Reference no: EM133208675

Assignment - American Literatures Discussions Essay

Description - Here are four different mini-essay discussion prompts

1. What differences account for the disagreement between DuBois and Washington on the issue of education? Make sure you define the two opposing schools they represent---industrial education and higher ed---and relate them to the authors' life experiences. (400 words)

2. Choose one of the five parts of The Waste Land and define the function of two of the three techniques discussed in this lesson in Eliot (fragmentation, juxtaposition, allusion). How does Eliot make the transition from scene to scene? Does there seem to be one speaker or two? How do we make a sense of meaning out of the rush of words? NOTE: Make sure you don't misspell Eliot---it's only one L, not two (not Elliot, or Elliott). (500 words)

3. Two questions: (800 words)

a. Define the function of external symbolism as Anderson and Fitzgerald employ it. How does external symbolism reveal characters' states of mind in "Hands" and "Babylon Revisited"? What type of reading demands does this approach make on the audience?

b. Define the function of internal symbolism as Porter and Hemingway employ it. In other words, define interior monologue and/or stream of consciousness and show how the authors use them in "Flowering Judas" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" to dramatize specific forms of thought (hallucinations, dreams) to convey their internal states of mind.

4. Choose one of the poems for this lesson's readings. Evaluate the poet's stylistic methods according to the central criteria we noted for modernist poetry (i.e. fragmentation, juxtaposition, allusion). How does your poem's use of OR lack of these elements change the readability of this work, as compared to Eliot's The Waste Land or Pound's Hugh Selwyn Mauberly? (500 words)