With these selections, focus on times when our narrators suffered losses of ground or reversals of fortune. How did they handle this? Are they treated fairly? How do they treat other people? Do they abide by the Golden Rule?

There are two topic for discussion board. They both just need to be half a page discussion on the topic.
Topic one
Writing Colonial Lives: John Woolman, Samson Occom, Olaudah
Equiano
With these selections, focus on times when our narrators
suffered losses of ground or reversals of fortune. How did they handle this? Are they treated fairly? How do they treat other people? Do they abide by the Golden Rule? Do Unto
Others…
Think about author purpose and intended audience, too. Try to read with a “writer’s eye”
and question the motives behind the writing. Is the work testimonial? If so,
how so?

Topic two
American Contexts: “To Begin The World Over Again”
and “Who Reads An American Book?”
Discuss the emerging idea of “America.” Reference
at least three of the authors from this section (see the table of contents in
Resources if you do not have a book, and search for similar excerpts). You may also discuss “Who Reads an
American Book? Calls for a National Literature” (Resources).
You may write about the “melting pot” concept, as
mentioned in the text, and discuss groups of people who are included or
excluded.
Have you heard of the “mosaic” or “salad
bowl” concepts? What do you think
of the “mosaic” or the “salad bowl” concepts, as compared
to the “melting pot” concept?
Whose voices are heard and which voices are ignored? What is the motivation?

Last Completed Projects