This assignment is similar to Prompt 2 on page 15, which states the following:

Claude MCKay and Langston Hughes wrote during the same period in America’s literary history. Their writing deals with similar themes concerning the experiences of African-Americans. After analyzing the poem, “America,” explain how the tone and theme of Claude McKay’s poem is similar to that of the Langston Hughes’s poem, “I, Too, Sing America.” Use support from the diction and imagery of the poems to support your thinking.

The assignment I’m asking you to do is similar. For this assignment, analyze the tone and theme of Anzia Yezierska’s “America and I,” and these aspects are similar and different from two other Springboard texts of your own choosing. You will need to ensure a thoughtful analysis of the Yezierska text is clear - do not simply compare and contrast the two.

For example, I could choose to analyze how the structure of “America and I” relate to a complex tone that builds to a specific theme, then choose two other texts - Whitman’s poem and the painting on page 8, for instance - to express how this complexity is a fundamental part of the American experience, and is a fundamental part of becoming American.