Defining a “man”: What does the novel suggest about the meaning of Include a reference to George St inney. “manhood” in a racially-hostile society?

ENGL 215 (Winter 2024)
Gaines, A Lesson before Dying
Essay (30% of total grade)
Due Sun, Mar 24 before 10:00 p.m.
**See late policy on second page. You must pass the draft assignment before submitting the essay.
**Reminder: The 215 policy is that use of ChatGPT, Grammarly AI, or any form of writing
assistance is not allowed at any stage of the essay writing process. Using these tools is a
violation of Academic Integrity and consequences will apply. Please save all early drafts,
brainstorming, and note-taking to provide evidence of original work.
At instructor discretion, you may be asked to discuss your essay in a 1-1 meeting to elaborate on your
essay argument and explain your writing process; you must pass this conversation (demonstrating
familiarity with both the novel and the details your argument) in order to pass the essay.
Please review the full AI Policy for ENGL 215 on Moodle to ensure you are following it.
Essays that do not meet the minimum requirements will fail and students will not be
eligible to write the final exam. Please check off the list of required elements on the
next page to ensure you meet minimum requirements.
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You have 4 options for your research essay topic:
1. How does the novel answer the question: What is possible in an impossible system?
Include a reference to George St inney. Write an essay that focuses on how the novel demonstrates different “answers”
to this question.
2. The novel presents differing views and practices of religion among the characters.
How does Gaines explore this theme? What conclusions the novel seem Incl ude a reference to Rev Clayto n D. Russell
to reach about the role of religion?
3. Female characters: What role does Gaines suggest for the female characters in
Include a reference to Rosa Parks. the novel?
4. Defining a “man”: What does the novel suggest about the meaning of
Include a reference to George St inney. “manhood” in a racially-hostile society?
5. In a world where white society uses laws and power to subjugate the black
community, what role does Gaines suggest that education has?
Include a reference to Mary McLeod Beth une. Is education “worth it” for those trapped in an oppressive system?
Essay Requirements
(*You must meet requirements below to pass the assignment and be eligible to write final exam.)
To be sure you have me the minimum requirements, check off each item before submitting:
 Essay must be in correct MLA format (see Moodle “MLA Citation” for sample essays).
 Minimum word count of 2100 words (list your total word count on first page below name)
o NOTE: If you do not mean the minimum word count, you will not pass.
o use 12 point Times New Roman font; 2100 words is 7 full pages double-spaced
 Essay meets all the requirements for quotations as listed below:
 Use the print version of the novel for all quotes from the novel and cite by page
number; you will not pass if your citations are from the digital version.
 Include a minimum of 8 different quotations from throughout the novel (not all
from one chapter/section) using MLA in-text citations; these should show evidence
of substantive engagement and should not simply be the quotes from novel used in
your scholarly sources.
 Include a minimum of 4 quotations from scholarly sources (2 from each article).
**English Dept policy for no research = F, some but not sufficient research = D/D+
max. gr.
 The essay does not use more than 2-3 block quotes of approx. 4-6 lines long. If you
have an excessive number of block quotes or block quotes that are very long, they
will be deducted from the total word count. (Block quote = for any quote 3+ lines
long, indented.)
 Out of acknowledgment of the deep historical harm associated with this word,
please do not use the n-word in your essay, even in a direct quote. (Use n——).
 You must include a Works Cited page at the end of essay in MLA style. See Moodle for
MLA resources.
 Save as a PDF before uploading to Moodle. See Moodle for instructions.
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