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Essay 5

Write an analytical or argumentative research paper on a topic of your own choosing focusing narrowly on Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre.  Your essay must meet each of the requirements below.  Read these requirements carefully.

750-1200 words in length.

On the date of peer response, you must turn in the central question your paper strives to answer and a topic sentence outline with the complete topic sentence for each body paragraph and the paper's thesis.  The question you raise for this outline should be a literal question—an interrogative sentence ending in a question mark, not merely a statement of what your topic is. For a sample topic sentence outline, see Writing Tip #2.

However, as with essay 4, this essay should not raise a literal question in the introduction, but instead the introduction should culminate in a full and complete answer to the unstated question your paper addresses—i.e. a thesis statement.  As an alternative to presenting a thesis in the introduction, you may have the introduction culminate in a statement of purpose (This paper will explore the issue of. . . .).  If you begin the essay with a statement of purpose, the full and direct answer to the unstated question (thesis) should be presented in the conclusion.

You must quote Jane Eyre at least six times, following the MLA guidelines set forth in the quotes and documentation handout.  Note: if the topic you choose involves Jane Eyre and another literary work, you must have a total of eight quotes from the primary sources (Jane Eyre and the other work or works).  An additional primary source will not count towards the requirement below for two secondary sources of scholarly criticism.

You are required to do some research and incorporate quotations from at least two sources of legitimate scholarly criticism into your discussion of the novel.  ("Legitimate" means truly scholarly sources, so items from the popular press, encyclopedias, web pages that are not clearly authoritative, and study aids such as Cliff's Notes, SparkNotes, Master Plots, etc., are not acceptable.) Unlike with essay 4, no world wide web sources of any sort are valid—only sources available through the CofC library or its subscription databases are acceptable.

You must turn in photocopies or printouts of each secondary source from which you take quotes.  Highlight the quoted passages (on the photocopy of the criticism, not in your paper).

Vitally important note: Papers that do not meet the research requirements—quotes from at least two secondary sources of literary scholarship or criticism, with photocopied pages attached—will automatically receive failing grades.

As announced in class, I am not providing a list of suggestions for topics for this paper, so the greatest challenge with this assignment is arriving at an appropriate topic, one that is manageable and worthy of exploration in an academic essay.  Basically, any significant theme, motif, issue, technique, or aspect of the novel is fair game.  If you struggle arriving at a valid topic, see me for help.


Reminders:

Offer concrete evidence to support each of your major assertions.
Every body paragraph's topic sentence should answer the (unstated) intro question directly.
Avoid plot summary: see nugget 1; introduce all quotes: see nugget 3.

Sweat the details: use the GR, N, SS, and QD "handouts" and proofread closely.

Essay 1

Read every word below carefully, more than once, before starting your essay.
Choose one of the following options and respond in an argumentative essay of 700-1000 words.  Raise a central question in the introduction that the rest of the paper strives to answer in the persuasive format.

For details of the physical formatting of your paper on paper—margins, headers, titles, etc.—see the simple stuff handout.  For guidelines on quotation and documentation, see the quotation and documentation handout.  All options require that you offer quotes from the plays, so a works cited page is mandatory.

Options:
1) Debate the issue of whether Susan Glaspell's Trifles is more outdated than relevant today.  As we saw in discussion, Trifles is both dated and relevant in different respects, so this argument must make the important distinction that it is either more outdated than relevant, or more relevant than out of date.  Give specific examples from the play and from contemporary society to illustrate your claims.  You must quote the play at least three times in illustrating the paper's major claims (the opposing views and/or your own).

Caution: You may mention specific elements of the setting in discussion of the play's being dated, but it will not be sufficient to argue that the play as a whole is outdated simply because the details of the setting are "low tech" or because the police methods are quaint.  By this logic, any text written or set in the past would be out of date—including texts that many people still consider relevant indeed, such as all of Shakespeare's plays, the Bible, the Koran, etc.  Consider ways the play may be "dated" by the themes and attitudes it expresses—consider specifically the play's depiction of women.
2) Construct an argument debating the issue of whether A Raisin in the Sun is more concerned with racial issues or universal issues, issues that apply to people of all races.  The idea here is to argue that Hansberry's play is more about one set of issues or the other, so draw the lines of argument in your "intro question" clearly and precisely.  Quote the play four or more times in illustrating your assertions—at least one of the quotes should support the opposing viewpoint, and of course you should use quotes to back up your own major points.

3) Pygmalion focuses on issues confronting Shaw's society in early twentieth-century England, a very different world from ours here in the U. S. in 2003.  Construct an argument between the point of view that Pygmalion has little significant relevance to us, Americans in the twenty-first century, and the viewpoint that the play is highly relevant for us despite the differences between Shaw's time and culture and our own.  Give specific examples from "our world" that either show connections between our world and his or demonstrate the difference between our world and that depicted in Pygmalion.  Quote the play at least four times in the course of the argument (opposing views and/or your views, wherever seems appropriate).

4) Shaw's Pygmalion was adapted for film in My Fair Lady, a movie now considered classic.  There are significant differences between the play and the film.  Consider the most notable differences between the play and the movie and build an argument debating whether the film is more successful in delivering Shaw's social criticism or less successful. It will not be enough to argue simply that one version is more entertaining than the other: the key will be to identify what Shaw's specific "message" is and to explain how the movie's alterations of Shaw's plot either strengthen or weaken the delivery of that message.

Caution: This option requires careful and insightful critical thought.  Following the script while viewing the film is a must in identifying the specific changes in plot, and it can be difficult to argue both sides of this issue.  This option is recommended only for the most ambitious, and I strongly urge you to see me in the planning stages or with a draft before turning in the paper.

Hint: The most important sentence in your paper will be the "intro question," because it sets up the lines of argument that the rest of the paper addresses.  I encourage you to run your intro question by me before writing past the introductory paragraph.  Once you have a question in mind, feel free to see me during office hours, send email, or call me at home to make sure you start off on the right track.

Reminders:

Offer concrete evidence (quotes) in support of each of your major assertions.
Every topic sentence should answer the intro question directly.
Avoid plot summary: see nugget 1; introduce all quotes: see nugget 3.

Sweat the details: use the GR, N, SS, and QD "handouts"—and proofread closely.


Essay 2

Read the assignment carefully before starting your essay.

Choose one of the following options and respond in an analytical or argumentative essay of 700-1000 words.  Whichever option you address, you should raise a central question in the introduction that the rest of the paper strives to answer.  For topics that call for argument between one point of view and another, you should structure the argument in persuasive format.

For details on the physical formatting of your paper on paper—margins, headers, spacing, etc.—see the simple stuff handout.  For guidelines on quotation and documentation, see the quotes and documentation handout, paying special attention to the mechanics of citing poetry as outlined in QD4.

Options:
1) There are stereotypes and cultural expectations applied to each of the sexes which influence how we act as individual men and women.  Consciously or unconsciously, we adhere to these stereotypes and expectations or react against them.

For women, these stereotypes and expectations include the notions that women are intellectually inferior to men; that women should be attractive; that women belong in the house, not in the workplace; that strong, independent women are "bitchy"; that women who acknowledge and act upon their natural sexual desires are morally "loose"; that women are supposed to be "ladylike"—passive, submissive, demure, cooperative, nurturing, polite, etc.  For men, the stereotypes and expectations include the ideas that men are tough and unemotional; that "given the chance, all men would be whores"; that "real men" must be independent and aggressive; that men are not "real men" if they don't have latent cravings for violence and if they don't love football, power tools, and cars with big engines.  In short, the stereotypes generally say that women should be selfless, pretty, and dainty, and that men should be "macho."

These cultural myths and stereotypes are but a few of the many by which our culture imposes its ideals of masculinity and femininity upon us as individuals.  You should consider other significant myths about men and women as they are expressed in the poetry from our syllabus.

Your task for this option is to elaborate what you see as the greatest obstacles stereotypes and cultural expectations pose for each of the sexes (This means you deal with both sexes.).  The central question you must argue is who suffers more, men or women, from the cultural expectations these stereotypes impose upon them: in other words, who has it worse? Men or women?

For each obstacle, you will need to 1) explain what the stereotype or cultural expectation is, and 2) show how the stereotype or cultural expectation poses obstacles or problems for the individual.
You must quote at least four poems that illustrate either the stereotypes or expectations you discuss or the obstacles that these cultural expectations bring about.  You may cite other poems, but the syllabus was geared specifically for this option with the poems on February 10th and 12th for MWF sections, and February 11th and the first ten on the syllabus for February 13th for TR sections.

 


2) What is love?  What a question!  Poets and philosophers have been trying to explain what love is for centuries—poets especially.  Not that you should "explain love" in full, but making specific reference to at least three poems (i.e. quoting three poems), construct an essay describing romantic love as you understand it—that is, say what you think love is or what love "feels like" and use the poetry to illustrate your claims.

You should concentrate on presenting your own opinions as the paper's main points, bringing in the poetry only in support of your assertions.  The idea is not to focus primarily on the poetry, but to use the poetry in developing or illustrating your own points just as you would use secondary sources in a research paper.  Consider the poets as experts or authorities on love, and cite their poems as evidence in support of your claims.

If the discussion presents argument between your ideas and those expressed in one or more of the poems, follow the persuasive format.  If the discussion does not present views that you disagree with, you should still structure the essay to raise a literal question in the introduction that the rest of the paper strives to answer—what the literal question ought to be seems fairly obvious . . . but check with me before you get started if you're uncertain about it.

Note: You may use poems not assigned on the syllabus.  If the poems are not included in our Norton text, bring a copy of the poem to peer response and turn it in along with the finished draft.

Caution: This topic is not so easy as it might first appear.  Note that the assignment asks you to discuss what love is or is like, not what love should be or should be like.  Also note that the assignment restricts the discussion to romantic love—as opposed to familial or parental love, love between friends, etc.


3) Close behind love, death appears to be a hot topic among poets.  Discuss the depiction of people grieving or dealing with death in three or more poems from our Norton text.  What do the poems say about death or grieving?  What do they have in common?  How do they present their "messages" differently?  How are the messages themselves fundamentally different?  Raise a literal question in the introduction and quote each poem at least twice.

Note: Unlike the first two options, this one requires close attention to the poems themselves as the subject of your discussion.

4) Some of the poems we've read explore issues involving sex or sexual attraction directly and explicitly—"A Last Confession" (830),
"Wayman in Love" (831), "The Outlaw" (882-83), "The Laundromat" (915-16), "Sex without Love" (934), "Two Songs" (963-64), "The Sick Rose" (976), "Living in Sin" (1108-9), and "Dancing with God" (978-79), especially.  Examine the different comments about sexual relations between men and women in at least four poems, quoting each poem at least twice.  For this option, your discussion need not be structured as an argument, but you should raise an appropriate central question in the introduction.  The question you raise might consider sex or sex-related issues in general, beyond the world of the poems, so that you you would discuss the different issues in general terms and bring in the poetry to illustrate your more general claims (as in options 1 and 2 above).  Or you might raise a question more specifically tied to the four poems themselves, narrowing the focus to deal with the poems very closely, not sex or sex-related issues in the world beyond the poems.

Caution: Note that this paper is formal academic writing: keep the discussion serious and keep it "clean."

Note: You may use poems from the Norton Introduction to Literature that are not on our syllabus, but you should let me know what poems you are considering before including them in your paper.


5) According to William Wordsworth, "poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility; the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of re-action, the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind."  Explore the powerful feelings presented in any three poems we've read, showing specifically how the poets encourage the reader's "kindred" feeling of the emotion the speaker describes.  Quote each poem you discuss at least three times, and raise a literal question in the introduction.

Note, and caution: Unlike the the first two options, this one requires close focus on the poetry as the subject of the essay.  You should concentrate on the poems' specific depiction of the powerful emotions in question.  This topic is by far the most difficult, because you must here analyze the techniques of the poets in conveying emotions, encouraging specific emotional responses in the reader through language, poetic form, sound and rhythm, imagery, symbolism, etc.  Avoid this topic unless you are thoroughly confident in your competence at close analysis of poetry.  I strongly urge you to set up a conference to discuss this topic with me at some point in the writing process, preferably early on.


Additional poems: For any of the options listed above, so long as you have my approval in advance you are welcome to use poems from our Norton text that are not on our syllabus.  If you have a strong desire to address a particular option but have difficulty finding poems that fit your ideas on the topic directly, I may be able to point you to other poems that would work well for each topic.

The two most important sentences in your paper will be the "intro question," because it sets up the lines of argument or analysis that the rest of the paper addresses, and the "thesis," which should simply be the fullest and most direct answer to the question raised in the introduction.  I encourage you to run your intro question and thesis sentence by me for approval.  See me during office hours, send email, or call me at home to make sure you're on the right track.

Reminders:

Every topic sentence should answer the intro question directly.
Offer concrete evidence (quotes) in support of each of your major assertions.
Remember that we hear the speaker's voice in poetry, not necessarily the poet's.
Poems are "works," so don't forget the "Works Cited" page.

Call or email if you have questions or problems. 

Essay 3 (in-class)

In a well-structured essay of four or more paragraphs, address one of the four options below.

You may type the essay on your computer, but you are not required to do so.  If you do type the essay, follow the MLA-style formatting for typed work as outlined in the simple stuff handout.  Also, be sure to save your work on floppy disk periodically as you write, and of course after you have finished the essay.  You may save your completed essay on my disk if you don't have one.

If you would prefer to write the essay longhand, follow the guidelines for handwritten work set forth on the simple stuff handout. Double space the essay throughout, and write only on one side of the paper (do not use front and back of each page).

Raise a question in the introduction and answer it in the body of the discussion, presenting direct answers to the question in each body paragraph's topic sentence and in a full and solid thesis in the conclusion. 

Option 1:
Discuss Fitzgerald's depiction of the wealthy in The Great Gatsby.

Option 2:
Explore Fitzgerald's commentary on the American Dream in The Great Gatsby.

Option 3:
Discuss Fitzgerald's depiction of women in The Great Gatsby.

Option 4:
Explore the significance of crime and/or criminals in The Great Gatsby.
 

Essay 4

For details on the physical formatting of your paper on paper—margins, headers, spacing, etc.—see the simple stuff handout.  For guidelines on quotation and documentation, see the quotes and documentation page.

Write an analytical or argumentative research paper on a topic of your own choosing from Death of a Salesman or A Streetcar Named Desire.  Your paper must meet each of the requirements below.  Read these requirements carefully.

750-1100 words in length.

On the date of peer response, you turn in (on separate paper or via email) the central question your paper strives to answer and a topic sentence outline with the complete topic sentence for each body paragraph and the paper's thesis.

However, your paper should not raise a literal question in the introduction but instead the introduction should culminate in a full and complete answer to the unstated question the body of your paper addresses—i.e. a thesis statement.  As an alternative to presenting a thesis in the introduction, you may have the introduction culminate in a statement of purpose (This paper will explore the issue of. . . .).  If you begin the essay with a statement of purpose, the full and direct answer to the unstated question (thesis) should be presented in the conclusion.

You quote the primary text, either Death of a Salesman or A Streetcar Named Desire, at least five times, following the MLA guidelines set forth in the quotes and documentation handout.  Note: if the topic you choose involves both plays, or one of these plays and another literary work, you must quote both primary sources at least three times.

You do some research and incorporate quotes from at least two sources of legitimate scholarly criticism into the discussion of the play(s).  ("Legitimate" means truly scholarly sources, so items from the popular press, reviews of performances, encyclopedias, web pages that are not clearly authoritative, and study aids such as Cliff's Notes, SparkNotes, Master Plots, etc., are not acceptable.)

You turn in photocopies or printouts of each secondary source from which you take quotes.  Highlight the quoted passages (on the photocopy of the criticism, not in your paper).

You follow each and every detail of physical formatting and presentation on the Simple stuff handout with thorough precision, and the works cited page is absolutely correct: see QD5 on the quotes and documentation handout.

Very important note: Papers that do not follow the guidelines for MLA-style formal paper formatting and citation and documentation of quotes will automatically be penalized one full letter grade.  These details of presentation and mechanics are simple, and you should have them completely mastered by this time of the semester: do not take them lightly.  If you have questions, email me, call me, or see me during office hours.

Hugely important note: Papers that do not meet the research requirements—at least two secondary sources of literary scholarship or criticism, with photocopied pages attached—will automatically receive failing grades.

The greatest challenge with this assignment is arriving at an appropriate topic.  Basically, any significant theme, motif, issue, technique, or aspect of either play is fair game.  You are by no means restricted to the suggestions below, but here are a few ideas to consider:

Death of a Salesman:

A Streetcar Named Desire: