English 251 – In-Class Writing Activity #4 Modules 8 and 9 f…
English 251 – In-Class Writing Activity #4 Modules 8 and 9 focus on works authored by Stowe, Jacobs, Thoreau, Douglass, and Whitman. Choose one of the questions provided for this activity and answer it in 300 or more words. You may format your answer in one paragraph or multiple paragraphs. At the beginning of your response, put the number of the question you are answering. 1. Harriet Jacobs and Harriet Beecher Stowe had little in common as far as their life experiences, but their goals for their most famous works Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Jacobs) and Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe) were similar, as were their target reading audience. Using specific examples from their works (and information you learned in the study notes for this course), discuss how Stowe’s and Jacobs’s works are similar and how they differ. As part of your discussion, explore what their stories accomplished in pre-Civil War America. 2. In “Resistance to Civil Government,” Thoreau argues that personal conscience is more important than government authority. Thoreau was writing in response to slavery and the Mexican-American War. He thought that people should not pay taxes that would support government policies that were immoral. One of his main concerns was that paying his poll taxes would make it possible for slavery to extend further. Thoreau was briefly put in jail for standing up for what he believed. In light of Thoreau’s belief in standing up against immoral government practices, write an essay in which you discuss an issue that exists in America today that is deserving of civil disobedience. In other words, if on the grounds of the activity being immoral, you were going to protest something that American leaders are supporting or allowing to happen, what would you protest against and why? 3. Frederick Douglass was a man who began life as an enslaved person and died a respected man. The editors of your textbook chose Jacob Lawrence’s painting The Life of Frederick Douglass as the cover art for your textbook. In the image, Douglass is reading intently (Douglass founded a Black newspaper in 1847, and he emphasized the importance of reading throughout his autobiography). What does the editors’ selection of a painting showing Douglass reading as cover art for your text tell you about Douglass’s importance and influence? What doors did learning to read open for Douglass? 4. Walt Whitman was a poet who was ahead of his time. During his lifetime, many readers thought that his work wasn’t even poetry. People frequently found his writing scandalous because it used plain language and focused on subjects that weren’t typically discussed in polite society. His work definitely didn’t sell millions of copies, and he did not earn significant money from his writing. Using one or both of the assigned readings you had that were authored by Whitman, discuss what the general reading public would have found un-poetic or vulgar about Whitman’s work.
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