Assignments for College Writing II: Writing and Literary Study

Goal: To produce sophisticated essays and documentation that point to original interpretation, linguistic clarity, and  academic maturity and integrity.

• Participation, attendance, and homeworks--15%
• Unit I Essay: the Monomyth (1000 words)--10%
• Unit II Essay: Fairy Tales (1500 words)--20%
• Unit III Essay: Rushdie (documented, 1500 words)--20%
• Unit IV Essay: Drama and Other Genres (1000 words)--20%
• Portfolio of Revised Essays (Unit I-III; 1000 words)--15%

Unit I: The Monomyth

M 1/30: Write rough draft for Essay I: the Monomyth and bring 2 hard copies to class (N.B.: the first draft is a substantial piece of work, representing several hours of writing--perhaps exploring a topic, or working on one approach, abandoning it, and trying another.)

R 2/2: Mid-process draft for Essay 1: Monomyth (Mid-process draft is at least 2 pages)

M 2/6: Final draft due for Essay I

The purpose of this essay assignment is to introduce you to the methodology of literary analysis. In addition, the following essay prompts underline the importance of argumentation in writing about literature and culture.

Choose one of the following topics and write a 3 to 5 page essay (750-1250 words):

1. Choose your favorite cultural text--a book, movie, comic book series, or a song. And then, analyze it through the lens of Campbell's monomyth. What does this cultural text teach about maturation? To what audience is it speaking? How does looking at it through Campbell reveal some new, hidden depths? Why is this a universal story?

2. Is Campbell’s concept of the “monomyth” a valid theory for world literature? Write a critique of the theory about literature and culture that Campbell presents in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Your argument should draw on specific passages from the book as well as prove in what ways the “monomyth” theory is lacking, perhaps by alluding to gender/ethnic relations and/or by illustrating with examples from your favorite text (either a story, novel, movie, or other cultural artifact).

Unit II Paper: Fairy Tales

M 2/27: Write rough draft for Essay II: Fairy Tales and bring 2 hard copies to class (N.B.: the first draft is a substantial piece of work, representing several hours of writing--perhaps exploring a topic, or working on one approach, abandoning it, and trying another.)

R 3/2: Mid-process draft for Essay I1: Fairy Tales (Mid-process draft is at least 3 pages)

M 3/6: Final draft due for Essay II

Instructions: Write a 4-6 page (1000-1500 words) essay on two fairy tales. The goal of this argumentative paper is to demonstrate your fluency in original literary analysis and understanding of the features of folk and fairy tales.

Most of these essay questions are comparative, meaning that they ask you to compare two different tales. This is designed to encourage original critical thinking and to discourage plagiarism. In order to build a thesis/controlling idea, out of the similarities and differences you find, hypothesize what fairy tales teach and how they teach morals differently (or more effectively).

Please do not summarize any of the ‘plot’ (narrative, action, etc.) of the fairy tales, which are very well known to all of us. Rather, analyze the “deeper meaning” of the fairy tales, drawing attention to and citing details that a reader might miss reading them the first time; you should reread each story you write about. Each supporting paragraph should be centered on literary elements like themes, symbols, plot, and other recurring/repetitive details that expose hidden meanings; consult this Vocabulary page for more ideas. I would also encourage you to consciously adopt an approach to analyzing these fairy tales (i.e., psychological, anthropological, historical/economic, feminist, etc.). Please review the evaluative criteria.

The following are merely prompts; this means they should prompt you into formulating your own specific questions and answers which you can begin to explore in the prospectus. Choose one of the following topics:

1. Write your own essay topic. This is strongly encouraged, since students write better essays when they write about something they cherish.

2. Compare and analyze a folk tale focusing on a male protagonist to one focusing on a female one (for ex., “The Brave Little Tailor” and “The Frog Prince or Iron Heinrich”). What different kinds of rites of maturation do male and female children have to perform to become adults? How do fairy tales teach men and women to behave differently? Why do fairy tales have such different expectations for male and female characters?

3. Compare and analyze an older version of a fairy tale to its modern, literate form (i.e., “Story of Grandmother” to Angela Carter’s “In the Company of Wolves”; Perrault or Grimm’s “Cinderella” to Anne Sexton’s poem on p. 325, etc.). What traits of the fairy tale “hero” do modern authors revise? How do they update folk tales for modern audiences? Why do modern writers draw on such a traditional genre as the folk tale?

4. Analyze two fairy tales through the lens of Campbell's monomyth. What do fairy tales attempt to teach Western audiences about what it means to grow up and become men and women in the world? Why do fairy and folk tales speak to such diverse audiences?

5. CREATIVE OPTION: Write your own short story, poem, or screenplay using fairy tale elements. You must include a cover letter (at least 1.5 pages) that lays out these fairy tale components, discusses the purpose of fairy tales, and analyzes what your fairy tale teaches audiences. Refer, in this cover letter and/or the creative writing, to at least two of the fairy tales we have read. The cover letter and creative writing will be evaluated according to their ability to demonstrate the pedagogical purpose of fairy tales in a sophisticated manner (as well as form).

The Politics of Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Documented Essay)

Monday March 20: Library Tutorial in Sprague Library

Thursday March 30: Present Research (3-minute summary)

Monday April 3: Rough Draft due and bring at least 1 hard copy to class (N.B.: the first draft is a substantial piece of work, representing several hours of writing--perhaps exploring a topic, or working on one approach, abandoning it, and trying another.)

Thursday April 6: Mid-process Draft due and bring at least 1 hard copy to class (aim for at least 3 pages)

PLEASE NOTE: Although 1 or 2 points will be awarded for the presentation of your research, no points are going to be given for drafts this time. However, I will NOT ACCEPT any paper without at least one draft. Make a new document every time you start a new draft by selecting and copying all text.

Final draft due Monday April 10 at 11:30 a.m.

Instructions: Write a 5-6 page (1250-1500 words) essay on a socio-political, psychological, historical, and/or literary aspect of Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories. This essay fulfills the documented essay requirement for College Writing II; that is, you must find at least one library resource and incorporate this research into your final essay. This research must come mostly from primary, not secondary, material. For example, there are several critical essays written by eminent scholars in academic journals discussing this question about the “real world” meaning of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, but I do not want you to look at these, because reading them would only produce summaries of other writers’ work. Instead, I would like to see you incorporate independent and general material such as interviews with Rushdie, reports and analyses of the socio-political situation in Pakistan and Kashmir, as well as discussions about Rushdie and the Islamic world. Unless it contains an interview with Rushdie, I would prefer that you do not use online-only sources for this assignment but rather rely on publications that have some degree of oversight such as a board of editors; (this may mean peer-reviewed sources, but more likely sources with an established reputation and reliability such as the New York Times). You will be evaluated on your ability to choose relevant research and connect ideas from disparate sources such as Rushdie’s novel and one of these outside sources.

The following are examples of questions you might use to focus your topic.

1.    Write your own questions based on your own research, beginning with interviews with Rushdie, analyses of conflicts in Pakistan and Kashmir, as well as the role of fairy tales to produce political allegory.

2.    Consider censorship, freedom of speech, and allegory in Haroun and the Sea of Stories and the “real” world. What similar rules govern freedom of speech in the Islamic world and the world of Haroun and the Sea of Stories? Alternatively, how might Rushdie’s experience with freedom of speech (and the fatwa on his head) have shaped Haroun and the Sea of Stories? Excellent responses will hypothesize why the author uses fairy tales to express these political concerns.

3.    What is the psychological effect of living with a death threat on your head or in a world of terror? Alternatively, what do studies suggest about the effect of trauma on children? In what ways does Haroun’s adventure mirror the process of psychological escape from grim realities? Excellent responses will consider in what ways Haroun and the Sea of Stories posits an answer to these questions as well. 

4.    What is the tradition of storytelling in Islamic cultures, and in what ways does it mirror the narrative style of Haroun and the Sea of Stories?

5.    What is the situation for women in Islamic cultures? In what ways does Haroun and the Sea of Stories comment on women’s position in any of those societies?

If you have research that you were unable to incorporate into the paper, you may attached entries of annotated bibliographies, described and exemplified below.

An annotated bibliography serves the purpose of pre-writing by summarizing the salient points of a critical resource. Keep your audience in mind, who want to know what the article/book chapter is about, what kind of methodology it uses, and whether it is worth reading. It may also consider the following five questions:

1. THESIS: What is the author's thesis?

2. EVIDENCE: How does the author develop the thesis? What evidence does the author provide? Does he or she use statistics, definitions, first-hand experiences, research references, or case studies?

3. PURPOSE: What is the author's purpose or goal (i.e. why did the author bother to write this piece?), and the author's intended goal (i.e., what does the author hope to accomplish by writing this piece?

4. AUDIENCE: Who is the author's audience (i.e., what kind of people does the author hope will read this piece? Who is he or she trying to convince?).

5. PERSONAL: How might this secondary source be relevant for your own research question?

EXCELLENT annotated bibliographies also begin to critique an article’s argument, evidence, and purpose by evaluating and comparing it to original (i.e., your own) research.

Example of an Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

1. Alpers, Paul. What is Pastoral? Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996: 93-112. Although not entirely confined to the topic of Milton’s “Lycidas,” Alpers’ book is relevant given that it is the most recent (as far as my research could discern) publication concerning “Lycidas.” Alpers addresses Sacks’ and Fish’s question of the poem’s lack of poetic voice and concludes that the pastoral elements of Milton’s work commemorate Lycidas and further the process of consolation. Alpers includes a close reading of “Lycidas” within the elegiac tradition; it is a lucid work and definitely worth reading.

2. Leonard, John. “’Trembling Ears:’ The Historic Moment of ‘Lycidas’.” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 21 (1991): 59-81. Leonard’s essay details the historical relevance of Milton’s work, both within the framework of Milton’s Puritan contemporaries (the branded Bastwicke, Burton and Prynne) and criticism of the clergy. While useful for a detailed description of the poem’s historical and political implications, this criticism reveals little about “Lycidas’” merit as an elegy.

3. Ronnick, Michele V.. “Blind Mouths in Milton and Eustathius: a Note on ‘Lycidas 119.” Notes and Queries. 237 (1992): 452-453. Ronnick’s essay explicates Milton’s reference to “blind mouths,” which the author connects to Milton’s knowledge of the twelfth century Byzantine bishop Eustathius’ commentaries on the Iliad and the Odyssey. This is perhaps useful for reference of Milton’s use of classic authors and literary criticism of the period. In the same volume is another essay concerning Milton’s use of Virgil, which is not as convincing but provides other resources for this topic (“Milton’s Affair with a Bar Maid: Virgilian echoes in ‘Lycidas’ 64-84”).

4. Silver, Victoria. “’Lycidas’ and the Grammar of Revelation.” ELH 58 (1991): 779-808. Silver departs from Ransom’s and Fish’s criticisms of the poem’s inartistic nature (I have not cited these articles here as the main thrust of these are included in both Sacks’ and Abrams’ works). In order to counter these arguments, Silver utilizes a Miltonian discussion of theology; she argues that the tension and discrepancies between a theological order and poetic subjectivity reveal the traumatic loss encountered in death. Moreover, Silver addresses Sack’s question of language; the “labyrinth” of Milton’s language, Silver argues, shows where “the hidden God” lies (807). Silver’s essay is an enlightening counter to Ransom’s and Fish’s deconstruction of “Lycidas.”

Nielsen / ENWR 106 Unit IV Paper: Drama and Other Genres

4/24 Rough Draft

4/27 Mid-process Draft

5/1 Final Draft

Instructions: Write 3 full to 5 page (750 to 1250 words) analytical, argumentative essay on either Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” or Suzan-Lori Parks’s drama, The America Play. You will not receive any points for draft work on this assignment, but you must submit at least one draft in order to pass this assignment. This draft must show the process of your work (suggestion: start a new document every time you do a major revision on the paper).

Choose one of the following topics:

1. Choose 3 to 5 lines rich with symbolism and metaphors from either Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” or Suzan-Lori Parks’s drama, The America Play. The basis of all literary criticism is the analysis of data, in our case the literary text (see list on opposite side). This topic asks you to present a close reading of a passage from either of these works and to outline the themes, motifs, symbols, and philosophical issues this passage embodies about the rest of the novel. The argument for your essay will be based on this close analysis; you might consider arguing why the passage you choose (above all others) is important for understanding a theme or issue in the work.

2. What is Gabriel Garcia Marquez trying to say about “outsiders” in his short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”? How does the community treat outsiders, and what moral is Garcia Marquez trying to impart? And why does Garcia Marquez use fairy tale elements to get his moral across to readers?

3. What myths about America and American history does Suzan-Lori Parks attempt to debunk in The America Play? Consider what the dramatist tries to say about being an outsider in America. Your argument could side with or disagree with a portion of Alvin Klein’s review in The New York Times: “Ms. Parks’s ideas are so crammed and arbitrarily unfolded that her play—her play as a play—is neither fathomable nor cohesive. But her unanswerable questions are freeing; the verbal and temporal leaps, even the vastness of her intentions, are invigorating” (30 Jan. 1994, CN17). Does Parks have a message, or is the moral of her play that history itself is filled with contradictory messages?

4. Rewrite a scene from Suzan Lori Parks’s America Play in the “traditional” play format (e.g., not as a postmodern piece) or as a short story. Include a cover letter (at least 1.5 pages) that analyzes your own creative work and draws attention to your changes. If you change a scene into a short story, how does this shift in genres (from drama to fiction) change the impact of the piece (theatrical audience vs. reading audience). How does your creative adaptation change the moral or message of Parks’s play? In addition to the cover letter’s articulation of these analytical issues, responses will be evaluated on their ability to mimic Parks’s linguistic style.

5. Write the next “missing” scene from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, either from the Very Old Man’s perspective, a second-person narrator (someone involved in the world of the story), or a third-person narrator. Include a cover letter (at least 1.5 pages) that analyzes your own creative work and draws attention to your changes. How does your creative adaptation change the moral or message of Garcia Marquez’s story? In addition to the cover letter’s articulation of these analytical issues, responses will be evaluated on their ability to mimic Garcia Marquez’s linguistic style.

Plagiarism, cheating, and pretending another’s words are your own are unethical practices subject to academic sanction and failure in this course. Please cite all consulted material, from websites, books, articles, to the backs of books, as critical engagement with and acknowledgment of others’ words is part of the larger academic conversation and ethic. Late papers will not be accepted after Monday May 8, 2006.

Overt meaning = Plot

Analysis (definition from Dictionary.com):

   1. The separation of an intellectual or material whole into its constituent parts for individual study.

   2. The study of such constituent parts and their interrelationships in making up a whole.

   3. A spoken or written presentation of such study: published an analysis of poetic meter.

Subtext = The meaning beneath the plot that can be uncovered through literary elements such as:

Keywords: What have you underlined? Which words jump out as important? Which terms are repeated or stressed by the author?

Allegory: A narrative technique in which characters representing things or abstract ideas are used to convey a message or teach a lesson. Allegory is typically used to teach moral, ethical, or religious lessons but is sometimes used for satiric or political purposes. Ex.: The allegory of blind justice holding scales teaches us that justice should be objective and impartial.

Metaphor: a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity

Setting: The total environment (time, place, historical milieu) for the action of a fictional work.

Symbol: Something that on the surface is its literal self but which also has another meaning or even several meanings. May be universal (generally applicable) or specific to the way an author constructs it.

Simile: A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as

Tone: The writer's attitude toward his readers and his subject; his mood or moral view.

The success of your paper will depend on linking the ways in which these details relate to the larger picture, your analysis and interpretation of the work.

Portfolio of Revised Essays Assignment: Literature and its Critics

Due Monday 5/8 in 324 Dickson between 1:30 and 3 p.m.

The purpose of the portfolio is to allow students the opportunity to present a body of cumulative work that underscores their understanding of literary criticism and improved writing styles. This assignment, which is in lieu of a final exam, counts for 15% of the final grade.

I. Attach a Portfolio Cover Letter to your Portfolio

The first part of this portfolio should explore and analyze what you have learned about literary analysis. In a sense, I am asking you to “close read” the form of writing we have been producing all semester. What are its main features? What is not acceptable in this kind of writing? What does this kind of writing tell us about the people who use it? And most importantly, what does studying literature teach us? Your goal here is to show that you have acquired “membership” in a general academic community of practice and that you “know” the rules of the game. Prove your membership by carefully explaining what is expected from literary analysis, and provide an explanation of what this might tell us about the users of this genre.

The final section of this letter should build on the knowledge of literary analysis that you have displayed in the first section. Use this last portion of your cover letter to highlight why your writing this semester shows progress toward developing the idealized academic discourse you described in the first part. In other words, how does your writing this semester demonstrate that you are prepared to participate in the world of letters and reasoning that constitutes the university?

II. Items to be Submitted

• cover letter

• Revisions of 2 lowest graded essays: Show changes in bold or underline

• original graded papers

III. Format

IV. Evaluation

Additional Tips and Evaluative Criteria

• Please simply staple, number, and label each page with your last name (no cover pages or booklets). Include a title. 
  
• Late papers will be penalized.
• Please carefully proofread your paper; grammatically sloppy papers will have points deducted.
• In order to avoid plagiarism and to guide your readers in following your sources, please cite texts according to MLA standards. You may use outside sources but are not required to do so. If you do use outside sources, please be sure to cite them properly.
  

• Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: Definition of Plagiarism (from Student Handbook)

  "Plagiarism means the use of another's words as if they were your own, and the unacknowledged incorporation of those words in one's own work offered for credit.  The following guidelines for written work will assist the student in avoiding plagiarism:

              a) General indebtedness for background information and data is acknowledged by inclusion of a bibliography of all works consulted.

              b) Specific indebtedness for a particular idea, or for a quotation of four or more words from another text, is acknowledged by footnote reference to the actual source.  Quotations of 4 -5 words or more from a text are indicated by the use of quotation marks."

  Honesty is expected of you.  It is expected that the work you hand in will always be your own, and that you will never copy sentences, phrases, paragraphs or whole essays from any other person's work, for that is plagiarism.  Plagiarism is dishonest, and against both University policy and my own.  If you are ever unclear about how to cite another person or author's ideas, come see me or consult the staff in the Writing Center.  We can help you do this correctly.  It's important to understand that plagiarism is a big deal in this university and in my class.  Don't make this mistake.  Students who are caught plagiarizing will fail the course and be referred to the Dean of Student's office for disciplinary sanctions.

  
  
• This paper will be evaluated according to the strength and clarity of its argument, validity of its support, and originality of its conclusions. In addition, evidence of each student's ability to communicate these ideas in writing weighs considerably on the final evaluation. Therefore, you are encouraged to engage in peer-review and extensive proofreading.
  

• Students are encouraged to make use of the University Writing Center, located in Dickson Hall 285 (655-7442); students are benefited most by making an appointment, but drop-in hours are also available. I am more than willing to provide extra help and extra office hours! Please come to my regular office hours in Dickson Hall 324 or email me at nielsenw@mail.montclair.edu for an appointment.