Read the following excerpt from a research paper on American novels and answer the question.

The argument continues about which novel has the honor of being the first American novel. Some award the honor to Gilbert Imlay's The Emigrants, denying the novelistic writing that preceded it (Gray 453). Several novels have lost their claim to that title for one reason or another. In 1751, Charlotte Lennox used American scenes and characters in The Life of Harriot Stuart, but her literary training and home were in England (Shepherd 5). A book called The Female American: or, The Adventures of Unca Eliza Winkfield was thought to have been written by an American and published in London in 1767. In 1775, Adventures of Alonso, probably by Thomas Atwood Digges, was claimed to be by a native of Maryland. The book, however, was not published in America and deals with nothing American. An Indian story, The History of Maria Kittle, was written in 1781, but did not appear as a book until 1793 (Burke 76). Miss McRae by Hilliard d'Auberteuil in 1784 lost its claim because it was written in French by a Frenchman (Sloan 8).

What is the purpose of this paragraph?

to define American novels

to explain why there is a problem defining the first American novel

to introduce the topic of d'Auberteuil's novels

to explain the classification process of American novels