Years: pre-1607

Major Historical Events: Congress Breaking Treaty with Native Americans, Wounded Knee Battle, Christopher Columbus genocides 

Major Authors: Sioux and Arapaho

Time Period: Pre-Colonialism

Dates: Published 1840s & set pre-1607

Point of View: First person

Themes: freedom, starvation, death, redemption, race

Connection: “The Ghost Dance Songs of the Arapaho” are dreary about the encounters with the new colonists. They write “when at first I liked the whites” (1). The evolution of the relationship started out as innocent but soon took a turn. The Arapaho say “All is gone–I have nothing to eat” (9). This shows how it went from innocent quickly to taking advantage of hospitable people that wanted nothing to do with you. This is like when the U.S. government broke their treaty with the Native, rendering their land open, taking advantage of people that were there longer than you.

Years: 1607-1775

Major Historical Events: Salem Witch Trials, 

Major Authors: William Bradford, John Winthrop, Jonathan Edwards

Time period: Colonialism

Dates: published & written 1741

Point of View: Second person

Themes: Freedom, power / revolution, class / status

Connection: Religion was used as a scare tactic in colonial America to promote the will of God. Jonathan Edwards writes “the devil is waiting for them” (1). This shows how the devil was used to scare people into obedience by telling them they were going to hell. Edward states “Your wickedness makes you heavy as lead” (2). This means that you are so heavy there isn’t a chance you go up, you’re going to hell. The scare tactics also worked in the Salem witch trials by accusing women of devilish powers and being an agent of Lucifer.

Years: 1776-1820’s

Major Historical Events: Declaration of Independence, War of 1812, Slavery

Major Authors: Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Payne, Phillis Wheatley

Time period: Enlightenment

Dates: published and set in 1776

Point of View: First person

Themes: Independence / self reliance, Free thinking, 

Connection: Self reliance and independence were a big part of the Enlightenment way. Thomas Jefferson writes “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States” (5). This articulates the drive for independence by the American people. Jefferson says “dissolve political bands which have connected” (1). This quote means that we are done with Britain and we need to sever the connection with them. Both quotes relate to the revolutionary war and the hunt for freedom from an oppressive power.

Years: 1820’s-1860’s

Major Historical Events: 

Major Authors: Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau

Time Period: Romanticism / Dark Gothic Romanticism

Dates: Published 1845

Point of View: Third person

Themes: Love, Death, 

Connection: “The Raven” is about a man who has lost his love and just wants to see her. When the Raven says “Nevermore” (84). When he asks the raven about Lenore, Poe gets mad because he wants to see his love one more time. Poe writes “Take the beak out of my heart” (101). He is hurt because he thought the raven was sent by god giving him a sign of Lenore. This relates to the story of Vincent Van Gogh and his quest for love in which he would do anything to get his love even cut off an ear.

Years: 1830s-1860s

Major Historical Events: Civil War, Reconstruction, Slavery

Major Authors: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time Period: Transcendentalism

Dates: Published 1867

Point of View: First person 

Themes: Wonder, Confusement, Nature

Connection: “O Captain! My Captain!” Is about the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln and the stages of realization. Walt Whitman writes “O the bleeding drops of red” (6). This is the moment when something is wrong right now and I don’t know what. Whitman states “You’ve fallen cold and dead” (16). This is when they realize he is dead and they are in a sticky situation which is what happened with reconstruction. This is what happened in real life: Abraham Lincoln had a plan for this country when he was assassinated which spun the country into a downward spiral.

Years: 1830s - 1860s

Major historical events: Slavery, Civil war, reconstruction era

Major authors: Fredrick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs,

Time period: slave narrative

Dates: Published in 1845 & set in 1822

Point of view: first person POV

Themes: Slavery, Freedom, Brutality

Connection: The Slave Narrative time period encapsulated the idea about freedom but not receiving it. Douglass writes “Thus is slavery the enemy of both the slave and the slaveholder” (31). This tells us that slavery is an unjust system that needs to stop. Douglass says “the idea of speaking to white people weighed me down” (80). Even after slavery the idea of being free isn’t there, even though they aren’t enslaved, they still feel like it. This is like the gold rush in that people went to get new freedoms but got caught in an unfair system that favoured wealthy people.

Years: 1901 - 1950s

Major historical events: Speakeasies, Industrialism, WW1

Major Authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, Gertrude Stein, Ralph Ellison, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, etc.

Time Period: Modernism

Dates: Published in 1925 & Set in 1922 

Point of View: First person

Themes: Wealth, Industrialization, Change 

Connection: “The Great Gatsby” is all about wealth and influence on a person and their surroundings. Nick writes “They were careless people . . . retreated back into their money” (Fitzgerald 170). This quote shows that people with money have no problems and can get what they want. Nick says “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water” (Fitzgerald 1). This shows that Gatsby is a rich dude that can pretty much afford anything. The industrial revolution was also a time of making money, and all of Gatsby the people around Gatsby were business / manufacturing tycoons.