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LITR 4231 Early American Literature 2012 Student Midterm Samples 3. Web Highlights: Review at least 3 posts from course website's Model Assignments (4-6 paragraphs) |
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Veronica Ramirez
The Importance of Women’s Education in Early American Literature
The stories of frontier women being held captive by Native Americans are filled
with adventures, loss and the fears of the women involved. According to a
student research post by Melissa Sandifer, they were also filled with details
that “describe the personality, temperament, habits and overall life of those
being observed,” in this case the Native American tribes.
I learned in Melissa Sandifer’s research post titled “Ethnology in
Captivity Narratives”, that some of the captivity narratives became ethnography,
due to the research that was extrapolated from the narratives. One issue I had
with this research post is that I needed more definitions within the text, since
I had not encountered this subject before, for example Ethnology is used in the
title of the essay, but not defined in the text and it is a different field of
study than ethnography. Besides lacking the extra details in defining the
subject, Sandifer’s research post was well written, very interesting for the
reader, and added that extra information we did not cover in the course.
In the Early American Literature course, we did discuss that information about
Native Americans was gathered and studied from the captivity narratives but this
research post included very interesting information, such as what Ethnographers
look at when classifying captivity narratives. I thought the information they
look at to see if they can consider a captivity narrative as ethnography was
very interesting, information such as “the motive for which the story was
written, the time that lapsed between the return and the writing of the story,
and the writing ability of the captive or his ghost writer” (Sandifer, midterm
essay). Sandifer summarized the importance of captivity narratives by stating
that the Ethnographic information taken from the captivity narratives “are
essential to American history and explaining the danger of living on the new
frontier in the 1600 to the 1800” (Sandifer, Research Post).
Melissa’s essay “Ethnology in Captivity Narratives,” also helped me to connect
the importance of ethnography to the study of early American women’s education
and the importance and legacy of that education to Early American Literature.
Several of the midterms and research posts discussed the education of early
American women, which all relate to
Objective 4
To reconcile the "Culture Wars" over which America is the real America ?,
specifically Which America to
teach?. The America that needs
to be taught must include the addition of women’s literature in conjunction with
the “founding White Men.” Several
Midterm Essays and Research Posts by previous students all focus on the
importance of women’s education during early America.
The education of early American women and literature boils down to those who
were educated were then enabled to leave a record of their life. Lori Arnold’s
midterm essay “Women in Early American Literature,” explains that Rowlandson had
“the education to accurately record her observations”
and “her clearly written
narrative could be viewed as evidence that Puritan women were often as well
educated as the men” (Lori Arnold, Midterm). Even though some of the women were
highly educated, this does not mean that they were privileged to be scholars. I
agree with Arnold’s continuation of the subject in her research post, that women
were educated to be “seen as attractive mates” and must have “practical skills
to manage a home effectively”
(Lori Arnold, Research post).
A woman’s typical role in the home, especially during the forming of America
should not be discounted, as Arnold also addresses in her midterm essay. Arnold
states that “while
Puritan men may discount or ignore the mundane chores of life in early
America...women often express great concern with everyday life and emotions.”
Arnold also points to the poems of Anne Bradstreet and how they “address
important themes of Puritan life in early colonial America” (Lori Arnold,
Midterm).
One of my favorite observations from the previous students assignments, came for
Lori Arnold’s second research post, she states that “training
good wives and mothers helped raise generations that would support the new
nation” (Lori Research Post 2). I thought this was an interesting observation,
as it applies directly to Abigail Adams and her involvement with her husband and
with her child.
Women’s literature, with a focus on the Puritan home and captivity narratives,
should be reviewed with great care.
These early American works by women provide a lot of ethnographic data about the
Native Americans, and also provide data regarding the issues surrounding women
and the home during the formation of America.
I thought it would be interesting to extend all of the student’s research to
include Objective 6. Can American history
tell a single story? Trans-historical unity?
with an emphasis on
Cross-cultural strategies - Mestizo Identity
by choosing to study Sor Juana de Inez in one my research posts. I was so
intrigued by her education and her life during the poetry presentation of “You
Men” that I want to look at her further.
Essays and Posts reviewed:
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4231/models/midterms/mt2010/mt10arnold.html
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4231/models/resposts/rp2010/rp2/rp2arnold.html
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4231/models/resposts/rp2010/rp1/rp1sandifer.htm
