Zeitgeist Project
Read at least two novels and one nonfiction book about a particular era or movement in American history. You might want to focus on the Civil War, the 1960s, World War II, or Vietnam; you might even want to follow a trend such as the abolitionist movement or the space race.
Just as Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath dictates, in part, how we see our own Depression-era history, many novels (and films) influence the way in which we interpret historical movements in American history. We do not just rely on history books, documentary films and newspapers. Primary sources and nonfiction accounts of our past do not always end up as the dominant stories of our past. For example, most Americans’ understanding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is profoundly informed by Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter and Miller’s The Crucible,
Your goal is to become familiar, via literature, with a particular era or movement of American history. Write an essay in which you demonstrate that the novel (or novels) you read capture the zeitgeist of a particular period (i.e., the theme of the novel is the theme of the era). Also, be aware how the novel also may inform the culture’s perception of that era. In order to do that best, you will need to juxtapose the perspective of a nonfiction account of that era to the perspective in your novel(s).
The best place to start is with a novel. For your first zeitgeist proposal, consider the first novel you would like to read and the era or movement you would like to research. Write a one- to two-page project proposal explaining your area of interest, the books you may read and the themes you may research. You will find some mere suggestions for titles and periods or movements below. (See Appendix.) Talk to me about your ideas!
Right away there are two main challenges for you, the students: picking a first novel and understanding what zeitgeist means.
LINKS:
The Process/Due Date/Explanation:
1. Proposal/2.13.17/ - write a one-page single-spaced project proposal, share it with me on Google Docs.
2. 1st Book Talk/2.27-3.3.17/- Schedule a meeting during ELO those days, I will pull specific quotations from the novel at random, read them aloud and then ask you what is going on in the text, coupled with numerous follow-up questions. We will then spend the remaining time discussing the direction of the research and potential paper topics and/or thesis statements.
3. 2nd Book Talk/3.27-31.17/- Schedule a meeting during ELO those days. You should have your first novel completed, or very near completion by this point.
4. 3rd Book Talk/4.20-24.17/- Schedule a meeting during ELO those days. You should have your first novel completed, or very near completion by this point. Requirement: A working thesis based on your readings thus far.
5. 4th Book Talk/5.8-12.17/- Less a book talk, more a chance to see where your writing process is. After the AP Exam, this book talk will focus on organization and execution of your essay.
6. Final Due Date - 6.2.17