Prairie-Town Boy | Essay & Project Ideas

Prairie-Town Boy Ideas for Reports and Papers

1. What does Sandburg mean when he says that there is "no regular pattern" of person living in Galesburg? How would you describe the town and its inhabitants? What is the significance of Sandburg calling himself a "PrairieTown Boy"?

2. Why do you think Sandburg is so fascinated with Abraham Lincoln? Compile a list of people and places mentioned in connection to Lincoln in Prairie-Town Boy. What is the significance of each?

3. Compare Sandburg's autobiography with his biography of Lincoln, Abe Lincoln Grows Up. What similarities exist between the boyhoods of the two subjects?

4. Research the American economic situation in the 1880s and 1890s. What were the causes and results of the stock market panic of 1893? How did it affect the Sandburg family?

5. Research what it meant to be a hobo. Who were the hobos, what was their...
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