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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Williams feel that women especially appreciated Burr?

2. What does William Carlos Williams say is the most important thing to remember about people who are descended from Africans who were brought to the Americas in slavery?

3. What does Williams say is the one thing that Americans fear more than anything else in the world?

4. What does Poe call Longfellow?

5. What does Williams say that Africans came enslaved from Africa for?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Are the American Grain and the character of the New World identical, or are they different? Write an essay in which you explain how William Carlos Williams might answer this question. Support your answer with evidence from In the American Grain.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you compare "The Voyage of the Mayflower" with "Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World." In "The Voyage of the Mayflower," Williams implies that Puritan values gave rise to the Salem witch trials. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Support your answer with examples from In the American Grain.

Essay Topic 3

Compare Williams' essay on Abraham Lincoln with his essay on George Washington. How are these two famous presidents similar? How are they different? Is there a difference in the way that Williams approaches writing about each of them? Draw on evidence from In the American Grain to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 306 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample