Compare and contrast figures of revolt. To begin, you will need to develop a focused definition of “revolt” appropriate to your works. If all of the authors seem fascinated by oppressed or “outcast” figures who speak for a critique of their surrounding social world, or refuse participation in that world, do the forms of this revolt or refusal or critique develop in different ways, with different implications? Are some violent, others non-violent? Some passive, others active? Some conscious, others unconscious? Are some revolts collective, others individual? Are some more successful or powerful than others? Are some “figures of revolt” also developed as models of the artist or writer? Or you might frame a related, alternative argument: Do some works specifically align themselves with or comment upon what is seen to be the heritage of the American Revolution? If so, how do they define this tradition? And how do they define their relationship to it?
