What do you know about American Literature?

Who can you identify?

With your partner, write down the names of the

following American authors

(bonus if you can also name a title

of one of their works).

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Wasn’t that easy?

You know you are an expert in American Literature if you can identify these three…

11

12

13

Trade papers with another group and

let’s see how you did …

Mark Twain

Huckleberry Finn

Tom Sawyer

1

Edgar Allan Poe

“The Raven”

“Tell-Tale Heart”

“The Cask of Amontillado”

2

Walt Whitman

“Leaves of Grass”

“O Captain, My Captain”

3

Thomas Paine

Common Sense

4

John Grisham

A Time to Kill, The Firmand several

other lawyer-e books

5

Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

6

Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman

The Crucible

7

Nathanial Hawthorne

Scarlet Letter

8

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

9

Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451

Something Wicked This Way Comes

10

Suzanne CollinsThe Hunger Games

Truman CapoteIn Cold Blood

Langston Hughes“The Weary Blues”

11

12

13

What do these authors have in common?

Why do we need to study American Literature?

It reflects us – who we are as a country

Shows how our beliefs as a country were formed

Tells the story of U.S. (pun intended), in a universal way

So, how will we learn it?

Chronological – History & Literature are intertwined

Lots of “ISMS” – philosophical changes in society

Represents the dominant group

Which is….