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Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

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BECOMING AMERICA<br />

REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE<br />

its desperate need commanded the darkness away? While the room is yet steeped<br />

in heavy shadow, a cool, gray light suddenly <strong>to</strong>uches its head like a blessing hand,<br />

and its groping arm points through the broken cloud <strong>to</strong> the far East, where, in the<br />

ickering, nebulous crimson, God has set the promise <strong>of</strong> the Dawn.<br />

4.27.2 Reading and Review Questions<br />

1. How does Harding tie her readers—<strong>of</strong> whatever class, race, age, gender,<br />

and religion—with the characters and events <strong>of</strong> her s<strong>to</strong>ry? Why? What’s<br />

her intent?<br />

2. What role, if any, does art, artistry, and the artist, play in this s<strong>to</strong>ry?<br />

Why? How do you know?<br />

3. What mysteries or hidden messages does the s<strong>to</strong>ry describe versus<br />

mysteries it resolves or solves? Why? How, and <strong>to</strong> what end?<br />

4. Looking at the qualities <strong>of</strong> this text that reect Realism in literature, how<br />

does its realism use facts? How does it transcend facts? Why, and how?<br />

5. What is the role <strong>of</strong> women in this work? Do women have a role in<br />

“bettering” the fac<strong>to</strong>ry-workers lives? Are women central or marginal in<br />

this s<strong>to</strong>ry? Why? How do you know?<br />

4.28 LOUISA MAY ALCOTT<br />

(1832–1888)<br />

Best known <strong>to</strong>day for her young<br />

adult novel Little Women (1869),<br />

Louisa May Alcott also published a<br />

novel on women and labor; short s<strong>to</strong>ries<br />

on nurses and hospitals, racism, and<br />

the abuses <strong>of</strong> slavery; and a number<br />

<strong>of</strong> sensation novels with such lurid<br />

subjects as suicide and drug addiction.<br />

Born in German<strong>to</strong>wn, Pennsylvania, but<br />

raised mainly in Bos<strong>to</strong>n and Concord,<br />

Alcott beneted <strong>from</strong> her father’s views<br />

on progressive education as well as<br />

friendships with such local celebrities as<br />

Emerson and Thoreau.<br />

In 1843, Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–<br />

1888) founded Fruitlands, a u<strong>to</strong>pian<br />

community near Concord that banned<br />

meat and money, and he brought his<br />

wife and four daughters <strong>to</strong> live there. Its<br />

Image 4.27 | Louisa May Alcott<br />

Pho<strong>to</strong>grapher | Unknown<br />

Source | Wikimedia Commons<br />

License | Public Domain<br />

Page | 1527

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