The title of the essay must tell the reader something about your specific take on the play.
The paper must use 1-inch margins all around
The paper must follow quotations with the page numbers in parentheses.
The paper must analyze a minimum of 5 quotations from each play.
Please no outside research material unless its a theoretical essay from Survey of Critical Theory.
Please avoid plot summary.
Write an essay advancing an argument about some issue relating to identity in the play (for example, freedom.)
Since all scholarship is addressed to an audience, there is an underlying problem driving the essay, what might be called the “so what?” problem. This is the problem that means your essay is about something larger than just offering another interpretation of a given text; the problem that lets your readers know why they should be care about your essay; the problem that shows there is something at stake besides textual analysis in your writing.
This is not a comparison-contrast essay, nor should it be two mini-essays masquerading as one. This essay should be able to move back and forth between the two plays easily to create one cohesive essay instead of treating them as two seperate essays. In terms of how you link the two plays, there are as many possibilities as you can imagine—think about the kinds of issues and ideas that are prominent within both plays and can interest an audience.
The two plays for this essay (which are the sources required) are: “The Brother’s Size” by Terell Alvin McCraney, and “And I and Silence” by Naomi Wallace.
