Essay 2: American Literature I
Length: 2 ½-3 typed, double-spaced pages, using MLA format
For this assignment, write a 2½ -to-3-page paper in response to one of the following prompts. Be sure to back up your claims with specifics from the texts, but also make sure you include analysis and interpretation. Try to achieve a good balance between the two; you don’t want lots of unsupported claims, but you also don’t want a disconnected list of quotes from the text. Use in-text parenthetical citations (MLA format) to show where quotes or paraphrases can be found in the primary texts. You don’t need a Works Cited list unless you draw on a secondary text, and I would encourage you not to do that.
Some of the options below ask you to compare two works of American Literature that share common themes. Focus on interpreting the meaning of the literature, looking for strong supporting details. If you choose one of the prompts that ask you to compare and contrast then your essay should focus on interpreting the meaning of the literature, looking for similarities and differences. Explore themes and language, and in the case of fiction, explore the central conflict and character motivations in depth, with the option to discuss things like setting, point of view, and language techniques if they are important. Also, comparing throughout the essay is better than doing so just at the end. The first work you discuss serves as the anchor, and then the second work can be compared to it.
Be sure your essay is not just a plot summary. To avoid giving plot summary, begin each paragraph with an analytical statement that you will go on to prove in the paragraph. For example, do NOT open with a sentence like this for “The Tell-tale Heart”:
Poe’s narrator first explains that he is very nervous.
Instead, open with a sentence like this:
Poe’s narrator suffers from a psychological complex involving guilt and obsession.
Topics
1. Hawthorne’s stories can be read as both allegories and as also critiques of allegory. That is, the stories can be seen to convey a message or lesson through allegorical symbols, but at the same time, they seem to actually question or challenge that lesson. Choose one of the stories we have read and explain what allegorical readings the story explores (whether they have to do with Puritan ideas,19th century views of women, science, etc). In your essay, include a discussion of the particular allegorical figures, or symbols (character, places, objects, names, etc.) that Hawthorne uses. Also note how his use of allegory makes it harder for readers to lock down exactly who are the “good” or “bad” characters.
2. Compare “Rip Van Winkle” and “Young Goodman Brown” as stories of marital conflict in which the protagonists fail to resolve the conflict and as a result see their lives pass them by. Fix your marriage or lose your life?
3. Compare the representation and treatment of women in “Rip Van Winkle” and “Young Goodman Brown.” How are women portrayed in these stories? How do women fit into the overall good vs. evil moral schema of these stories?
4. Compare Poe’s stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” as explorations of conscience. How does conscience haunt the differently “diseased” narrators? Discuss the symbolism of the heart and of the cat. Focus on the psychology of the main characters and on how the conflict develops and is resolved in the stories. Do NOT spell conscience as “conscious.”
5. Compare the same two stories as explorations of denial, inability to face truths about oneself. Are both stories elaborate defenses against the charge of murder?
6. What aspects of Transcendentalism are apparent in Thoreau’s Walden? You must discuss and analyze at least 3-4 important features of Transcendental philosophy in Thoreau’s work.
Quoting and Documentation(please be sure to include the quotation in my paper, I provided the texts with page numbers so you can add then at the end of each quotation)
Be sure to introduce all quotations in one of these ways:
• The narrator explains that Rip Van Winkle is not afraid of hard work, as long as it isn’t on his own farm: “Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own, but as to . . . keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible” (467).
• Rip Van Winkle is a generous neighbor, “ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own” (467). However, he hates to work on his own farm.
• The narrator notes that “Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own . . .” (467). As a result, his wife frequently scolds him for …
Here is what you CAN’T do (it’s a poorly and incorrectly integrated quotation):
We learn about Rip’s work ethic in the story. “Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own.” His wife is always scolding him for laziness.
Here is a better integration of the quotation:
We learn about Rip’s work ethic in the story. For instance, while he does very little work on his own farm, he is ready to work for his neighbors: “Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own” (467). He actually shows diligence in helping others; nonetheless his wife is always scolding him for laziness.
Writing the Introduction
Your main goal here is to provide a good sense of what issues or themes you will be exploring in your essay. A good thesis should give a clear idea of where the essay will be going. Your introduction should be about 100-150 words or so.
Body of the Essay
Once you have a thesis for your essay, you have a DESTINATION! Your goal now is to take your readers to that destination by showing them all the evidence that you have. Think about what they need to know first, second, third, fourth, and fifth to follow your argument and agree with you when you get to your destination. Let each paragraph cover one point along the way, and develop that point with examples, comparison, details.
Conclusion
In fresh new words, tell us again your fabulous thesis and how we got there. Now, add some commentary on why this is an important insight. Does it have implications for how we see the United States? For how we see ourselves and perhaps our beliefs and values? Think of your conclusion as a scenic overlook, showing us where we need to look.
Grading/Evaluation
• Interesting Introduction and Strong Conclusion (5)
• Clear Thesis (main point) explaining central themes or meanings within the literature. (5)
• Full and Accurate Analysis (40)
Analysis shows depth and complexity. This can be demonstrated by showing how themes interrelate, by examining ambiguity or contradiction within the work of art, by exploring broader implications of the identified themes, and/or by discussing not only content but also style and structure issues.
• Sufficient, Effective, Fully-analyzed Supporting Evidence (30)
Rule of thumb: two quotations per body paragraph.
• Clear and Logical Organization (5)
• Correct Grammar and Appropriate Style (15) Includes following rules of documentation.