Final Paper Assignment (Due on Exam Day)

In all cases, your paper should be between 6 and 8 pages in length, formatted to MLA standards, double-spaced, and stapled in the upper left corner.  Your work should quote from the text/s you are using, and it should feature a clearly articulated, personal thesis statement, as well as sufficient evidence and a practical conclusion. 

Option 1:  Compare and contrast two (2) of the texts we have worked on this semester (including all novels, stories and Rashomon) as they relate to the theme of this course (“Truth in Fiction”).  Your should carefully select texts which 1) deal with the course theme in interesting and related ways, and 2) enhance one another (that is to say, each text should “know” something about the course theme that the other doesn’t, and these points should be compared and  contrasted).  The dangers for this option are: 1) picking two texts which don’t speak to each other in any kind of an interesting way, and 2) dealing too explicitly with plot and not explicitly enough with themes and the “meaning” of the text.  You should start by thinking: how do each of the texts we have dealt with this semester illuminate and complicate the idea(s) of “Truth in Fiction”?

Option 2:  Use the following quote to discuss six (6) of the texts we have worked on this semester:

"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? [...] We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us."

- Franz Kafka, in a letter to Oskar Pollak, written 27 January 1904

Your essay should spend equal time on each of the texts you use, and it should include a clearly articulated thesis statement which answers the following question: Why is the kind of fiction Kafka describes valuable and how does it facilitate our understanding of Truth?

Option 3:  Select one (1) of the texts we have read so for this semester and explain how it has personally affected your life.  You should begin by spending an hour alone thinking about the texts: what one(s) did you enjoy the most?  What lessons did you learn from them?  Do you feel your life is any different—for better or worse!—because of something you read in this course?  Another way of imagining this question is to think about the Kafka quote from Option 2 as it personally relates to you: did any of these novels accomplish what Kafka says all good fiction should?  How?  The key to answering this question is to think both honestly and critically: it will not be enough to simply say you loved one of the books—you need to tell me 1) specifically what moved you, 2) why it moved you, and 3) what lasting impact it has had.  Your paper should still have an introduction, thesis, body, evidence and conclusion.   Please use specific quotes from your selection.

  

Reading Response: White Noise

If you choose to submit a reading response for Don DeLillo's White Noise, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: Life of Pi

If you choose to submit a reading response for Yan Martel's Life of Pi, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: Slaughterhouse-Five

If you choose to submit a reading response for Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Slaughterhouse-Five, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Viewing Response: Rashomon

If you choose to submit a reading response for Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the film, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the film.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Movie Options and Voting

After Spring Break, we will be watching a movie before we get into the last three novels of the course.  The goal is to use a film to introduce our next unit, Unit 3: Historical Truth.  This unit deals with the "truth" of history as 1) a synonym for "the past," 2) a man-made, subjective record of that past, and 3) an ever-pressing influence on the ways we conceptualize our relationship to time.  I know that's complicated, but the short version is this: we want to investigate what art can tell us about the way we think about who we are and where we've been. 

As I said on Thursday, movies tend to put classes in a bit of a bind: it's great to watch them, especially in a course like this one, but it's difficult to organize because 1) there isn't really enough time to watch a movie in class and 2) it's hard to get 35 people together any other time!  So, here's what we're going to do: below, I have listed five movies for you to consider.  One of them--Rashomon--is short enough that, if we start 5 minutes early, we can watch it all in a single class period.  The other four are longer, and so they would require a meeting most likely during the evening of the week of 3/15-3/19.  The day and time of that meaning have not been determined yet--that's something we would work out together.  The plan, then, is to use this comments section to vote, as a class, on what you want to do.  We can either:

1.  Meet 5 minutes early on 3/18 to watch Rashomon in its entirety, and then discuss it on 3/23,

or

2.  Meet one evening at the time that is most convenient for the majority of you to watch one of the other four movies listed below.  If we do this, we will meet in a screening room here on campus and I will bring food...let's say, pizza...and if you bring a few bucks with you, we can eat and watch the movie.  If you cannot attend the screening at the agreed-upon time, you will be responsible for watching the film on your own before the next class period and writing a one-page essay reflecting on it.  The essay will not be required of those who attend the screening.  I know this sounds unfair, but I've done this enough times before to know that if I give you an option to skip the screening and watch the movie on your own, 1) you won't go to the screening and 2) you won't watch the movie. 

***Please vote on which option you would prefer (1 or 2) and which movie you would prefer (1-5) in the comments section of this post!***

THE MOVIE OPTIONS:


1.  Rashomon (1950):  In 12th century Japan, a samurai and his wife are attacked by the notorious bandit Tajomaru, and the samurai ends up dead. Tajomaru is captured shortly afterward and is put on trial, but his story and the wife's are so completely different that a psychic is brought in to allow the murdered man to give his own testimony. He tells yet another completely different story. Finally, a woodcutter who found the body reveals that he saw the whole thing, and his version is again completely different from the others.

2.   Jarhead (2005):  Anthony "Swoff" Swofford, a Camus-reading kid from Sacramento, enlists in the Marines in the late 1980s. He malingers during boot camp, but makes it through as a sniper, paired with the usually-reliable Troy. The Gulf War breaks out, and his unit goes to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield. After 175 days of boredom, Desert Storm begins. In less than five days, it's over, but not before Swoff sees burned bodies, flaming oil derricks, an oil-drenched horse, and maybe a chance at killing. Where does all the testosterone go?

3.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004):  A man, Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend Clementine underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realizes that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

4.  Inglourious Basterds (2009):  In Nazi occupied France, young Jewish refugee Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the slaughter of her family by Colonel Hans Landa. Narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later when German war hero Fredrick Zoller takes a rapid interest in her and arranges an illustrious movie premiere at the theater she now runs. With the promise of every major Nazi officer in attendance, the event catches the attention of the "Basterds", a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine. As the relentless executioners advance and the conspiring young girl's plans are set in motion, their paths will cross for a fateful evening that will shake the very annals of history.


5.  The New World (2005):  When 17th century explorer John Smith and a few men go up the river to trade with the Indians, he befriends the princess Pocahontas and they fall in love. While in love, Smith must obtain his duties as president of Jamestown fort and challenges to himself what is the better path for himself to take: stay with the fallen apart colony or go up the river and love Pocahontas in the wild.

Reading Response: Everything Is Illuminated

If you choose to submit a reading response for Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: The Collector

If you choose to submit a reading response for John Fowles's The Collector, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: "Long Black Song"

If you choose to submit a reading response for Richard Wright's "Long Black Song," please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Paper 1 Assignment

For your first paper assignment, you may choose between two possible topics.  Regardless of your choice, your paper should be between 4 and 5 pages in length; it should be typed in MLA format; and it should make liberal and detailed use of its source text/s (that means quotations!).  I also expect your paper to be sufficiently complex and thought-provoking--you should avoid cliches and what we might call "pat" resolutions to your argument about the text.  I have deliberately chosen complex and difficult texts for this class, and they should be treated as such.  It is not embarassing to say you don't fully understand these works--in fact, such an admission can be a mark of intellectual maturity.  That being said, I expect your papers to demonstrate the work you have put into reading these stories/novels well.  On to your choices:

Option 1:  CLOSE READING / EXPLICATION
You may write an essay explicating a section of your choosing from any of the texts we have read before the paper is due.  Your explication should begin by quoting the passage (do not count this in your page total).  You should then mine that text in as much detail as possible.  A few things to consider: form—why is the passage written the way that it is?; action—what happens?; word choice—why are certain words chosen rather than others?; metaphors—does the word choice invite a comparison between your passage and another situation?  Why?; themes—how does your passage relate to the larger themes of the book/story?  Above all, COMPLICATE rather than SIMPLIFY your passage! 

Option 2:  THEMATIC ANALYSIS
You may write an essay in which you trace the theme of Unit 1--Moral Truth--as it is explored in one of the texts we have read.  If you choose this option, I expect you to make liberal use of quotations from your text, each of which you explore in a thorough and relevant manner.  Your essay should attempt to address 1) how your selection participates in a discussion about Moral Truth, 2) what conclusions your selection appears to draw about Moral Truth, as demonstrated by textual evidence, and 3) how your selection COMPLICATES our understanding of Moral Truth.  This last point is essential to a quality paper: as a thoughtful and complex work, your selection undoubtedly troubles what we think of as morality in several ways.  You need to think about this, and write an essay which reflects the complexity of your subject (Moral Truth), as well as the text you are dealing with.

Best of luck, and as always, please contact me with any questions about this assignment.

Reading Response: "Big Boy Leaves Home"

If you choose to submit a reading response for Richard Wright's "Big Boy Leaves Home," please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow"

If you choose to submit a reading response for Richard Wright's "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow," please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post. 

"Girl," by Jamaica Kincaid--Full Text

"Girl"

by Jamaica Kincaid

Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it won't hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that it won't turn someone else's stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharf-rat boys, not even to give directions; don't eat fruits on the street--flies will follow you; but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a button-hole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease; this is how you iron your father's khaki pants so that they don't have a crease; this is how you grow okrbafar from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you very well, and this way they won't recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don't squat down to play marblebsyou are not a boy, you know; don't pick people's flowerbsyou might catch something; don't throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don't like, and that way something bad won't fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn't fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it's fresh; but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?

Reading Response: "Girl"

If you choose to submit a reading response for Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl," please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.

Reading Response: The Road

If you choose to submit a reading response for Cormac McCarthy's The Road, please do so in the comments section of this post.  Remember: your response should be thoughtful, it should evidence a careful consideration of the text, and it should include at least one question for your instructor/your classmates about the text.  Your response should be no less than 200 words and no more than 500 words, and at least relatively well-written (you will not be graded on grammar, but please remember that poor grammar/syntax reflects poorly on you/your ideas).  If other students have posted before you, your response can be, in part, a response to their posts--feel free to take up other students questions or concerns and use this space as a forum for intelligent discussion.  You may also post more than once, particularly if your initial post is short or ambiguous.  Your grade for the reading response will be based on your collective input in the comments sections of this post.