Essay 1 - Assignment

According to Stephen Greenblatt, "Western literature over a very long period of time has been one of the great institutions for the enforcement of cultural boundaries through praise and blame" (226).  So even in poems one might expect to find implicit rules (about behavior, thought, feeling, desire) that define American culture and those who belong to it.   To define a culture and its membership often involves setting up oppositions, distinguishing an "us" from a "them," a "then" from a "now," a "real" from an "ideal."

Choose one of the following topics for your essay. It should be two, typed-pages long; should be titled, divided into paragraphs (including introduction and conclusion); and should develop a clearly expressed thesis statement. Please review the first two chapters in A Short Guide to Writing About Literature for help on the discovery and drafting process. Do not use literary criticism or reviews; cite any other historical resources, dictionaries, etc. that you consult.  

1. Two poems by Emily Dickinson ("Much Madness" 435 & "I died for Beauty" 449) can be seen as exploring what it means to be marginalized by one's beliefs and to pay a social cost. Choose one and begin to write about it by exploring why 19th-century readers might have found this piece compelling; then discuss whether your values or those which dominate contemporary American culture increase or decrease the poem's relevance.

2. The experience of death was omnipresent for many 19th century Americans. Customs such as home childbirth (high mortality) and home funerals, as well as the generally primitive state of medicine and the carnage of the Civil War meant many contemporary readers of Whitman and Dickinson might have had an intimate knowledge of death.  Write an essay that discusses the poetry of death by closely examing Dickinson's "I heard a Fly buzz" (465) and Whitman's "Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night." 

3. For a student of world literature and myth like Carl Jung, rivers are always pregnant symbols (look up archetypc). Write about the symbolic use of rivers in Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" and Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Are the uses similar or different? Why does a river seem an effective/ineffective choice in each case. Do these authors draw on associations with rivers that we already have or give new meaning to them through their writing?

4. Probably one of the most famous of literary friendships is that Mark Twain creates beteen Huck and Jim. Published in 1884 during what came to be known as the "Jim Crow" period, the novel takes up the ostensibly outdated issue of slavery. Looking specifically at Huck's evolving attitude toward Jim (and hence: towards the morality of helping a runway, or slavery itself), discuss what social ideas the friendship challenges and which it leaves in place.   Also reflect on whether the behavior, crises, and affection between these two seem contrived or persuasive. 

5. The Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris are often faulted for their rose-colored view of slavery; Uncle Remus himself parallels caricatures of happy slaves found in minstrel shows. This weird fiction allowed (especially white) readers be entertained by the situations without being confronted with the ugliness of the institution of slavery. Read "The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story" carefully and discuss how the trickster performance of Brer Fox might also be seen as a subversion of racial relations.

 

 

 

Use a readable 12-point font; double-spaced; 1-inch magins.  Fasten simply with a staple. Beginning on the second page, place your last name and page number in the upper-right corner. Indent paragraphs 5 spaces/half-inch and block quotations 10-spaces (anything over three-lines in length). Use MLA in-text citation format to attribute quotations and paraphrased material. Your paper should conclude with a Works Cited page that includes any class texts utilized as well as the source information for the object of your interpretation. Do not plagiarize. (Check out the MLA Guide in the library or handouts from our Writing Center for citation format questions.)

Use the following layout:

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 Student Name
ENGL 2328 Spring 2003
[Date]
Draft, Essay 1

 

Original and Informative Title

 

     The body of the essay begins here. Make it a captivating introduction and the battle

is already half yours. If you have a short quote, it may be introduced "like this" (Sherwood

1). But quotations longer than three lines are always set in "block quotation" format, which

would look something like this:

<10-spaces>

Students are expected to be above reproach in all scholastic activities.

Students who engage in scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary

penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and dismissal

from the university. 'Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to

cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or

materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking

an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage

to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.' Regents' Rules and

Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision

3.22. Since scholastic dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the

integrity of the university, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be

strictly enforced. (Student Discipline 28)

 

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Cheating, Plagiarism, and Collusion UTPB Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty Students are expected to be above reproach in all scholastic activities. Students who engage in scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and dismissal from the university. 'Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.' Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision 3.22. Since scholastic dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the university, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced--Student Discipline for Scholastic Dishonesty: A Guide for Administrators, Faculty, and Hearing Officers (28). See also: www.utpb.edu/UTPB_Student/Students/StudentLife/StudentService_Other/StudentGuide/main_student_guide.htm

Scholastic Dishonesty is a serious matter. I am savvy and vigilant in detecting students who use unattributed web sources , "collaborate" with fellows students, or utilize other "clever" methods to enhance their grades. Take the grade you honestly earn on an assignment. Should a classmate attempt to use your work, refuse; I make no distinction between cheaters and those who aid them. A plagiarized assignment will earn you a zero for the assignment and referral to the Vice President for disciplinary action.