Can you help me with this

profileMonroe_1
american_lit_midterm.docx

DUE BY FEBRUARY 26 AT 11:59PM (upload to Safe Assign on Blackboard)

This is an open-note and open-book midterm. Feel free to use your class notes, your course books, and any documents posted on our Blackboard site. Do not use any other sources, go to the Writing Center, or collaborate with a partner.

Do not write on any given text more than once.

Section 1: please respond to only TWO of the following questions. Each response should be at least 250 words.

2) Analyze the rhetorical strategies of ONE of the following texts: Christopher Columbus’s letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One” by Benjamin Franklin, or “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass. What is the goal of the text, and how does the writer attempt to reach his audience? Do you think his strategies are successful? Why or why not?

4) As Harriet Jacobs unveils the horrors of slavery, what are the different ways she tries to appeal to the Northern white women of her audience in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl? Think about the style and tone of Jacobs’s writing, the types of scenes she describes, the character she presents to her audience, etc.

Section 2 (required): please respond to the following question in at least 600 words.

Select a theme or topic of your choice (feel free to choose from the list on Blackboard). Analyze, compare, and contrast how your selected theme/topic is employed in TWO of the texts we have read so far. You do not need a focused thesis statement—just show me how you are thinking through your theme/topic as it plays out in your selected works. Make sure to use textual evidence to support your analysis (who knows—a careful reading of a line or passage could result in a surprising discovery!), but be careful not to summarize the texts.

Suggestions:

· Review the texts/your notes, brainstorm, and outline before writing out your responses

· Think about how the themes of this course intersect

· Although you should provide evidence for your claims, avoid lengthy quotes from any

course material

· Think quality over quantity: longer responses do not guarantee a better grade

· Proofread your work

· Try not to begin the midterm on the day it is due!

SECTION 1

POINTS POSSIBLE

EXPECTATIONS

POINTS RECEIVED

RESPONSE 1 RESPONSE 2

3 POINTS

ANALYSIS: Each response demonstrates critical and thoughtful engagement with the course material.

2 POINTS

EVIDENCE: Each response adequately demonstrates knowledge of the material discussed in class.

1 POINT

WRITING: Each response meets the minimum word requirement and is free of errors.

SECTION 2

POINTS POSSIBLE

EXPECTATIONS

POINTS RECEIVED

6 POINTS

ANALYSIS: Response demonstrates critical and thoughtful engagement with the course material.

4 POINTS

EVIDENCE: Response adequately demonstrates knowledge of the material discussed in class.

2 POINTS

WRITING: Response meets the minimum word requirement and is free of errors.

TOTAL POINTS: /24