IN CLASS ESSAY TOPICS

In class essay

ENG 102

Summer I 2011

You can bring THE TEXTBOOK to class with you in fact it will hurt your grade if you do not because you are required to quote the text directly in order to receive a passing grade! SO DO NOT FORGET THE BOOK! A paper that does not quote the TEXTBOOK directly will fail! Okay? Okay. You cannot write an essay just about a film. YOU MUST COMPARE IT TO A STORY WE READ!

You cannot bring in “notes” or cheat sheets or a draft of an essay and you cannot have your phones on your desk.

Pick one of the following essay topics:

1)      Using examples from the text, compare and contrast the cave dweller that finds his way out of the cave from “The Allegory of the Cave” and Truman from The Truman Show. How is the cave similar to the set of the television show? What “truth” does each character discover over the course of their stories? How do the other characters in the stories react to each of their realizations?

2)      Using examples from the text, explain how “The Allegory of the Cave” and The Truman Show metaphors for the limitations of false constructs about the world that all of us must face in our lives.

3)      Using examples from the text, choose a character from “Cathedral”, “Reunion” and The Royal Tenenbaums and discuss how they are similar or different. Discuss what characteristics they possess or decisions they make that make them alike or different.

4)      Using examples from the text, choose a character from “Cathedral” and The Royal Tenenbaums and explain how they go through a change in character.

Does my paper have:

o   An introduction that states my thesis, the author or authors of the text I am writing about and the title of those texts

o   Body paragraphs that use outside sources and examples from the text to support my thesis

o   A conclusion that restates my thesis and does NOT include quotes from the text or any new information

1950s Housewife

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article3510810.ece

http://www.feminist.org/research/chronicles/part1a.html

http://aubreylondonpinup.com/the-glorious-1950s-housewife


http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everythingsanargument4e/content/cat_020/Brady_I_Want_a_Wife.pdf

Cultural Differences/Essay Question on Magical Stranger

This link discusses cultural differences and also provides a number of links if you go to the bottom of the page. Use the information they provide as outside sources if you are writing your essay about this subject:

http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/culture.htm

Magical Stranger in Literature: "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World", "The Temp" and Edward Scissorhands

This week we will look at "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World", "The Temp" and Edward Scissorhands in class. All three of these stories contain individuals that become part of a community in some way and have profound effects of the people.

In "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" it is a corpse that washes ashore that gives the townspeople a new way of looking at their lives, in "The Temp" it is a temp hired in an office that changes the atmosphere of the wor enviroment and in Edward Scissorhands it is a unique young man that forces a rather boring town to see how boring and judgmental they really are.

This week pay attention to what these "magical strangers" force the people in the stories to look at it in their lives.

The Hours

Themes:

• The Human Fascination With Mortality

• The Constraint of Societal Roles

• Ordinary Life As More Interesting Than Art

Symbols

• Laura’s Cake

• Richard’s Chair

• The Dead Bird

“The Yellow Wallpaper” Questions

1)        “The Yellow Wallpaper” was originally seen by some as a ghost story. More recently, critics have tended to interpret the story from a feminist perspective; which do you believe and explain your answer.

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2)      The story’s narrator, who has recently had a baby, is suffering from what her husband, a doctor, calls “temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency.” How accurate is this diagnosis? Explain.

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3)      What images and figures of speech does the narrator use to describe the wallpaper? To what extent do you think her descriptions are accurate? Which images do you think she sees and which ones do you think she imagines?

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The Yellow Wallpaper Links (Literary Articles, Postpartum Deppression and 19th Century Gender Roles)

Below are links to articles about "The Yellow Wallpaper":

http://www.literaryhistory.com/19thC/Gilman.htm

Here are some links that discuss Postpartum depression:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004481/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/postpartum-depression/DS00546

19th Century Gender Roles:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/rodriguez/GildedAge/home.html

http://wardariheath.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/gender-roles-in-the-victorian-times/

http://convention2.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/2/1/2/5/p21254_index.html?phpsessid=218d56eccb0a4d702cbb7972fdc4c861

PTSD and "The Red Convertible" and Some Links On Sibling Issues

Here is a link that defines the many aspects of PTSD. This would be considered a reliable outside source if you chose to write about this story:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001923/

Here are three links that deal with different issues with sibling relationships. These could help if you chose to write about the siblings in "Sonny's Blues", "The Red Convertible" and To Kill a Mockingbird:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/01/18/early-sibling-relationships-influence-adult-behavior/10803.html

http://ohioline.osu.edu/flm99/fs06.html

http://familytlc.net/sibling_preteen.html

Sonny's Blues

Here is a link to a page with some background information on "Sonny's Blues":

http://cai.ucdavis.edu/uccp/sblecture.html

We will discuss the relationship of the two brothers and how the narrator attempted to help Sonny. It took quite a bit for him to realize what exactly was going on inside Sonny. We will also discuss the importance of:

-The neightborhood
-Jazz
-Drug Abuse
-Family influence

The Namesake--Issues and Themes

At one point  Ashima Ganguli is trying to make a spicy Indian snack from American ingredients — Rice Krispies and Planters peanuts — but "as usual, there's something missing." How does Ashima try and make over her home in Cambridge to remind her of what she's left behind in Calcutta?

How is food and clothing used to explore cultural transitions?

How does Gogol try to remake his identity, after choosing to rename himself, and what is the result? How do our names precede us in society, and how do they define us?

What moments define us more — accidents or achievements, mourning or celebration?

These quotes are from author of the book from which the film is based:

 "The question of identity is always a difficult one, but especially for those who are culturally displaced, as immigrants are . . . who grow up in two worlds simultaneously."

"America is a real presence in the book/film; the characters must struggle and come to terms with what it means to live here, to be brought up here, to belong and not belong here."

“It was always a question of allegiance, of choice. I wanted to please my parents and meet their expectations. I also wanted to meet the expectations of my American peers, and the expectations I placed on myself to fit into American society. It's a classic case of divided identity, but depending on the degree to which the immigrants in question are willing to assimilate, the conflict is more or less pronounced. My parents were fearful and suspicious of America and American culture when I was growing up. Maintaining ties to India, and preserving Indian traditions in America, meant a lot to them.”

Assimilation

Here is a link that talks about assimilation into American/other cultures.

http://www.asian-nation.org/assimilation.shtml

Syllabus and Text

This is the ONLY text that will be accepted for this class!!!

*Exploring Literature: Writing And Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama, And The 

  Essay 4^TH  Edition by Frank Madden

Click the link below to see what the text looks like.

http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Literature-Writing-Arguing-Fiction/dp/0205640184

5/2 M Introduction to class, discussion of syllabus, plagiarism and What it means to be American?  GET TEXT!!!, Read Half and Half  (Handout)

5/3 T Half and Half  (Handout)

5/4 W The Namesake (Film)

5/5 R The Namesake (Film), Read Sonny’s Blues (210)

5/9 M Sonny’s Blues (210), Read The Red Convertible (231)

5/10 T The Red Convertible (231), ASSIGN FIRST ESSAY

 5/11 W Film: To Kill a Mockingbird

5/12 R Film: To Kill a Mockingbird, Read The Yellow Wallpaper (721)

5/16M  The Yellow Wallpaper (721), Read “If Shakespeare Had A Sister” (849)

5/17 T If Shakespeare Had A Sister (849)

5/18 W Film: The Hours

5/19 R Film The Hours, FIRST ESSAY DUE, Read The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World (968)

5/23 M The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World (968), Read The Temp (Handout)

5/24 T The Temp (Handout), ASSIGN

5/25 W Film: Edward Scissorhands

5/26 R Film: Edward Scissorhands

5/30 M *****NO CLASS ***** Read The Allegory of the Cave (1275)

5/31 T  The Allegory of the Cave (1275)

6/1 W Truman Show (Film)

 6/2 R Truman Show (Film), Read Cathedral (1151), SECOND ESSAY DUE

6/6M Cathedral (1151), Read Reunion (244)

6/7 T Reunion (244)

6/8 W Film: The Royal Tenenbaums

6/9 R Film: The Royal Tenenbaums

6/14 M Discussion of In Class Essay (Topics Distributed)

6/15 T IN CLASS ESSAY

6/16 W

6/17 R LAST DAY OF CLASS