Dickinson: A funeral in my brain & A certain slant of light
Jewett: A White Heron
Freeman: Revolt of a Mother
Fuller: The Great Debate
New American Literature & Regionalism & Transcendentalism
Key points from texts:
Freeman: Wife moving into barn to prove her point
Jewett: Girl protecting the bird’s hiding place
Dickinson: “Internal difference / where the meanings are”
Fuller: Advocating for women's rights (women just as smart as men)
Each of these authors use different genres like Regionalism, New American Literature, and American Transcendentalism to emphasize the fact that women are moving towards getting more rights versus other genres like The Gothic which doesn't have this focus.
The focus on women's rights are generated by the time line that these genres are written in, as time moves forward women are realizing how oppressed they are and the desire to have more rights increases.
Dickinson, Freeman, Fuller, and Jewett
Each of these authors discuss in their texts the importance and meaning of individuality and sacrificing for what they think is right because of how hard it was to be a woman in their time. They do not fit into the common expectations of women because of their outspoken ideas like moving into the barn, not giving up the heron, figuring out internal meanings, and literally advocating for women’s rights. These women paved the way for women nowadays; if it weren’t for them stepping out of their comfort zone we wouldn’t be as progressed as we are today.
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Agreed!
ReplyDeleteI considered this a theme for my paper as well, but decided to go in a different direction. Good luck!
I think your topic is awesome! :)
ReplyDeleteI am interested how you will use Dickenson in your argument!
I renew my statement that these are broad statements that (much like my comments on Heather's post) elide the nuances of the writing situation. For one, "New American Literature" isn't a genre. It's a term, or a category, or a grouping that people (now) tend to use to refer to certain things. It's not like Emily Dickinson woke up one day and said "new American literature! I'm a-gonna write it." While these are fine starting points, you must determine something _very specific to argue about these particular texts_ beyond some general observations widely held to be true. You have a very small amount of words in this essay, and cannot make grand claims about genres and culture that people have been working on for years (and for many pages). So, focus very specifically on the texts you want to study, define a topic that is not simply a stack of observational readings/a report, and then you will be able to find secondary material to support an argument. If you do another draft of this proposal before Friday's assignment is due, let me know so I can look at it again.
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