For these short essays, the goal is to collect your thoughts on the works once you have finished reading them and to synthesize them with our class discussions and your own research– it is a way of beginning a larger analysis. Key themes and subjects to discuss might include: issues of race and gender; issues of poverty and socio-economics; politics and views of the Mexican Revolution; questions of cultural sensitivity; questions of modernity and tradition; the romanticization and/or exoticization of Mexico by foreigners; the rural-urban divide; or any number of others. As such, you should think of these early essays as a starting point for your final essay assignment.
Please consider the following approaches when writing your essays. Whatever specific approach(es) you take, be sure to cite specific language from the work(s) you discuss:
Close Readings: Discuss some significant literary element(s) of importance in your analysis (plot, narration, point of view, style, genre, setting, character, theme, symbolism, irony, etc.);
Intertextuality: Discuss how the work(s) at hand relate to other primary source materials (literature, film, visual art, etc.) discussed in class or that you have found in your own research;
Academic Research: Discuss how the work at hand has been interpreted by other scholars on the topic. Use this as a way of beginning your research for your final essay (but if doing so, please limit yourself to one secondary source in this short essay).
