English 1028:  Writing #3

·        Assignment genre: Literary Analysis

·        Audience: A general audience of educated readers

·        Purpose: To argue clearly and effectively in relation to a work of literature.

·        Format: Essay; formal commentary with optional research

·        Length: 3-5 pages

·        Special instructions: Your essay must contain at least 5 quotes from the piece of literature you analyze; if you do research, your essay should also include at least one quote from any such secondary materials as well. Be sure to avoid plagiarism like the plague!

Write a paper that addresses some aspect(s) of a Native American work (or of two or more works), a literary tradition, a genre, or a literary motif or theme. This must be a critical paper, meaning that it is argumentative—you need a "take" on the work. This is not to say, however, that the argument needs to identify something as "right" or "wrong" or "good" or "bad"; the argument doesn't have to be complicated. Clearly point out what you see in the work or believe about it, and then argue for your perception. You can do a rhetorical analysis or a character analysis (including the character of the speaker of a poem). You can write about how a piece of literature fits into our "real" world—or doesn't fit. I've offered some possibilities below.

q       Use one of the critical essays we've read—Deloria or Swann or Allen, for example—and apply its ideas to a work or a small group of works. Does the writer's critical analysis hold up in relation to the literature? Or does the literature have a slippery quality to it that refuses to be captured and labeled?

q       We're reading several writers who write both poetry and fiction (and a few who write critical essays as well). Compare and contrast an individual's writing in the different genres. What is different about their subject matter and approach, their style and their themes? What is the same?

q       How does Christianity exist in the work of a Native American author or a group of authors? Consider whether Christian beliefs and rituals are adapted or rejected in such work. You might use the stories/poems about the missionaries and the mission schools or stories/poems incorporating Christian ideology in some way—"The Man to Send Rain Clouds" or "Blessed Sunshine," for example.

q       Identify and analyze the various levels of conflict, compromise, and/or manipulation that take place in contemporary stories/poems from a tribal writer. Take "The Man to Send Rain Clouds," for example. What cultural ideas does Silko seem to explore through these aspects of the story? Or think about King's "Borders" or Walters's "The Warriors," Erdrich's "Dear John Wayne" or the poetry of Wendy Rose.

Extra Credit:  Between now and the final due date, make an appointment with the Writing and Communication Center in 409 Warf-Pickel (98202).  Tutors there can help you brainstorm a topic or revise a draft.  DO NOT go in expecting the tutor to do the work for you.  DO NOT consider the tutor a proofreader.  Go in prepared to keep up your end of the work, and you'll find somebody who'll help you out.

Schedule

Bring an introduction and sketch of content on Friday, March 26

Bring a draft to be critiqued by your peers on Monday, March 29

Final draft to be graded due on Wednesday, March 31