ESSAY TWO ASSIGNMENT
DUE: See syllabus for workshop draft and final version due dates
LENGTH: 4 pages for analytical; 5-6 for personal
PURPOSE: To explore one or more of the literary works we have read since the midterm, through analysis, creative imitation, or a personal narrative.
FORMAT: No title page. Type your name, the course title, my name and the date at the top of the page (single spaced). Center an interesting title two lines below, and begin your double spaced essay. (See syllabus for font size and margins).
Choose one of the following projects:
ANALYTICAL:
1) Take Eliot’s poem The Waste Land and, using the hypertext version of poem on Canvas, write about how the literary allusions Eliot makes reference to impact on the meaning of the poems. You do not have to make use of all the allusions in your paper—choose a few that you recognize and find most meaningful—and discuss how the allusions broaden your understanding of the text. You should use about 8 quotations (@4 from the poem and 4 from the hypertext) to support your points. Cite the hypertext as (Hypertext).
2) Choose a character from Beloved and trace his or her story through the book. How has this character’s life been impacted by slavery in terms of family, their body, and whom and how they love? How does this character deal physically, emotionally, and spiritually, with the scars of slavery? You need at least 6 quotations from the book to make your point. All quotations need a page number in the citation.
Grading: the analytic approach requires a clear thesis statement that will preview your points, clear topic sentences and transitions between paragraphs, and a resounding conclusion. Content: 50%, Organization: 25%, Gram/Punc: 25%.
PERSONAL NARRATIVE:
1) Although “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” tells the story of a middle aged man who fears he has wasted his life, T. S. Eliot began writing this poem when he was still in college. From an early age, we all can have struggles with self-consciousness and with relationships. Find four quotations in the poem that you can relate to your own experience, and discuss how those moments of the poem resonated for you. Tell short stories that illustrate the connections you are making.
2) The body (enslaved or free, a family member’s or a lover’s) is an important focus of the novel . By school age, children in our era are taught that their bodies belong to them (as part of an effort to help children understand inappropriate touch). While under the law our bodies belong to us once we are adolescents, there are many situations when there are blurred lines about this issue. For example, you might not have wanted to kiss your grandmother when you visited her but your parents would insist that you do. There are many other examples in many domains: workplace situations, sports programs, social situations, etc. If this is relevant to you, tell a story about a time when you felt like your body was being treated in a way that was not under your control. What were the circumstances? What social pressures were in play that made you hesitant to assert your rights over your body? Relate your experience to the text in your conclusion.
You have the option to pick 1 of the 4 topics. Please dont use outside sources if possible and plagiarism free.
