NOVEL ″IT CANT HAPPEN HERE″
Purpose of the Assignment This is an experiment and I HOPE it won′t be a disaster. If it is, none of you will suffer from that. The assignment asks you to both think about the United States in the 1930s as well as to analysis what Sinclair Lewis was trying to do with his 1935 novel. This is harder to do with an online class, but you all can do this essay. The prompt is both a prompt and a kind of laundry list of questions you should try to incorporate into your essay. There is a lot of wiggle-room here so don′t feel I am trying to make you conform to a One-Size Fits All essay here. And, as this is an experiment, I, alas, don′t have any sample essays to post. Outcomes * Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations * Analyze historical interpretations, using evidence as the means to reach a conclusion [unique_solution]* Synthesize and integrate information and ideas while employing critical thinking and clarity in organizing and presenting written arguments * Support generalizations with specific evidence in an essay that is clear, logically organized and in correct standard English * Use Chicago Manuel of Style citations THE ASSIGNMENT It Can’t Happen Here was written in the middle of the Great Depression: all around the world, people embraced totalitarian regimes in an attempt to either control an economy gone haywire and/or to regain honor and security. Traditional politicians had failed and the voting public was hungering for a government that responded to its needs. In the novel, President Franklin Roosevelt lost his bid for denomination and Buzz Windrop began his campaign to Save America. The people in Sinclair Lewis’s imperiled America who could save the nation from itself were hampered by a smug delusion that dictatorships are a European phenomenon — a delusion that prevented them from taking action to stop the march of fascism until it was too late. That benighted attitude—that fascism and authoritarianism are innately German, or Russian, or Chinese, or North Korean, or indigenous to anywhere but their own country — was a mistake the founding fathers didn’t make as they deliberately crafted an inefficient form of government, full of checks and balances, because they understood that America was as liable to fall victim to tyranny as any country. What did Berzelius ″Buzz″ Windrip propose to do and how was he able to keep his campaign promises? Doremus Jessup was an unlikely candidate to become a revolutionary. How did the transformation from rather mild-mannered country newspaper editor into the leader of a counter-insurgency happen against the Corporate State? Why do you think Sinclair Lewis named him Doremus, which is Latin for “we sleep?” What was Lewis’ point about the role of citizens in a democracy? Did Sinclair Lewis adequately support his argument that “it could happen here” in America? What specific evidence or examples does he offer in the novel about how this type of political regime could be elected in the U.S.? Is his evidence compelling? Why or why not? Which characters did you like and dislike the most and why? What did you find the most frightening about the novel? Due 16 February 2020 3-4 pages 100 points IT HAS TO HAVE AT LEAST EIGHT CITATIONS IN CMOS FORMAT!!!!!!