Please post your working essay concept. Please do not create a "thesis," yet. I would also revisit your blog responses; there are brilliant insights there!
Compose a fat paragraph, detailing your insights on the topic. What do you want to write about? Which prompt(s) will help you achieve your objective? What point(s) do you hope to make or explore? Which short stories will you use? How will you implement the documentary? What other films, novels, could help you in your quest? Remember, this is a working draft, so do not hold back.
At this juncture, do not worry about commenting on other's ideas in the blog space. We will have time to do that as a class on Thursday.
I look forward to your responses.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Baldwin & Morrison Essay Assignment
Directions:
Please choose one of the following prompts and compose an essay using any combination of the following pieces: James Baldwin's “Going to Meet the Man,” “Sonny’s Blues,” Toni Morrison's "Recitatif," and/or I Am Not Your Negro. You will be using the pieces and the film to compare and contrast the distinctive voice of black and white America
(“Sonny’s is from the black perspective while “Going” is seen through the eyes
of a white man, for example). Analyze how Baldwin and/or Morrison uses the elements of literature to make a point about race relations. Important:
Always focus on how the author makes the text work. For example, it is not “Jesse said…” it is
that “Baldwin created Jesse to show his audience…” Also, use the documentary as
a means of discussing these concepts in a non-fictional sense. What does Baldwin believe to be true? How does he see the world? How did he project these ideas through the
eyes of Sonny? His brother? Jesse?
The crowd? Show the balance using
the various texts. You may also use other sources, films, song lyrics (just be sure to cite using
MLA format, please).
Choose ONE (or combine to create one
comprehensive idea)
1968. In many plays, a character has a
misconception of himself or his world. Destroying or perpetuating this illusion
contributes to a central theme of the play. Choose a play with a major
character to whom this statement applies and write an essay in which you
consider the following points: what the character’s illusion is and how it
differs from reality as presented in the play and how the destruction or
perpetuation of the illusion develops a theme of the play.
1970. Choose a character from a novel or
play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you (a) briefly
describe the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists
and (b) show how the character is affected by and responds to those standards.
In your essay, do not merely summarize the plot.
1976. The conflict created when the will
of an individual opposes the will of the majority is the recurring theme of
many novels, plays, and essays. Select the work of an essayist who is in
opposition to his or her society; or from a work of recognized literary merit,
select a fictional character who is in opposition to his or her society. In a
critical essay, analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical
implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot
or action of the work you choose.
1977. In some novels and plays certain
parallel or recurring events prove to be significant. In an essay, describe the
major similarities and differences in a sequence of parallel or recurring
events in a novel or play and discuss the significance of such events. Do not
merely summarize the plot.
1988. Choose a distinguished novel or play
in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological, for
example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized
essay, describe how the author manages to give the internal events the sense of
excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do
not merely summarize the plot.
1995. Writers often highlight the values
of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that
culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or
a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that
character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral
values.
1999. The eighteenth-century British
novelist Laurence Sterne wrote, "No body, but he who has felt it, can
conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man's mind torn asunder by two
projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at
the same time."
From a novel
or play, choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is
pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions,
obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of
the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict with one character
illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may use one of the novels
or plays listed below or another novel or work of similar literary quality.
2002. Morally ambiguous characters --
characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely
evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a
novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then
write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally
ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a
whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
2005. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
(1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "That outward
existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In a novel or
play that you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while
questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension
between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of
the work. Avoid mere plot summary.
2010. Form B. “You can leave home all you want, but home
will never leave you.”
—Sonsyrea
Tate
Sonsyrea
Tate’s statement suggests that “home” may be conceived of as a dwelling, a
place, or a state of mind. It may have positive or negative associations, but
in either case, it may have a considerable influence on an individual. Choose a novel or play in which a central
character leaves home yet finds that home remains significant. Write a
well-developed essay in which you analyze the importance of “home” to this
character and the reasons for its continuing influence. Explain how the
character’s idea of home illuminates the larger meaning of the work.
2012.
“And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as
much as fate, destiny or any supernatural agency.” Pauline Hopkins, Contending
Forces
Choose a
novel or play in which cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings shape
psychological or moral traits in a character. Then write a well-organized essay
in which you analyze how surroundings affect this character and illuminate the meaning
of the work as a whole.
2015. In literary works, cruelty often
functions as a crucial motivation or a major social or political factor. Select
a novel, play, or epic poem in which acts of cruelty are important to the
theme. Then write a well-developed essay analyzing how cruelty functions in the
work as a whole and what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and/or
victim.
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