American Literature Context, for use for all of paper 2

Question 1

what does the Declaration of Independence (1776) claim

Answer 1

‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ‘

Question 2

Abraham Lincoln famous quote from the Gettysburg address in 1863

Answer 2

“that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”

Question 3

relating to the concept of Manifest Destiny, Turner claimed that the frontier transformed Europeans into new people

Answer 3

‘Americans whose values focused on equality, democracy, optimism and individualism, self-reliance and violence’

Question 4

Summer extolled the virtue of Social Darwinist Capitalism quote

Answer 4

‘liberty, inequality and survival of the fittest’

Question 5

Key contextual dates

Answer 5

1861 to 65 American Civil War 
1863 Gettysburg  address 
1866 Civil Rights Act 
Jim Crow laws 1876 to 1965 
1869-85 Gilded Age 
1903 the Wright brothers 
1908 Model T Ford 
By 1912 more than 1000 black man had been lynched since 1901 
1914 to 1918 World War One 
1915 the sinking of the Lusitania 
1920 prohibition and women's vote 
1920s flapper movement 
1929 Wall Street crash leading to the Great Depression of the 1930s 
1932 route 66 opened

Question 6

what is realism

Answer 6

Realism 1865 to 1915

• come about afterwards such as the civil war
• presents things as they actually are
• Attempt to write truthfully about ordinary people in ordinary situations

Question 7

what is naturalism

Answer 7

naturalism 1865 to 1915

• viewed people as victims of natural law
• like realism, but darker –free will see as an illusion and explored the inevitability of fate
• indicated that people’s lives are shaped by things they can’t control

Question 8

what is regionalism

Answer 8

regionalism 1865 to 1915

• authors would write about the specific or particular geographical region
• exploration of the culture of the region -may include dialect

Question 9

what is modernism

Answer 9

modernism 1915 to 1946

• one of the most experimental types of writing
• attempt to create a unique narrative and style
• technology largely increasing
• younger generation
• 2 world wars in the period