You may choose from one of the following authors:
Charles Brockden Brown, Hannah Webster Foster, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Emily Dickinson, Phillis Wheatley, Thomas Jefferson
Once you’ve chosen your author, your paper will be in three parts:
Part 1
Choose a short part of the author’s work. For Douglass, of course, this choice might be from his narratives; for Melville, it could be short stories or an excerpt from a novel. For Poe, you may choose from any of his readings. For Dickinson, any of her poems will work. Choose more than one if the first poem you choose is short. Keep the essay selection a few crucial pages, like a letter or crucial passage.
First, summarize the passage. Discuss any vocabulary that is difficult or different. Relate these ideas, in a brief paragraph, back to the idea of what being an American means. This part should be one page as a maximum.
Part 2
Next, you will be doing a bit of creative writing. You may accomplish your creative writing one of several ways:
a. Write a dramatic monologue from the perspective of a major or minor person in your chosen text.
b. Compos
e a poem based on one of the texts. You could address a specific character in the poem or create a poem that reveals thoughts not found in the text, but that you believe may be present.
c. Write several entries in a diary or journal form by one of the characters.
d. Rewrite the poem or excerpt or short story as a scene from a play, with different characters, and have your classmates present it with you.
e. Conduct an imaginary interview of one of the authors.
**I suggest writing no more than three to four pages as a maximum. Most of you will end up with about two pages to three pages as a minimum.
Part 3
Finally, you will write an analysis of your own work. First, discuss what you chose to do as your creative adaptation. Next, describe the literary effects or thematic implications of your work, as it is connected to the original text. That is, how does your creative work lend a new interpretation? Then, describe your writing process and which sections were the most difficult for you to write and why.
**Your assignment will not be complete without all three parts. Please use MLA documentation and style throughout your work.