Possible Questions for Essay Exam
Please feel free to suggest additional questions in the comments. Remember that you are permitted to bring one 3 by 5 index card with notes or an outline. Currently I think you will be answering two of these questions in class next week.

1. Compare and contrast the way that Rowlandson and Bradford describe Indians. Did views of Natives change in the forty or so years that separate these two writers? Do you think that Rowlandson’s first hand encounters affected her view of the Indians? How so?
2. Both Benjamin Franklin and Mary Rowlandson discuss their personal experiences for a purpose and a particular audience. Discuss how these two authors use autobiography for different purposes, and give examples to support your argument.
3. Consider and describe the worldview represented in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the worldview of the Declaration of Independence. Are these worldviews compatible? If so, provide at least three examples of their compatibility. If not, discuss why they are not.
4. Discuss the similarities and differences between John Winthrop’s City on a Hill speech and George Harris’s plans to settle in Nigeria. What are their primary goals? What relationship between God and the people is proposed and what role does Christian faith play in the plans of each?
5. Choose three works we’ve read this semester and discuss how race works in the text. How does the author treat race? Are there distinctions in the way that different races are treated?
6. What distinguishes Mary Rowlandson’s emotional story of her captive from Stowe’s sentimental anti-slavery novel? Is there a difference? Discuss the ethics of emotion as part of a persuasive argument. (Use examples from the text.)