Your essay should be written in the following format and consist of five well-developed paragraphs of several sentences each:
Paragraph 1 (Introduction): Introduce your paper and end with an original and specific statement—your main point about how/why this theme connects your chosen texts.
Paragraph 2 (First text): Identify the first primary text you have chosen (including title and author’s name) and discuss its context, significance, and relationship to the named theme and answer the related questions.
Paragraph 3 (Second text): Identify the second primary text you have chosen (including title and author’s name) and discuss its context, significance, and relationship to the named theme and answer the related questions.
Paragraph 4 (Third text): Identify the third primary text you have chosen (including title and author’s name) and discuss its context, significance, and relationship to the named theme and answer the related questions.
Paragraph 5 (Conclusion): First, discuss the interesting thematic connections that you see among these texts and comment on their significance. Then, enhance your analysis by discussing what this all adds up to—what we can learn from this comparison, and what bearing the texts’ representation of the theme might have on how this theme is evident in American culture, or American cultural texts, today.
Topic #1
Discuss and compare how we see the idea of “spiritual awakening” portrayed in the specific primary texts included in our course materials by Phillis Wheatley, Jonathan Edwards, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
What contextual factors led to this awakening, and what did it mean for those who experienced it? What elements of a “spiritual awakening” do these authors/texts share in common, and how/why do other elements differ?
How is their depiction of spiritual awakening significant to our study of American literature? Be specific with your evidence and your insight.
