Homework for Class #4 (Tuesday 10/5)

Thanks for all of your contributions to the blog this week. That seems to be going very well. I encourage you to read the posts that your classmates are making; you can learn a lot from them. For next week, the first thing you should do is give a short answer to the following question in the comment reply below:  

Do you agree with Edwards that human beings are weak and therefore never entirely good, or do you agree with Franklin that they can make themselves as good as they want to be? 

The reading assignment is as follows.

• Norton editor's headnote from the bottom of 155 to 159 ("Imperial Politics" and "Pursuing Happiness"); you may also want to look at the timeline on 160-61
• The Crevecouer biographical note (bottom 309 - top 310) and the third of his Letters from an American Farmer (310 - top 320)
• The Paine biographical note (bottom 324 to 325) and the first of his The Crisis pamphlets. But I can make it shorter for you... read from bottom 332 to top 334 ("These are the times" to "arrived upon the Delaware") and top 335 to middle 337 ("I shall conclude" to "the slain of America").
  
• The Jefferson biographical note (bottom 338 to middle 340) and his "Declaration of Independence" (top 342 to middle 346)
• The Federalist biographical note (bottom 346 to middle 347) and the first number of The Federalist (bottom 347 to top 350) 
  

Sherry, Teresa, Emma, Qian, Letitia, Joy, Peggy, Iris, and Rea should compose their own questions. I will post my questions for the others shortly.

• 31 (Viola). Why do you think the British-American settlers who protested against British policies in the "Boston Tea Party" dressed themselves as aboriginals? (see pg. 156).  Unrelated side question - do you find it confusing that those aboriginals are commonly referred to as "Native Americans" or "Indians"?
• 32 (Caleigh). Crevecouer actually does live on a farm, but of course he is no more a 'simple farmer' than Cooke or Franklin. One of the interesting things about his Letters is that he tries so hard to simulate the voice of that simple farmer. Point to several examples where he uses 'farmer language,' like metaphors of animals, plants, and growing cycles.
• 33 (Sydney). Compare Crevecouer's notion of the American "hybrid" to Cooke's. In particular, consider his description of ethnic "mixture" on 311 and his pronouncement on 314 that the settlers who live on the western frontier are "no better than carnivorous animals."
  
• 34 (Crystal). What does Paine mean when he says that "panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt"? Why does he think that the U.S. revolution against the British is one of these "cases"? Do you think this theory about panic is true? Why or why not?
  
• 35 (Esther). Compare Paine's writing to that of a non-American revolutionary writer - Robespierre, Bolivar, Lenin, Mao, or whoever you like. In particular you may want to look for similarities to his absolutist statements that the British-American colonies are "infested" by British loyalists (tories) and that every one of them "is a coward" (335), or that "the blood of his children will curse his cowardice who shrinks back" (337). You might also consider comparing the tone and vocabulary he uses, which is quite different from that of Jefferson and Hamilton.
  
• 36 (Jennie). Choose at least one of the deletions that the Congress made to Jefferson's first draft of the "Declaration of Independence" (the underlined words), and explain why this choice might have been made. Choose at least one of the additions that the Congress made to the first draft (the small words in the right margin), and explain why this choice might have been made.
• 37 (Alyssa). Who is the implied reading audience for the "Declaration" of 1776? In other words, when "we" complain about "he," who are "we" speaking to? Why do you think this document later became the favorite resource for U.S. political activists who opposed slavery, who opposed mistreatment of aboriginals, and who favored political rights for women, etc.? And why might this fact be ironic when we consider the political beliefs of Jefferson and his editors?
• 38 (Jane). Why does Hamilton call the United States an "empire" (347)? Why does he say that it is "the most interesting" empire "in the world"? Why does he say that creating the wrong political system for the United States will result in "the general misfortune of mankind," and which of our previous writers does this statement remind you of?
  
• 39 (Clara). What do you think Hamilton/Publius means when he says the government should have "energy" or "efficiency" or "vigor" (349)? These sound like positive words... why would anyone be worried that the government should be like this, and what more negative words might they use instead?
• 40 (Tracy). Instead of talking about the specific content of the various pieces that we are reading this week, let us now talk about their general medium. All four of them were printed either in newspapers or in small, cheap pamphlets, and they were widely circulated and reprinted. What does this fact tell you about the social organization of the British-American colonies? Here is a related question... why do you think the Stamp Act of 1765 caused printers of newspapers and pamphlets (like Franklin) to show an anti-British bias in the content they printed?

Homework for Class #3 (Tuesday 9/29)

Recall that I asked all of you to do a short homework post about the "baggage" or "limited viewpoint" problem. As I said, you can simply rephrase this idea into your own words, provide a personal example, provide a historical/literary example, disagree with the idea, or whatever you want. Post these in the comment reply below. 

Here is the new reading assignment.

• Norton editor's headnote from 151 to the bottom of 155 ("Expanding World," "Enlightenment Ideals," "Reason and Religion")
• The Cooke poem, "The Sot-Weed Factor" (photocopy handout)
• The Edwards biographical note (bottom 168 - top 170) and his sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" (194-205)
• The Franklin biographical note (middle 218 - top 220), the italicized parts of "The Way to Wealth" (220-226), in which Franklin collects quotations from the first 25 years of his writing career, and the following parts of his Autobiography... top of 231 - bottom of 232 ("Dear Son" to "Lord of the Manor there"), top of 237 - middle of 243 ("To return. I continu'd thus" to "I was too saucy and provoking"), bottom of 259 - bottom of 260 ("At my first Admission" to "went on now very agreeably"), top of 267 - middle of 268 ("Before I enter upon" to "and determin'd to preserve it"), top of 269 - top of 270 ("I should have mention'd" to "recommending Business to us."), and finally 283 - top of 292 (the end).

The "experts" should post answers to the following questions in the comment reply, as well as your ten new questions for me.

• 21. Compare the music/time/meter of Cooke's poem to that of Bradstreet's poems. How does the difference feel to you as you read it? Cooke has copied this style from a famous poem about the English Revolution of the 1640s, called Hudibras. Why do you think Cooke chose this "hudibrastic" style of poetry to express his thoughts about colonial Maryland. (Maryland is a small province that was made of Smith's Virginia, the non-religious southern British colony.)
  
• 22. Cooke's poetic speaker hates Maryland and pronounces a curse on it at the end of the poem.  But it is hard to say whether Cooke himself agrees with this "metropolitan" or anti-Maryland view, or whether he takes a "colonial" or pro-Maryland view. Give evidence for both theories about Cooke, and explain which you think is better.
• 23. Write a short poem about NTHU (in English) using the "hudibrastic" meter of "Sot-Weed Factor." You may trade this question to another student if you feel you are not good at writing poetry.
  
• 24. Which of Edwards' images did you find the most terrifying, and why? Is there any comparison possible between this sermon and religious elements in Taiwanese Daoism, Buddhism, animism, etc?
• 25. Why would this type of sermon perhaps be unnecessary for Winthrop or Bradford? Do you feel there is any contradiction between warning people that their bad actions will be punished, but at the same time telling them that they really have no way to know for sure whether their good actions ("an opportunity to attain salvation" - 204) will result in safety (their "election" to heaven)?
  
• 26. Judging from his sermon, do you think Edwards is an anti-Enlightenment thinker? Or do you think his words/ideas show the influence of Enlightenment ideas like Newton's "rational physics" and Locke's "sentimental psychology"? Give evidence for both theories about Edwards, and explain which you think is better.
• 27. Do you, personally, agree more with Franklin's ideas about ethics/morals/psychology, or more with Edwards'? Explain why.
• 28. The Chinese tradition has many maxims or proverbs of a similar nature to the ones that "Poor Richard" says in "The Way to Wealth."  Find a few traditional Chinese maxims that agree with Franklin's maxims, and a few that disagree.
  
• 29. Why is it important for Franklin to establish that he is the "youngest Son of the youngest Son for 5 Generations back" (232)? What can you learn about the changing social organization of the British-American colony when you consider Franklin's rebellion against his older brother (242-43) together with his "Club" or "Junto" (269)?
  
• 30. When the new United States Congress had its first meetings in the 1780s, one of the issues debated was what the seal symbol of the new nation would be. This was their choice. Franklin disagreed, saying that the bird should be a turkey rather than an eagle. Perhaps he was joking... you can never really tell with Franklin. But let us consider that he wasn't. Why does Franklin think the turkey would be a good symbol for the U.S., and how can you relate this to his ideas in "The Way to Wealth" and the Autobiography?

Catchup Questions (Class #2.5)

Good class today... I know we were all pretty tired at the end, but I think we accomplished a good amount. I apologize for not making the time to answer your questions, and making my questions the priority instead. This is not my "city on a hill" ideal for teaching, as described in the Syllabus Covenant. Just because it's something I did do, doesn't mean it's something I would do! I will answer them below.

Oh, and here is the proper YouTube link for Pocohontas.

• Crystal wants to know why there was so much linguistic diversity among American Indian (aboriginal) tribes.  I believe the answer lies in the political and geographical decentralization of these tribes. As I discussed, in Central America (e.g. Aztec Empire in today's central Mexico, Maya Empire in today's southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, etc.) and in South America (e.g. Inca Empire in today's Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador), there were aboriginal empires that had written languages, complex trading networks, complex agriculture, etc. But the North American tribes encountered by the French and British (like the island tribes first encountered by the Spanish) tended to be organized into smaller political and linguistic units. This leads me to a further observation, though. It is a mistake to think that there was only one Spanish people or language. Actually, it was Ferdinand and Isabella who conquered the other "tribes" of Spain and imposed their language (Castilian) and their rule right around the same time that they started their American empire. People still speak those other versions of Spanish today, and there are even still independence movements. Nor was there only one English people or language; right around the same time that they started their American empire, the English were trying to consolidate their imperial language and their imperial rule ("Britain") over the Scottish, Irish, Welsh, etc. Meaning that the empire in the Americas was actually one way that those "tribes" were able to consolidate power in their local area. So another "lie" of ideology is that American aboriginal people are "tribal" whereas European people are "unified."
• Lucille wants to know how imperial encounters altered European languages. I'm not entirely sure the answer to this question. My sense is that the European languages that entered the Americas stayed distinct from one another because the Europeans generally arranged (or fought) to have separate territories. The best counter-example is the city of New Orleans, which was populated for hundreds of years by various French, Spanish, British, free African, and free American peoples. The British considered this to be the city of "sin" or unforgivable linguistic and ethnic mixing. They still celebrate the Catholic holidays there today, like Mardi Gras. Recall that the Spanish tended to permit "mixing" with American aboriginals, whereas contrary to the "Black Legend" the British policies were more about imposing ethnic borders, even at the cost of genocide. You can see then that the Spanish language was more open to the entrance of aboriginal languages, which we can see in today's Mexican, Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, etc. versions of Spanish, which are very different from standard or "Castilian" Spanish. (Although not in Peru, which was the central imperial capital because of the gold. Their Spanish there is very "pure." And in Argentina & Chile, their Spanish is very "changed," but they seem to have killed all the aboriginals at some point.) Even so we can see the entrance of many aboriginal terms into British-American language, in particular the names of places, rivers, etc. You will see a funny version of this take place in Cooke's "Sotweed Factor," where he has an awkward time incorporating the aboriginal word "canoe" into English.
• Esther wants to know what the origins of "Eurocentrism" or European supremacist attitudes are. My answers in class today were "graphocentrism" or the supposition that written language is superior to spoken language, and what we may call "agrocentrism," the supposition that large-scale agriculture involving import/export and private land ownership is superior to hunting, fishing, gathering, or small-scale agriculture. It might also be argued that the greed for physical resources comes "before" the ideology, and the ideology only comes "after" in order to justify it. This is the core of the Black Legend; the British are accusing the Spanish of using their religion as a pretext for conquest, and claiming that they behave otherwise. All the same, I don't think we should consider this attitude uniquely European; it may be possible to look at another empire, for instance, and speak of a "Chinocentrism" that contains many of the same attitudes about writing, agriculture, and skin color, among other things, either as "pre-justifications" or "post-justifications" of empire.
• Caleigh wants to know about womens' roles in the British empire. This is difficult. On the one hand, the "volatility" of imperial adventure leads to stricter gender separation because in circumstances that are physically difficult, the physical difference in strength, etc. between male and female becomes more important. I believe, in practice, that more of the settlers were men, and you can see the ideological side of this when you look at the Pocohontas legend where the European is "male" and the aboriginal is "female." On the other hand, if bare survival is less of an issue, it could be said that the volatility of imperial adventure leads to more open gender roles. Why? Because it takes luxury or real economic security to create the kind of leisure roles that high-status women had in agricultural aristocracies or industrial bourgeois societies. Women who came to the Americas were likely to be the daughters and spouses of relatively poor men, or relatively low status men, and so the womens' economic activity was necessary for prosperity if not bare survival. It is only later when the British colonies become more economically secure that we may see a counter-movement... for instance in the 1770s during the U.S. revolution women were typically seen as economic participants in the society (though not citizens or political participants) whereas by the 1850s they were seen only as "symbols" or "teachers" of American ideals to their children. The strictest answer to your question is that the British law of "coverture" was extended to the Americas and later adapted into U.S. law. Unmarried women could not hold property (it was their father's), married women could not hold property (it was their husband's), but widowed women could (therefore they were seen as a sort of economic and sexual threat), and there was pretty much no possibility of divorce. One of the curious things about the Puritans is that, even though the quasi-democratic Puritan political leadership was all male, and even though they were low-status in Europe mainly for religious reasons (they had some degree of wealth and education), the Puritans did include women in their desire for universal education, which was not usual for the British. (The threat of this female power can be seen in the "Salem Witch trials.")
• Viola wants to know how Puritan writers like Bradford and Winthrop influenced later American people/writers. I think I covered that fairly well today.  "American exceptionalism" means that America is the exception to other countries/empires, a sort of paradise on earth. It also means that any act that it undertakes which does not equal its stated ideals is an "exception." And it means that the British-American colony, or the United States nation, is the "city of man," but America as the underlying ideological concept is a city of God that has no beginning and end, no restricted historical existence.
• Sydney wants a clarification of the Norton editor's point about what audience Puritan religious writing addresses itself to, and how it addressed itself. I tried to discuss the curious double approach in Puritan writing (and in Puritan religious thought) between an address to the "heart" and an address to the "mind." But I think what the editor meant was that the Puritans basically divided the world into five sociological categories. First is aboriginals; they don't seem particularly interested in converting them to their religion as the Spanish and the non-Puritan British like Smith did. Second is Europeans who live in Europe; they live in the "corrupted" city of man and are doomed. Third is the "strangers" who came with them to New England but reject their religion, like Morton. They are also doomed. Fourth is the Puritans themselves, or let's say the "ideal" version of the Puritans... the people that they want to be. They called themselves "saints," pure and holy people, though to be fair they were constantly worried that they weren't living up to their ideals. But the fifth category is the audience of Puritan religious writing and speech. And this is the people who could be "saved"... either people attracted to Puritan religious ideas who haven't fully committed themselves, or Puritans who are "backsliding" and failing to uphold their ideal. The reason this is important is because even as the original Puritan ideas fade, we see the "address to the backsliders" occur again and again in American writing and speech. Both Edwards and Franklin are writing in this form, I think.  Both Bush and Obama clearly use this form.
• Tracy wants to compare Smith to Columbus. This is an open question, and one I would encourage you to pursue in the reply comments to this post. Certainly they both suffered many "volatile" ups and downs in their fortunes as a result of their imperial adventures. Certainly we can see the same mix of calculation and legitimate wonder or imagination in their writing. The main difference I pointed out today was that in Columbus' empire he reports directly to the monarch as sovereign, whereas Smith, like the Puritans, is bound by a sovereign legal document or charter that was created by a mixed monarchal/parliamentary government. The British system deliberately encourages the imperial agent to be rather independent or entrepreneurial, although we can see from reading the misfortunes of Columbus or Cabeza da Vaca that the "weak" grasp of Spanish authority in the Americas means that there are many entrepreneurial opportunities.
• If I am understanding her correctly, Clara wants to know why Winthrop references the "Book of Micah" on pg. 86 instead of the Jewish/Christian Bible. Finally, an easy one! The Book of Micah is in the Bible. When I was a small child my family lived in New York and next door there was a boy the same age as I. His name was Micah. My name, Aaron, is also from the Jewish portion of the Bible. The context is interesting... Aaron is a sort of interpreter or translator. His brother Moses is the prophet, the man with the direct "telephone" to God who sees the full truth. But these kind of people, you know they have a hard time putting their ideas into ordinary language... so Aaron helps him. The problem comes when Moses departs for some time and Aaron is left to teach the people... they become unjust because they are now only receiving the word of God indirectly. Then Moses returns and lectures them angrily. My personal interpretation, as suits my name, is that there is no telephone to God and that all of us must struggle with the "partial view" of truth that we get through our mind and our language. I guess that's why I'm Aaron!
  

Homework for Class #2 (Tuesday 9/22)

Please notice the reading assignments are now shorter!

• Read Norton^7th headnote pgs. 11-12 ("Writing in Tongues" & "Pilgrim & Puritan). We'll finish the rest next week. You may also find the timeline on 15-16 useful.
• Read Norton^7th pgs. 57-58 (William Bradford biography) and the following sections of Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation: middle of 60 to middle of 61 ("Being thus arrived..." to "before the sons of men.")... bottom of 63 to bottom of 64  ("so being very weary" to "called that place the First Encounter") bottom of 65 to middle of 66 ("I shall a little return" to "as cases did require")... top of 68 to top of 69 ("All this while" to "befell him and his men")... middle of 71 to middle of 75 (MR. MORTON section & PROSPERITY WEAKENS section)
• Read Norton^7th pgs. 75-76 (John Winthrop biography) and section II of Winthrop's sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" (bottom of 84 to middle of 87)
  
• Read Norton^7th pgs. 97 (Ann Bradstreet biography) and Bradstreet's poems "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" (107-08) and "To My Dear and Loving Husband" (10)
• Read Norton^7th pgs. 43-45 (John Smith biography), the following sections of his General History of Virginia... top of 48 to bottom of 53 ("And now the winter approaching" to "God hath still delivered it") and the following sections of his Description of New England... top of 54 to top of 55 ("Who can desire more" to "worthily deserve them.")... top of 56 to middle of 57 ("For I am no so simple" to "country, master, and servant.")
  

The 10 answerers and the 10 questioners should comment in reply to this post by Monday. But anyone else is welcome to join the discussion. Here are my questions.

• 11. How would you classify the genre, audience, and purpose of Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity" ? (Consider the detail given on 11 about when and where it was first 'published.') Compare to the genre, audience, purpose, and setting of Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation.
• 12. What does Bradford's phrase "this evil world" (85) tell you about Puritan religious views? Compare to Bradstreet "fading world" ("Before the Birth" line 1 on pg. 107). Do the Puritans view New England as a paradise or as a hell? Both? Explain.
• 13. Clearly Winthrop considers the Massachusetts Bay Company's "covenant" with the divine (God/Jesus Christ) to be more important than its charter with the government of England. Compare these two 'contracts' to the so-called Mayflower compact that Bradford quotes on 66 and to the Puritans' agreement with the aboriginal chief Massassoit that he quotes on 68.
• 14. The Puritan authors make use of a literary technique called typology, in which they compare their experience in America to that of the early Hebrews (Jews) and the early Christians, as written in the Jewish/Christian holy bible. (See Bradford on 60-61 and Winthrop at the bottom of 85 for examples). But typography, to me, is more generally representative of the mental state of the traveller or migrant. It is not possible to see a new place and its people "as they really are"; instead, you try to organize them using your previous concepts and experiences. Please give an extended example of this more general "typology"  phenomenon, either in literature/film, or in your own personal life.
• 15. What evidence do we have from Winthrop that the Puritan community is seeking to be more egalitarian than society in England?  How does he think this can be accomplished?
• 16. Winthrop's "city on a hill" (86 -  a quote from the Christian Bible) is one of the most famous phrases in U.S. politics. Even recent American politicians like John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Arnold Schwarzenegger continue to use it.  What do you take this phrase to mean, and how might its meaning conflict with the "radical linguistic and cultural diversity of the [American] colonial world" that the Norton editor speaks about on 12?
• 17. Describe the various actions of Morton that make him "lord of misrule" and a kind of anti-Bradford or anti-Winthrop (71-74). Why does Bradford think Morton's "sundry rhymes and verses" are somehow different than, say, Bradstreet's? Would he consider John Smith to be a lord of misrule?
• 18. Do you recognize the poetic form Bradstreet is using? I mean the music/time/meter of the verse. Where else have you seen it? There are only a few examples where she violates the rule of this form, and they seem to be intentional; what is their effect and how does it relate to the meaning of the lines. (See line 5 & 6 of "Birth" and lines 10-12 of "Husband").
• 19. This Disney movie is the version of the John Smith / Pocohontas story most Americans are familiar with.  What assumptions/changes are made to the story in this short video clip that may conflict with Smith's account, and/or with historical fact?
• 20. You can tell Smith's outlook is very different from that of the three Puritan authors; he says at the top of 56 that there is no "motive" for coming to America "other than wealth."  Indeed, Description of Virginia would probably be best classified as an advertisement. Imagine you are a modern advertising specialist who has been transported back in time to help John Smith improve his 1616 ad with advertising techniques from 2009.  You may trade to another student with more interest in advertising, graphic art, etc.
  

Catch-up Homework (Class #1.5)

It was great to meet all of you today! I am impressed by your intelligence in class and in the survey forms I'm reading now.  I think this is going to be a very good course for all of us. Difficult, but good.

• Click here for my summary/analysis of your responses to questions #1-6 of the survey, about the biographical profile of the class.
• Click here for my summary/analysis of your responses to question #7 of the survey, about concepts of empire.
• Click here for a blank form. I also put the completed forms in my mailbox in case you want to add more to them, and then return them to the mailbox.

I hope you will ask me any questions you have about the course or the syllabus, either here on the blog, by emailing Ms. Chen, or by emailing me. Note: some of you have said that my NTHU emails are rejected by your server due to virus threat. I have experienced the same problem when extracting NTHU mails to my Gmail account. So I will email the whole class from my Gmail and you will have a better address to use. I don't list it here because it will draw spam.

Remember that you need to "catch up" on today's reading assignment if you didn't have the texts to read, or didn't have the time to do so before class. That means you need to buy the Norton Anthology (Shorter 7th Edition) from the NTHU bookstore if you haven't already done so. Each of the groups needs to post one comment here as an answer to the question that was given to them on Tuesday 9/15. Please do so by Friday. Click on the comments below to see my response to a student email, in which I give guidance as to the level of detail I would like in your answers. I am reducing the size of this reading assignment, as follows! If you read more, that's not "bad" because it gives you extra understanding.

• I still want you to read Norton 1-9 for background, and all the writing by Columbus and Cabeza de Vaca on 24-36.
• The most important part of the Columbus letters, I think, is the last paragraph on 26, which is very famous.
• I find the entire Cabeza de Vaca letter fascinating!  But I suppose the most important part is "The First Confrontation" & "Falling-Out with Our Countrymen" on 34-36. So when I say most important, I mean you should read the rest at moderate speed but read more slowly and carefully on these important parts.
• But we can reduce the Champlain reading ... the only part that I think is necessary is the fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs of Chapter III, in which Champlain tells the aboriginal leader that Christianity is superior to the aboriginal religions

Preparing for the First Class Meeting

I moved the information in this post to the one above it. But I don't want to delete it because there are some good comment replies. So let's continue to use this post for "personal" discussion, general comments about the class, technical questions about the Blogger web software, etc.

What is this?

This blog is your resource for all information about our American Literature class. I will update it frequently, so you should check it frequently. You will also use it to post homework answers and questions. I will provide more details in the syllabus I hand out on the first day of class, which you can preview here. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you. Feel free to email me any questions, or post them in reply below.