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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the only person in America who can live a life of leisure, like a gentleman, according to an early American saying that Franklin mentions?

2. Why does Lincoln borrow a neighbor's baby?

3. What does the "Poor Richard" narrator say is a common misconception that Europeans have about America?

4. What does Williams say that Africans came enslaved from Africa for?

5. What does Williams say that American families cheat their daughters out of by trying to frighten them into delaying the loss of their virginity?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider In the American Grain as a whole. What do you think William Carlos Williams is trying to tell his readers about the American national character? Do you think Williams believes there is just one national character, or several? How was the national character shaped? What do most Americans believe about their own identities as Americans? Write a strong thesis and develop it by relating examples from the book and responding to them.

Essay Topic 2

In the Introduction, Horace Gregory writes that "History is a humiliating subject for any man to think of knowing...The desire to know history is a near relative of the desire to know truth, and that is where, for most of us, a pit lies waiting." Does William Carlos Williams avoid the pit, or fall into it? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think Williams chooses to tell the stories of Eric the Red and Freydis? What makes these tales part of the American grain? Use evidence from the narratives to support your answer.

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This section contains 367 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample