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Third Essay Assignment: Due Wednesday, December 7, in class. 3-4 pages, double-spaced. Name in upper right-hand corner. Stapled in upper left-hand corner. This essay is optional. If you choose not to write a third essay, your course grade will be figured using only two essay grades instead of three. If you do choose to write it, your course grade will be figured using three essay grades (so a third essay, depending on how well you do, could help or could hurt your grade). Topic: For this final essay assignment, I would like you to focus on a minor character in either Sapphira and the Slave Girl or Absalom, Absalom! and examine all the reasons that particular character is in the novel. What might at first glance look like an extraneous character turns out, with some thoughtful analysis, to be an integral part of the novel, illuminating some key patterns and indicating some central concerns that might not otherwise be apparent. With this in mind, choose one of the following: --The lawyer in Absalom, Absalom!
Second Essay Assignment, on Cather's A Lost Lady or Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury or As I Lay Dying: Due Monday, November 7, in class. 3-4 pages, double-spaced. Name in upper right-hand corner. Stapled in upper left-hand corner. Topic: You may write an essay similar in scope and purpose to the first essay you wrote (on My Antonia) . This time, though, you can think about and write about a small scene instead of a minor character. That is, you may focus on a small scene in A Lost Lady or The Sound and the Fury or As I Lay Dying and examine how this scene fits into the weave of the novel. Why is this scene in the novel? How does this scene fit into the story and how does the scene help us understand some key aspects of the structure of the novel? How does this scene resonate with other scenes in the novel? Be sure to deal with the significance of who is narrating the scene you choose to write about. Deal with the style of the passage: how does the way that the scene is being narrated affect our experience of the information that the scene gives us? Scenes to choose from: (1) The scene where Quentin, on the final day of his life, meets three boys and talks with them about fishing for the big trout, among other things (pp. 117-124, Sound and the Fury); (2) The final scene Vardaman narrates, as he waits outside the drug store, watches a cow, and thinks of Darl and other things (pp. 249-252, As I Lay Dying); (3) The scene where Darl narrates what goes on in the burning barn (pp. 218-222, As I Lay Dying). (4) The scene in A Lost Lady where Capt. Forrester becomes obsessed with his sun-dial, and Niel and Mrs. Forrester talk about it (Book II, Chapter 2, pp. 91-95). Or you can write this essay on a minor character, just as you did for the first essay. Characters to choose from: Rev. Shegog in The Sound and the Fury (Section 4), Ed Elliott in A Lost Lady, Black Tom in A Lost Lady, Mr. Ogden in A Lost Lady. As with your first essay, ask why this character is in the novel, how this character fits into the weave of the story and how the character help us understand some key aspects of Dilsey's or Niel's perspectives. Does this character resonate with other characters in the novel? The best essays will be well-supported with specific evidence from the text. Work to discover some surprising insights (insights that when you keep thinking about them actually surprise you and make you understand something about the novel you didn't understand before). Then work to articulate those insights clearly and forcefully.
First Essay Assignment, on Cather's My Antonia or Faulkner's The Unvanquished: Due Friday, September 30, in class. Two or three pages, double-spaced. Give your essay a title. Put you name in the upper right-hand corner of the essay. This is a short essay, but you should work to make your comments precise and concise, and you need to work to select the very best evidence from the novel in order to support your points. When you quote from the novel, simply put the page number of the quotation in parentheses following the quote. Example: When Jim and Tony are together, their conversations often take place among "jolting and rattling" (p. 46). Topics: I would like you to focus on a minor character in either novel and examine how this minor character fits into the construction of Jim's or Bayard's memory. Why is this character in the novel? How does this character fit into the weave of the story and how does the character help us understand some key aspects of Jim's or Bayard's relationship to his memory? Does this character resonate with other characters in the novel? Choose from one of the following: for My Antonia--Marek Shimerda, Ole Benson, Sylvester Lovett, Ordinsky the Pole, Mrs. Wick Cutter, or Tiny Soderball; for The Unvanquished, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Buck McCaslin, Professor Wilkins, or Joby. The best essays will be well-supported with specific evidence from the text. Work to discover some surprising insights (insights that when you keep thinking about them actually surprise you and make you understand something about the novel you didn't understand before). Review the novel you choose to write on and make sure you have re-read all the scenes in which your character appears. Keep asking yourself why this character is vital to the novel: why is this character a necessary part of the weave of the narrator's memory? Then work to articulate your insights clearly and forcefully.
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