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April 3rd Review

We are in our final month of classes! I hope you have learned quite a bit of American history and have a deeper understanding of its connection with American literature. We are finishing the second third of our final book now. Please read up to page 167 for this next week's class. You will have your final essay due on April 17th over this novel. You can use any of the accompanying texts I gave you in class yesterday to help you write a more thoughtful or better-supported essay. You can also conduct your own research that matches the topic you'd like to discuss. As long as you can tie your discussion to the novel and provide a detailed analysis of a scene in the book to prove your point, you are on the right track.

As far as history, we discussed the Cold War yesterday and its causes and its effects on American culture. One response included building up the military forces and increasing its budget. This had only previously happened during combat engagement. As Dwight Eisenhower left office, he said, "Beware the military complex." What does he mean by that? Why would a military general make such a statement?

We also listened to a couple of protest songs, like Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" and Ed Sheeran's cover of Bob Dylan's famous "Masters of War." Finally, we listened to The Animals "House of the Rising Sun." Now, this is known as the first Rock and Roll hit. Our music is once again changing and these changes carry on into our present radio stations.

Your final weekly writing assignment from me is to pick either Eisenhower's warning or one of the three songs and write a one-page analysis. After this paper, you only need to write your final essay on Sherman Alexie's novel, which should come in around 3-5 pages.

Welcome to the home stretch.


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