Do you think advertising continues to rely on the same parables that Marchand describes? Can you give an example of a new advertising parable or describe how an old one has been modified? It will help to link to a particular ad, whether a still photograph or a moving image.

Clara Bow became a major movie star in the late 1920s, and It played a major role in that stardom. What are some of the techniques used in the film that emphasize and create the idea of her stardom? How does the camera treat her differently from other characters?

According to Jeffrey Weeks, what are the crucial evolutions in the defining of homosexuality that take place near the turn of the 20th century? Or, if you prefer, describe the changing contours of heterosocial behavior outlined by Beth Bailey. In Cather’s “Coming, Aphrodite!” how does she seem to understand changes in courtship and sexuality in the early 20th century?

Sinclair Lewis is a novelist and Louis Mumford’s piece is on architerctural history, so they write different kinds of texts. What do they think the “modern home” has come to mean to people in the US? Do they share the same view of modern homes?

Judging from your reading, does work in a Ford factory seem like it would be desirable to a member of the working class in the early 20th century? Why or why not?

Frederick Winslow Taylor’s work revolutionized management in industrial operations, partly by making it a “science.” How does Taylor view the obligations of employers and employees to one another in his new system? What are some of the crucial changes in the workplace that he hopes to institute?

Why does Carnegie think that the concentration of enormous wealth in the hands of individuals is both good and necessary? What duties do the wealthy have? Do you find Carnegie persuasive, self-serving, or both?

What are some of the key features that distinguish Indian life and values from white life and values in Sa’s autobiographical account? What are some specific ways she communicates the distinctions?

What kind of a place is the West of Frederic Remington? Is it like the West you read about in “Buffalo Bill”? How does a specific painting compare to the story you read?

Both Joel Chandler Harris and Charles Chesnutt wrote decades after the abolition of slavery, during the period of Jim Crow segregation. Do their stories seem to look back at slavery and the plantation in the same or different ways? Where do you see a particular point of affinity or distinction?