StudyingAmerica

For Wednesday November 19

Here is the link to the African American Odyssey collection at the Library of Congress. Please find one object/text from this collection and do a one paragraph analysis of that object/text. Remember that your analysis should have a topic sentence offering an interpretation of what that object says about a theme of American culture (in the time period of the object). The body of the paragraph should then present and interpret details from the object that support that interpretation. A clincher or group of clincher sentences connecting this analysis to a larger American value (or a conflict between multiple values) is a particularly strong way to wrap up your paragraph (this is often best done by connecting to a specific example or period in the future).

Puritan Hotties Frolilc in Romantic Bower

These elaborate bed hangings and their four poster beds represent an emerging, more romanticized notion of marriage in Puritan culture. Here an image of an edenic paradise--complete with large, sweeping stitchings of flowers and a devotional poem written over the bed--offer a mix of piety--we love and reproduce for God--and romance as the new Puritan marriage embraces romantic ideals of the secluded and private but lushly beautiful bower. The mix of text and art is particularly interesting because Puritan cutlure tradtionally emphasized the word and shunned art--especially in Church. But here, in the bedroom, the two are seen as compatible representations of an emerging ideal of romantic love that will put new stresses on marriage in the Puritan world. Of course, this tension between marriage as a romantic union and a union between yoke fellows continues to this day with the romantic ideal clearly the more dominant--consider valentines day and our love of musical comedies--but the yoke fellow vision reemerging as couples now both work in an increasingly competitive and troubled American economy.

Good Wives: Deputy Husbands and Friendly Neighbors

My understanding is that our books are now in the bookstore, but for those of you who would like copies to work with for now I have posting this PDF file of the readings up to page 69. That will get you through everything that you should have read by Monday. From that point on, you will need to use your own text or borrow mine to make your own copies.

Thanks,

Jim

Download goodwives2.pdf