LITR 4231 Early American Literature

Final Exam Essays 2014 assignment Sample answers for Essay 1 Overall

Elizabeth Nolen

Newly Found Appreciation

I had originally signed up for a history class this semester, but due to a last minute schedule change, I chose Early American Literature; it was the only other class available for me to take.  I had no idea what Early American Literature was going to entail, but after emailing the professor and learning that all course materials would be available online, I knew I was going to like something about this class. I was afraid the class would be boring, but little did I know I was going to learn more from this particular class than any history class I have taken.

I grew up loving to read, and read most anything I could get my hands on; I loved fiction, nonfiction, and mystery books.  As stated in my mid-term, I took literature classes in high school, and at the junior college level, but they started after the time periods we studied in this class. Traveling through the four different periods of early literature was a learning experience I will not forget, especially since I did not realize much of the material even existed. My college classes have been more structured and have more material than the high school classes did, and this makes a huge difference. A few reasons for this could be that my high school classes were almost forty years ago, we had no internet to help find all the information we have now, and my teachers, whom seemed old enough to have lived in that era, were quite boring.

I totally agree with Shae Turner’s comment in her final about how helpful it was having the material online and being able to access it from anywhere. We like to go horse-back riding when we get the time and having the material online helps. In the same note, not having to drag around several different books all the time is wonderful too. I enjoyed having the option of printing the material out to follow along in class and take notes on; it also helped having the said material with me when we went out of town. Since I tried saving as many trees as I could by not printing everything, it was wonderful having the ideas, terms, and key points highlighted in the text; I could just click on them during class and follow along on my laptop.

Another feature I liked about this class was that Prof. White is very structured and had the agenda projected on the screen when we came into class; we knew what order the class presentations would be in, and even when we would get a break. Having the option to volunteer to teach a section of the class, and having the students lead the class discussions weakly was a great way to keep me attentive.  I personally enjoy this type of learning because it is not just the teacher standing in front of the class lecturing. The class, individually and as a whole group, would discuss how they interpreted the particular reading, and it either changed or affirmed your own thinking on the subject. I liked hearing all the different opinions my classmates had to offer, mainly because our class was so diverse in age and cultures. I am amazed as to how Prof. White finds all the links that he adds to the lessons each week, but it helped me get through the mystery of the terminology that I confronted.

As mentioned above, I had no idea what this class was going to be like; I did not realize how much history was actually in Early American Literature. I have never read Columbus’ Letters, or the American Indian Origins Stories, and probably would not have, had it not been for this class. The only details I knew about these two groups is what I learned in public school, and I learned in this class that much of that was not the real truth. . Since the American Indian was here first, shouldn’t we teach students more than the fact that they helped the Pilgrims in school curriculum. What about the other races that have made our country what it is today?

 On another note, I had to read The Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution when I took a government class four years ago at the junior college level. It was presented to us in a political fashion, but in Prof. White’s class it was presented to us as literature, and each one took on a new meaning for me. For instance when we talked about how the Declaration says that “all men are created equal” and we discussed if this was true back when it was written- what “men” and were they all “equal?”  This has powerful meaning. I personally feel that since our country has become so full of different cultures, we need to rethink how we teach in our public schools.

In our first class together we read a poem by Anne Bradstreet, In Reference to Her Children. I enjoyed the poem and the way Anne used metaphors, and chose to do my first research post about her. Being a woman, Anne never had any of her work published, other than one book her brother-in-law published in London. I tried finding more information about her than I learned in class, but seriously had no luck. There are many women in history that do not get the credit they deserve, because they were women. Reading Abigail and John Adam’s letters to each other demonstrated how wise Abigail was, but she was not able to show this in public, as it could make her husband seem less of a man. As we learned in class, many young girls were well educated if their families could afford it, while others were, at the least, taught to read so they could educate their sons to be wise men.

I plan on using the information obtained in Prof. White’s class, and have when substituting, to enrich lessons that do not already include the facts learned in class. Since much of Early Literature is historical, it can be used not only in English classes, but also history classes. When I first came into the class, I thought I would be bored and not enjoy myself, but the way the class was structured, because it was student led, I was able to learn more and enjoyed myself and the material taught. Annie Murphy Paul’s article called Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer was interesting. The quote before the story was “’Deep reading’ is vigorous exercise from the brain and increases our real-life capacity for empathy,” and I feel this to be true.  Before taking Prof. White’s class, I would not have read three-fourths of this material in my lifetime, but I do have to say that I will come away from this semester with a more open mind, and a deeper appreciation to the many diverse areas of literature.