American Literature assignments
Order Description
Textbook: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, shorter 8th ed.
All items must have References in APA format.
Discussion Forum Instructions:
1. Use only the assigned readings to respond to the discussion posts.
2. Your post must include at least one quote from each text used to receive full credit.
1: A lack of awareness of cultural differences or the assumption by one cultural group that another is inferior often results in painful personal and social encounters. Apply this thesis to discuss how this lack of awareness affects the relationships of the characters in Glaspell’s Trifles. Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text using appropriate APA format. Your post must be at least 250 words

2: How does Langston Hughes treat the idea of racism in America in his poetry? How does Wright treat the idea of racism in his short story? How would you describe the overall tone of their work? Do you see hope, despair, anger, or something else? What are they trying to accomplish with their work, and are they successful? Why or why not? Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format. Your post must be at least 250 words
3: How does Robert Hayden recover what had been lost of the African-American experience in his poetry? Give examples from each of Hayden’s poems assigned (Middle Passage, Homage to the Empress of the Blues, and Those Winter Sundays). Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format. Your post must be at least 250 words.

4: In the graphic novel Maus, how does Art Spiegelman demonstrate “the depth and subtlety that we have come to expect of traditional novels and extended nonfictional texts”? (See the definition of graphic novel in this week’s Terms lecture.) Comment on Spiegelman’s success. Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format. Your post must be at least 250 words.

Blog entries ? at least 125 words each. Make your blog personal! Creativity is part of your grade, so consider adding media such as photos, videos, art and poems, music, or links that support your ideas (a hyperlink is fine):
1 ? Rationalization. Consider Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” A common (mis)interpretation of the poem is that it’s about taking the nontraditional path. However, it seems to be more about a poem about rationalizing one’s actions, as described in the video below. After reviewing the video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5140uJOUDE ), comment on this tendency of humans to rationalize actions. Why would this narrator tell a story where he/she clearly alters events?

2 ? Creative Nonfiction: In the preface to nonfiction (p. 2803 of your text), the editors tell us that creative nonfiction illustrates that “no direct duplication of reality is possible in language, that all writing is affected by the author’s point of view” (Baym et al, 2014, p. 2803). Do you think that is true? Can there such a thing as a truly reliable narrator? Consider the excerpt from Danticat’s Brother, I’m Dying that you read this week as you prepare a response to this question. How is this point made (or not) in Danticat’s writing?