Posted: February 10th, 2016

You may hand in your essay at the beginning of class either Wed 2/3 or Wed 2/10. If you want to include Sula by Toni Morrison as one of your texts, then definitely wait until 2/10.

You may hand in your essay at the beginning of class either Wed 2/3 or Wed 2/10. If you want to include Sula by Toni Morrison as one of your texts, then definitely wait until 2/10. Essays received later than Thur. 2/11 at 2 pm (during my office hr) may only be submitted with instructor permission and will have 5 or more points deducted. Write a 4 page essay on one of the following topics, using two– three texts by different authors that we have read or watched in the class so far. Format: typed, doublespaced, 12’’ Times Roman Font, black ink, 1 inch margins, MLA format for quotations and Works Cited.  (Less than 3 ½  PAGES will receive NO CREDIT). In addition to giving your essay a title, state which topic you are answering.

Please read and follow the directions carefully:

Write a well organized, focused, unified critical essay with a THESIS in response to the topic. This assignment calls for an analytical essay, not a plot summary, personal appreciation, process paper or book review.  In writing your essay, keep in mind the ideas that we have discussed in class, but base your paper primarily on your own ideas and interpretations, not a recitation of class lectures. Use specific details and quotes from the texts to support your generalizations, and try to address aspects of literary or film technique in the texts as well as their ideas (for example, symbolism, imagery, point of view).  I expect you to present your thesis about the texts in the first paragraph introduction, for paragraphs to be about half a page long, and for your concluding paragraph to reinforce your argument supporting your thesis. In addition to giving your essay a title, indicate clearly which topic you are addressing.  You are welcome to draw on your own experiences, but do NOT consult any outside sources unless you discuss it and clear it with me first.

Discuss the escapes or alternative spaces protagonists find to those in which they are victims of gender and other forms of oppression, whether these escapes are physical or mental. Suggestions:  Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, Woman Hollering Creek, Brokeback Mountain, Spit and Passion

Please use the novels that are italicized only to write the paper about.