Unit 2 American Literature

Enlightenment

a philosophical movement of the eighteenth century in Europe and America. This movement celebrated the scientific method and humans’ ability to prefect themselves and the society

Deism

the religion where people believed in a god who created the world and a system of laws to regulate the world but doesn’t interfere in the world

Democracy

a system of government that derives its power from governed people and that operates with the assumption that all people are equal

Romanticism

a movement that celebrated nonconformity and the breaking of tradition. It also celebrated the freedom to express ones private thoughts and feelings . It placed emphasis on emotion and enthusiasm

How did Freneau’s “The Wild Honey Suckle” represent Romanticism

“The Wild Honey Suckle” focuses on romanticism because Freneau compares the honey suckle to when people die. He grieves because to him when people die they are nothing

Similie

comparing 2 or more things using like or as

How did de crevecoeur use a simile to make his point that humans are products of their environment

“Men are like plants”; This means that, like a plant, a person will either flourish and thrive in the right environment or become withered and warped in the wrong environment

Theme 1: You must have pride in yourself

He believed in himself when he quit working for his brother’s print shop

Theme 2: public image

franklin would go out and work hard in the street of philadelphia carving his public image in a positive way making people want to do business with him

Theme 3: Live with your decisions

Franklin turned vegetarian but one day while on a boat he faced the decision to either eat the fish or stay hungry.. Franklin rationalized with himself and ate the fish and laughed at himself

Theme4:

Benjamin Franklin

-The Auto Biography

-Letter of Ezra

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

-letter from an American Farmer

Thomas Paine

-common sense

-Age of Reason

Philip Freneau

-On the religion of nature

-the wild honey suckle

Thomas Jefferson

the declaration of independence

Jonathan Edwards

personal narrative

Phillis Wheatley

-On being brought from Africa to America found christianity

-to the university of Cambridge ini new England

The Auto Biography

a self help book

letter of ezra

a letter ezra stiles

letter from an American farmer

people are like plants (america is different from europe)

common sense

persuaded people to break away from england

age of reason

he feels like God gave him the power to talk to him

on the religion of nature

you don’t need a mentor to talk to god

the wild honey suckle

pathway of human life to death

Personal narrative

he was very into his religion as a child and slowly drifted away as he got older

On being brought form africa to america found Christianity

when she was taken from africa to america

to the university of cambridge in new england

to students at harvard reminding them to not forget their beliefs

What two religious messages are expressed in wheatley’s “on being brought from Africa to america”?

• Christianity: her slavery was a blessing to her because she later became Christian because of it

• Racial Equality: blacks and white people will be in the same heaven.