Charles Brockden Brown

Choose one of the following to respond to. Ensure that you identify which question you are addressing. (While you can respond to both in two separate posts, you will only receive credit for the first post.) The post is due Sunday, April 2 by 7:00 p.m.

1. As you will see, writing and texts in general circulate throughout Brown’s novel. How does writing and textuality (the novel as a letter, the concluding letters, lost and recovered manuscripts) function within the novel? What does this use of “letters” suggest about writing in the early republic?

2. What is the literary function of somnambulism (sleepwalking)? What role does it play? What is its significance?

Judith S. Murray (Day 2)

Republican Motherhood can be defined as a woman's private virtues
(motherhood, home, child rearing etc.) coinciding with traditional civic virtues (politics, government, etc.) In this case, can you find any examples of the
representation of Republican Motherhood in Murray's work? Does the act of
writing itself represent Republican Motherhood for Murray? How is
this evident or not? Post due Thursday, March 30 by 7:00 p.m.

Judith S. Murray

Compare the ideas about gender in Murray’s “On the Equality of the Sexes” to the texts of either Bradstreet, Rowlandson, or “Silence Dogood.” Are the ideas similar or different? Explain these similarities and differences using specific textual moments. Also, ensure that you read the “Study Guide” questions for Murray (located on WebCT) because we will address them in class. Blog post due Sunday, March 26 by 7:00 p.m.

Thomas Paine (Day 2)

Many people criticized Paine passionately for his Deist belief as
described in The Age of Reason. Theodore Roosevelt, for example,
once called Paine a "filthy little athiest." Are Paine's arguments
against religious dogma undermined by the fact that he still professes
belief in a god? Or, is Paine's professed belief in a god undermined by
his arguments against religious dogma? Is this undermining (if indeed it
is a significant factor) an essential element of Deism as Paine
describes it? Blog post due Tuesday, March 14 by 7:00 p.m.

Thomas Paine

We discussed the role of anonymity for Benjamin Franklin, particularly as it related to his age in the Silence Dogood essays. We did not address at length, though, the impulse of anonymity as it relates to reason and emotion. As you read Paine’s “Common Sense,” ask yourself (and respond on this blog to) the following questions: For Paine, are reason and emotion the same? What does he appeal to most in the text? And perhaps most interestingly, how does his anonymity relate to issues of reason and emotion? The blog is due Thursday, March 9 by 7:00 p.m.

Benjamin Franklin (Day 2)

Throughout his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin speaks often about members of his family: his many siblings, mother, father, and uncles. And, we know that he even apprenticed as a printer with one of his older brothers while he was searching for a job. During his lifetime, he remained close to most of his family, and often spent a great deal of time with them. In what ways might Benjamin's family have had an effect on his public and private personas? In what ways did they (or didn't they) impact his life as a "coming of age" story?