Homework
Overview
The Five-Paragraph Writing Exercise asks you to put into conversation with one another two works, among several options, that present the same topic, theme, or motif. By juxtaposing texts that possess a shared element, we can sharpen our perception of how each work differently handles that topic, theme, or motif. Differences in form necessarily give rise to differences in meaning. Differences in meaning make for differences in ideational content, the commentary a work offers (on society, ethics, concepts, etc.). Please note that, like the Three-Paragraph Writing Exercise, the format of this homework is quite different than that of the traditional thesis-driven essay, so read the directions below for how to structure it very carefully.
Learning Objectives
1) Contrast two of our readings that share a similar topic to more effectively develop an interpretation of each work
2) Analyze a literary works handling of a particular topic in relation to their supernatural and anti-mimetic elements
3) Compose effective literary analyses of two of our readings; to do this, you will be able to
a) Select textual or narrative details that help extend your analysis
b) Demonstrate that you can effectively situate textual and/or narrative details in your writing
c) Develop close readings of textual or narrative details in order to elaborate or further flesh out your analysis
d) Provide topic sentences that conceptually frame the subsequent discussion and, if it isn't self-evident, make explicit the relation between the overarching interpretive question and the content of the paragraph
e) Integrate your paragraphs using transitions and stitching between them so that the exercise feels like a single extended discussion
Instructions
How to Structure the Exercise
Note: You should not include an introductory paragraph.
Paragraphs 1-4
1) Dedicate 2 paragraphs to each work (for a total of 4). Save any directly comparative analysis for your fifth paragraph.
2) Use a topic sentence for each paragraph that identifies a subtopic that will help you to differentiate the works in relation to your overarching topic. A topic sentence should conceptually frame your discussion and make clear, if it isn't self-evident, how it relates to your overarching topic.
3) Your narrative or textual evidence should be well situated for your reader.
4) Each of your four paragraphs should include a close reading of either a single longer passage (i.e. a detailed analysis of the language of that passage) or two-to-three concrete and specific narrative or textual details (i.e. an analysis that braids together these details). In either case, your close reading should explain what this evidence reveals about the subtopic and how that helps us to better understand the overarching topic within the work. Nuanced or counterintuitive yet persuasive interpretive analyses (i.e. ones that aren't fairly obvious) will be the most highly valued.
5) At the end of each of your four paragraphs, you should draw a convincing inference, based on the close reading you've performed within that paragraph, as to the broader idea or social commentary the work offers us. In other words, how does the narrative's specific handling of the subtopic you've discussed contribute to its ideational content (i.e. the statement it makes in symbolic form about the world, a concept, humanity, etc.)?
Paragraph 5
This paragraph will involve three steps and will likely be the longest of your five paragraphs (since you'll discuss both literary works in it).
1) For each text, synthesize your set of paragraphs on that work. Based on what you said about each work's ideational content in the two paragraphs dedicated to it, what is its overarching take on this topic? That is to say, what broader idea or commentary does it offer on that topic
2) Next, further elaborate the conclusion that you've drawn for each work by putting them into conversation with one another. In other words, what's further revealed by contrasting the two works in relation to the shared topic, theme, or motif?
3) Finally, add a further twist by very briefly considering how the unlikely as it appears in each work impacts the broader idea on the topic that you've identified for each. Or, alternatively, you could respond to the question of why, in each work, this ideational content is delivered in a narrative with unlikely or speculative aspects.
Prompt Options
1) How is the racial metamorphosis differently handled in "Mars Jeems's Nightmare" and Blackass? What does this difference in handling suggest about the racial politics that each work engages in?
Format your homework according to the following formatting requirements:
(1) The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
(2) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
(3) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.