I.
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Oral Tradition
|
II.
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Magazine expansion and William Dean Howells
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III.
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Harris, Poe, and Hawthorne—the Romantic School
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IV.
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Thomas Dixon and “Negrophobia”
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V.
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Reconstruction: Idealism vs. Southern Backlash
|
|
a.
|
Jim Crow Legislation
|
|
b.
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Freedman’s Bureau
|
|
c.
|
Ku Klux Klan
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VI.
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Bret Harte and the Local Colorists
|
|
a.
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Growth of Regionalism
|
|
b.
|
Use of Dialect
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Sample Exercise
: Hawthorne’s Impact on the Short Story
I.
|
Background Information: Biographical and historical
|
II.
|
Analysis: “My Kinsman, Major Molineux”
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Introductory Information:
Boston as a revolutionary hotbed
American desire to overthrow British domination
Treatment of Tories; tar-and-feathering
“Initiation” tale—main character achieving maturity
III:
|
Procedure: Read the story aloud in class; students should be encouraged to participate. Allow students time to answer the following questions on paper before beginning the general discussion. Go over unfamiliar vocabulary words.
|
Study Questions:
1.
|
Hawthorne was a writer who liked to use symbols in his stories and there were a number of symbols in this one. Can you find several? What do you think Robin’s
cudgel
might stand for?
|
2.
|
Notice how laughter grows in this story, until at the very end the whole community is laughing. Why does Robin laugh when he sees his kinsman in disgrace?
|
3.
|
Why does the stranger insist that Robin stay in town for a few days?
|
4.
|
The
desecration
of an individual by an entire community is a common theme in literature. Can you think of other works in which a person is disgraced and brutalized like Molineux?*
|
*Refer back to this question during your discussions of Dunbar’s “The Scapegoat” and Chesnutt’s “Bras-Coupé.”
Discuss: Third-person narration, climax, importance of setting.
Section IV: The Short Stories of Cable, Page, Chesnutt, and Dunbar. Using the literary terms already defined, organize discussions of specific stories around the similar and different uses of the literary terms. Give detailed biographical information for each writer before his work is discussed. (1-3 weeks)
Sample Lesson
: The Use of Stereotypes in Southern Literature
Stereotype: a character used to represent qualities that typify a particular group or class of people.
Activity: Have students discuss modern stereotypes:
a policeman
a politician
ethnic personalities
a teacher
a “cool” person
Writing Assignment: Students are to create a stereotype without identifying him/her. Individuals will then share their descriptions with the class to see if the stereotype can easily be identified from the details.
Drawing from the assigned stories, discuss each author’s use of and attitude toward:
the tragic mulatto (Chesnutt, Cable)
the devoted slave (Dunbar, Page, Harris)
the loving master (Page, Dunbar)
suspicious freedman (Dunbar, Chesnutt)
suspicious primitive (Cable)
Activity: Compare the various devoted Negro servants in the following stories:
Sam in Page’s “Marse Chan”
Uncle Julius in Chesnutt’s “The Goophered Grapevine”
Gideon in Dunbar’s “The Strength of Gideon”
Uncle Remus in Harris’s “The Wonderful Tar Baby Story”
Suggested Questions:
What feelings do these characters share?
How are their roles similar?
How is Julius different from Sam or Remus?
What makes Gideon pathetic (and the weakest of the four characters)?
Further Suggestions for Discussion and Comparison:
Irony: Unexpected twist of fate
Chesnutt’s “A Matter of Principal”
Dunbar’s “The Scapegoat”
Activity: Dramatize “A Matter of Principal”; have students attempt to put on the “airs” of the Claytons and then discuss their feelings as participants and observers.
Problems of the color line:
Chesnutt’s “The Sheriff’s Children”
Cable’s “The Story of Bras-Coupé”
Social Commentary and the Awakening of Modern Themes:
Dunbar’s “The Lynching of Jube Benson”; “The Ingrate”.
Chesnutt’s “The Sheriff’s Children”; “Cicely’s Dream”.
Further Suggested Activities:
Creative Writing:.
1.
|
In 2-3 paragraphs, create a southern plantation setting similar in style to Page’s settings.
|
2.
|
Describe a lynching from a black character’s perspective. Characterization through dialogue:
|
Select two or three ex-slaves and have them meet.
Create a dialogue that reveals differences in their characters.
Suggestions: Gideon, Josh, Sam, Julius.
Act out the dialogues in class.
Television vs. the Short Stories:
1.
|
Show the Auction and Middle Passage scenes (and the symbolic escape/castration scene) from
Roots
(video-tapes available at Lee High School). Contrast the use of realistic detail with the minimum of detail in Cable’s “Bras-Coupé.”
|
2.
|
Compare the effects of Kizzie’s ability to write (in
Roots
) with Josh’s use of the same ability in Dunbar’s “The Ingrate.”
|
Final Note: Emphasis on vocabulary and reading skills should be reinforced throughout the course of the entire unit.