English 1900e (2008): Essay 1
Contents
Instructions
Write an essay on some aspect of one or both of the short stories covered so far this term. You should develop your own topic using the techniques we have practiced in class. Some possible starting points for your thinking include:
- The endings of the two stories: how should we understand Jesus’s parting actions in Sawai’s story and/or those of the Misfit in O’Connor’s. Do the two sets of actions have similar or different purposes? Are they (in retrospect) predictable from passages earlier in the story/stories? Do they complete ideas in the story? Do they surprise?
- The relationship between the main female characters in the stories and their male antagonists. How should we understand the sexual and/or strongly gendered aspects (e.g. exposing breasts as potentially sexual objects; describing the antagonist as a “my baby”? Why are these gendered contrasts being established? How do they resonate throughout the story/stories?
- Is Jesus in Sawai’s story really Jesus? Is the Misfit in O’Connor’s story really Jesus? What suggests he is/they are? What suggests he isn’t/they aren’t?
- Both stories place a great emphasis on the mundane and trivial and interspace this with the fantastic. What is the purpose of this interaction? Do the fantastic/cosmic issues at stake gain something from the trivial detail? Do the trivial details gain something from the fantastic?
Purpose
The goal of this assignment is to give you some initial practice in developing and writing up University-level research ideas in literature and to let you apply the techniques of idea generation we have been using in class.
Rubric
For this essay, I will be following my standard rubric.
Dues dates, length, etc.
- Due: September 22, 2008. Submit via Turnitin
- Format: Please follow my standard style guide.
- Length: Your essay should be approximately 1200 words (4 pages, double spaced, ± 10%).
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