PAL: Appendix J - Research Topics in American Literature

PAL: Perspectives in American Literature
A Research and Reference Guide - An Ongoing Project

Appendix J: Research Topics in American Literature

Note to my students: 1. Your essays should be well organized; generalizations should be supported by specific references to the texts; follow the guidelines stated in Appendices D: Writing Assignments and I: The MLA Style.

Research Themes and Motifs in American Literature

1. The Frontier Experience

2. John Winthrop ("the city upon the hill") and the Concept of Manifest Destiny

3. Crevecoeur, Tocqueville, and the Problem of American Identity

4. The Individual and the Community

5. The Problem of Expression of Literary Authority

6. The American Dream

7. Nature and Landscape in American literature

8. The Immigrant Experience

9. Family Relationship and Attitudes toward Children

10. Race, Segregation, Slavery, and Abolition

11. 19th C. Feminism; Gender Issues of Women's Lives, Work, and Vision

12. Politics and War

13. Alienation and Initiation

14. The Machine in the Garden

15. The Utopian Dream

16. Ecocriticism and Ecofeminism

17. The Minority Experience

18. Women Studies

MLA Style Citation of this Web Page

Reuben, Paul P. "PAL: Appendix J: Research Topics." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL:http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/axj.html (provide page date or date of your login).
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1. The Frontier Experience	2. John Winthrop ("the city upon the hill") and the Concept of Manifest Destiny	3. Crevecoeur, Tocqueville, and the Problem of American Identity
4. The Individual and the Community	5. The Problem of Expression of Literary Authority	6. The American Dream
7. Nature and Landscape in American literature	8. The Immigrant Experience	9. Family Relationship and Attitudes toward Children
10. Race, Segregation, Slavery, and Abolition	11. 19th C. Feminism; Gender Issues of Women's Lives, Work, and Vision	12. Politics and War
13. Alienation and Initiation	14. The Machine in the Garden	15. The Utopian Dream
16. Ecocriticism and Ecofeminism	17. The Minority Experience	18. Women Studies