WITH THIS DOCUMENT, WE DO NOT INTEND TO PROVIDE MODEL ANSWERS,

BUT RATHER INDICATE THE BEST APPROACH TO EACH QUESTION AND

REFER YOU TO THE RELEVANT SECTIONS OF THE BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Literatura Norteamericana I: Siglos XVII-XIX. 1ª P. P. (Febrero 2011). Modelo B

PART ONE
1.-Identify the genre that the text above exemplifies, and explain the main features of
this literary genre.
The excerpt is from Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration
of Mrs Mary Rowlandson. The genre is of course the captivity narrative. Among its
main characteristics are the choice of the first-person singular, the negative portrayal of
the Native Americans, the personal evolution of the captive (whose faith emerges
stronger) and the episodic structure.

2.-To what extent does this text exemplify plain style?

Plain style was the variety of language, characterized by “simplicty” and “directness,”
which Puritans were encouraged to use. (“Glossary,” A Study Guide, p. 210). The extract,
being a straightforward report of events, with no attempt to embellish, would be a good
example of plain style. (For more information, see answer to exploratory question 9 in A
Study Guide, p. 40).

3.-Discuss the use of the main narrative modes in this passage.

As suggested in the previous question, the main narrative mode is report. Rowlandson is
recalling a number of events that happened suddenly and quickly. There is no room for
comment or description. There is only an example of direct speech (“Lord, what shall we
do?”), an exclamation that adds pathos to the scene.

4.-What perception of Native Americans does the author convey in this text?
Although, as her narrative progresses, Rowlandson’s attitude towards her captors
becomes more understanding and less bitter, this particular excerpt is prototypical of the
colonial attitude to the Native Americans. They are characterized through their actions
as threatening, aggressive and cruel.

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PART TWO
1.-How do John Smith’s and William Bradford’s writings compare regarding
style?
An author’s style is their “characteristic way of writing or mode of expression”
(“Glossary,” A Study Guide for American Literature to 1900, p. 216). In order to study the
texts by John Smith and William Bradford from a comparative perspective, there are two
essential factors that must be taken into account: their background and their purpose in
writing.
John Smith was an experienced military man; the American colonies offered him
an opportunity for adventure and financial improvement. William Bradford, on the other
hand, was a Puritan dissenter who left his native country and saw America as a “New
Jerusalem,” a land where people like him could peacefully live according to their faith.
As a strict Puritan, Bradford followed the precepts of plain style, to which we have
referred above. As a writer, therefore, he did not struggle to make his prose aesthetically
appealing: his practise was to make his language an effective communicative tool. It is
reminiscent of Biblical style and, by quoting the Old Testament, Bradford recurrently links
the history of Israel with the experience of the “Pilgrim Fathers.” Smith’s religious stance
did not prevent him from appreciating the highly crafted literature of his time−dismissed
by Puritans−and, to a certain extent, be influenced by it. That is the reason why his style is
relatively ornate, including quotations from secular sources.
Bradford’s purpose in writing Of Plymouth Plantation was to set down how God
had granted the “Pilgrim Fathers” a safe arrival in their “Promised Land.” Smith had a
different objective in mind: it is generally accepted that he used his General History of
Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles to project a heroic image of
himself−Bradford would have censured this as “vanity.” Hence his magnification of events
or his use of the third person singular to refer to his own experiences.
Although Smith’s text claims to be a “history” and Bradford’s belongs to the genre
of the “Puritan History” (see American Literature to 1900, exploratory question 9, pp. 38-
39), they are very different, as we have seen, in their style and their design.

2.-Discuss how Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley used figurative language.
Figurative language “departs from the literal meaning of the words used” (“Glossary,”
A Study Guide, p. 202). The most common example is metaphor, masterly used by the
poets Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley.

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 The fact that Bradstreet was a Puritan might lead those unacquainted with her work
to assume that she adhered to plain style and that this form of writing excludes creative
metaphors (for more information on Bradstreet and plain style, see American Literature to
1900, p. 43). The truth is that many of Bradstreet’s poems revolve around a central
metaphor: famously the extended metaphor AN AUTHOR’S BOOK IS HER SON (“The Author
to Her Book”), LOVE IS FIRE (implicit in the line “My love is such that rivers cannot
quench,” from the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”), HEAVEN IS A LUXURIOUS

HOUSE (from the conclusion of “Upon the Burning of Our House”), DEAD BABIES ARE

CROPPED FLOWERS (“On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet”).

A number of conventional or lexicalized metaphors can be found in the poems by

Wheatley that you have read and studied: “realms of night,” “veil of night” or “golden
hair” (all from “To His Excellency General Washington,” clearly an imitative poem).
There are, however, other examples that attest to the originality of her imagination: SKIN

COLOR IS A DYE, CHRISTIANIZED SLAVES ARE REFINED CANE SUGAR (“On Being Brought
from Africa to America”), SIN IS A POISONOUS SNAKE IN ITS EGG, PROMISING STUDENTS ARE
BLOOMING PLANTS (“To the University of Cambridge, in New England”).

Most of these metaphors are instrumental for the poems to be successful, both as
lyrical and rhetorical pieces. The associated images channel the thematic component
vividly, linking it to common experience (family life, nature and agriculture, the animal
world) and making it memorable.

3.-Compare and contrast how Olaudah Equiano and Benjamin Franklin

represented themselves in their works. Write about their self-representation.
An author’s self-image or self-representation is a fascinating aspect to discuss in
analyzing a text written in the first-person singular. In presenting him-/herself through a
text in a particular manner, what response does a writer expect from readers? Does (s)he
have a specific purpose in mind? Is (s)he in the best position to outline his/her self-
image? Is (s)he being true to the events? Does the author’s personality, as perceived by
readers, transcend the text itself? You could have considered some of the aspects
implicit in these questions in order to write an essay on this topic. (For more
information, see the activity “Comparing an author’s iconographical and verbal self-
representations,” in Unit 7 of A Study Guide, pp. 57-60).
Through his narrative, Olaudah Equiano comes across as an experienced man
who has suffered terrible ordeals and become stronger and better as a result. The

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emphasis is on his evolution: from slave to gentleman, from “pagan” to exemplary
Christian, from naïve child to successful writer and political activist. In reading
Equiano’s narrative, we feel that he is morally justified to fight against slavery; we can
identify with him and support his cause. In writing about Equiano’s self-image, you
could have briefly referred to his famous portrait.
Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography is a less conventional narrative but in it, he
depicts himself, like Equiano, as a determined man who strives for self-improvement
through the achievement of certain virtues like temperance, industry or humility. In his
Autobiography, Franklin links these virtues to precepts that are coherent with his
outlook as a free-thinking Deist. Franklin’s was a practical, disciplined and enterprising
spirit.
Both Franklin and Equiano became role models, committed and socially
prominent citizens. Their public personae bring to mind modern notions such as “the
self-made man” or “the American dream.”