sugar, or wheat, etc. but that comment does not show a real understanding of the Puritans.) Look at Edwards’s most famous sermon – one credited with starting the Great Awakening – “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”—Does the view of God he puts forth in this sermon square with the God of Ann Bradstreet or Edward Taylor (choose any one of the earlier writers)? Some might say that Edward's view of God at least as it was expressed in that sermon was far different from Bradstreet's and Taylor's. 

17. Read the works of Benjamin Franklin in your book and describe his greatest literary contributions. Evaluate and assess this complicated man through his writing.

18. Read the famous letters between Abigail and John Adams. Describe the view of marriage you see there. As always bring in other sources to help you understand. Letters can be literature and their letters create the picture of a lively vital marriage where ideas and sentiments are shared freely.

19. Thomas Paine – Read and evaluate his ideas – compare his thinking to Franklin or Jefferson.

20. Thomas Jefferson – take the Declaration of Independence and read it carefully. Clarify the values underlying this great document – using outside sources to help you as well as more of Jefferson’s writings. Can you separate the value of the ideas from the man's inconsistencies? 

21. Women’s poetry in the colonies – compare the work of these six poets to Anne Bradstreet’s poetry from an earlier time. What do you learn about what occupies the mind of these poets? Are they as well educated as Mrs. Bradstreet?

22. Pick an American (one who was born here or moved here and wrote) writer from the time period between 1607 and 1885 not mentioned in this list and create your own topic as long as it meets the requirements of the Research paper assignment sheet. Historical figures who have great stories but who do not write are not eligible topics for this paper because this is a literature class. 

23. Compare Nathaniel Hawthorne’s view of the Puritans with those you have actually read: Winthrop, Bradstreet, Sewall, or Mather. Which ones by their words and actions seem to support Hawthorne’s view and which seem to challenge his view by their lives and work?

24. The Puritan poets may be credited with making the self a part of the American mindset early on. Walt Whitman’s poetry transforms that reflective, penitential, and praising self into what? See "Song of Myself" to glimpse that transformation into what? When you read Whitman the direction of the focus will help answer this question. The Puritans valued and enjoyed God's world and themselves in it. Whitman's exuberant self is defined how? by whom? In becoming everything, what gets lost? What if anything is found? 

25. Emerson’s writing helps to further define the American psyche at this point in time and his influence is still felt. Pick two or three of his essays and show how these ideas have survived in American culture and thought today. Show how a close reading of "Self-Reliance" shows that this is not the kind of self-reliance your parents hoped for you to develop as they sent you off to preschool. What is self-reliance he defines? Would his idea be so sublime in a culture where everyone adopted his ideas?

26. Longfellow is a quintessentially American poet – long out of favor – undeservedly so. Yes or no? Round up good sources that show his strengths as well as his weaknesses. Are his weaknesses a matter of our own prejudices - our own limited views?

27. Poe – there are so many ways to go here – detective fiction, poetry, critical writing.  His skill as a short story writer is amazing. He is a skilled poet. Read his Philosophy of Composition and evaluate it with critical help or use it to evaluate one of his works! what has his work contributed to American Literature? To the horror/suspense genre? To detective fiction?(Or you could ask, "Was he insane or just insanely brilliant?")

28. Emily Dickinson (in my humble opinion) the first and a foremost modern poet. Discuss, divine, declare her unique gifts as a poet. What does her spare enigmatic style allow her to do that she could not do otherwise? What does she have to give up as a poet (not as a person)? There’s a trade-off perhaps. Compare Dickinson to Whitman!!! Who is the greatest?

29. Education should challenge and should free the student from being locked in to the views, prejudices, and limitations of his or her own moment of history. Pick a writer from American Literature I who challenges and helps to free us from the prejudices and limitations of the 21st Century. We are well-acquainted with the limitations of the past and, in fact, that is the way we usually view it -- through its failings and there are a multitude. However, being so myopic prevents us from seeing our current age with clarity. Struggle out of your 21st century mindset to see how we could be challenged by a writer from the past. This requires a lot of reading, reason, and imagination as well as a bit of self-examination. 

30. Look at the elements of 19th century romanticism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's work (again - he is NOT a Puritan though he is obsessed with his own view of them). 

31. Jupiter Hammon was first published African American poet in America. Look at themes and writing style. You could also look at his speeches given to the African American community. Or -- Compare and contrast the work of Jupiter Hammon with Phillis Wheatly's work. Some of his poems address her directly. 

32. William Apess wrote the first published autobiography by a Native American Son of the Forest. As a minister and activist he wrote with a message and purpose. What was that message and what was the effect of it? 

33. Harriet Jacobs' narrative "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" shows incredible resilience and resourcefulness. She forms relationships and alliances with the some of the most unlikely people and manages to defeat a powerful master who is relentless in his pursuit of her and in his dedication to separating her from her children. Explore the effect of this powerful narrative on the abolitionist movement and on the American public in general. Or compare her narrative to Douglass' account of his life under slavery. 

34. Select another author in your text Becoming America (there are a host of them not mentioned here) and come up with a topic.