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English 3563 |
Assignment One
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| Due Dates: | Requirements: |
| Working Draft—September 23, 2005 Final Draft—September 30, 2005 |
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To construct a persuasive argument about the meaning of a brief passage from a selected work of literature. The argument should be based on a close reading of the text in question. Close reading is a skill that will help you in subsequent assignments for this class.
| Your Highnesses should therefore adopt the resolution of converting them to Christianity, in which enterprise I am of opinion that a very short space of time would suffice to gain to our holy faith multitudes of people, and to Spain great riches and immense dominions, with all their inhabitants; there being, without doubt, in these countries vast quantities of gold, for the Indians would not without cause give us such descriptions of places where inhabitants dug it from the earth, and wore it in massy bracelets at their necks, ears, legs, and arms. Here are also pearls and precious stones, and an infinite amount of spices. (Christopher Columbus, "from Narrative of the First Voyage to America, 1492-1493," Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. A., p. 127) | The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato's and other ancients applauded by some of later times; that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labour and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense. (William Bradford, "from Of Plymouth Plantation," Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. A., p. 333) | I cannot, but take notice, how at another time I could not bear to be in the room where any dead person was, but now the case is changed; I must and could ly down by my dead Babe, side by side all the night after. I have thought since of the wonderfull goodness of God to me, in preserving me in the use of my reason and senses, in that distressed time, that I did not use wicked and violent means to end my own miserable life. (Mary Rowlandson, "from A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson," Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. A., p. 448) |
Come, come, I'll show unto they sense, Industry hath its recompense. What canst desire, but thou may'st see True substance in variety? Dost honor like? Acquire the same, As some their immortal fame, And trophies to they name erect Which wearing time shall ne'er deject. (Anne Bradstreet, "The Flesh and the Spirit," Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. A., pp. 403-404) |
Choose one of the above passages.
Take notes including specific details in the passage that explain its meaning and significance. Such details include word choice, comparison/contrast, imagery, punctuation, and anything else the author has used in order to make his or her meaning clear to an audience. (It may not be possible to find an example of each of these elements.) Focus on those that are the most useful in explaining the meaning of the passage.
Formulate a thesis statement summing up the meaning and importance of the chosen passage. This thesis will undoubtedly change as you write your paper, but at least it will give you a starting point.
Write a draft of your argument about the passage in question. Refer to specific words and phrases in the selected passage in order to support the points in your argument. You may also refer to other quotations in the larger work, as long as you maintain your focus on the passage in question.
Bring a word-processed, correctly formatted draft of this paper to class on September 23, 2005 for peer editing. Include the entire chosen quotation at the top of the first page.
After considering feedback you received from peer editors and reconsidering your own argument, revise your paper.
Proofread your draft to remove spelling and grammatical errors.
Turn in the completed final draft along with a peer-edited working draft in class on September 30, 2005.
Close reading means paying careful attention to details in a written work. Since you will be looking more closely at this passage than most people who read it, your paper can offer perspectives on its meaning that will interest your audience and challenge their expectations. In analyzing a brief passage, you may ask yourself the following questions:
What, literally, takes place in the passage?
Where in the larger work does the passage occur?
Who speaks in this passage? To whom?
How is this passage different from any other passage in the text?
Does the author use any terms that will be unfamiliar to 21st-century readers? What do these terms mean? How have these terms changed since the author first wrote the passage? NOTE: These passages are from a time before the regularization of many spelling rules. Thus, the writer's misspelling of a particular word most likely tells us very little about his or her intentions.
Does the author use any imagery in making his or her point? The most common forms of imagery include metaphor, simile, personification and symbol. Not all passages contain clear examples of imagery, however.
Does the author allude to any other works of literature? The Bible is one common source of allusions in early American literature.
What will make this paper interesting to an audience consisting of your classmates, your teacher and yourself? You will want to tell them something new-that would not otherwise have occurred to them after reading this passage.
Remember: A close reading of a passage is not the same thing as a summary of the passage. A close reading provides much more insight into what the passage means and gets beyond the obvious interpretations of it. Resist the temptation to let the structure of the chosen passage determine the organization of your analysis of it.
I have based the following writing tips on common difficulties that students encounter when writing papers for this class.
Develop an arguable and interesting thesis statement that applies directly to the passage (i. e., that you could not write about any other poem).
Example:
Thence it may at once be seen, that to bring all these people to be Christians and to the obedience of the Imperial Majesty, they must be won by kindness, which is a way certain, and no other is. (Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, From The Relation, The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume A, p. 150)
ARGUABLE THESIS: While the language of this passage is politely indirect, it evokes the horrific alternative to the course of action that Cabeza de Vaca recommends, which is to convert Native Americans through acts of kindness.
NOT AN ARGUABLE THESIS: In the above passage, Cabeza de Vaca argues that the Spaniards should convert the Native Americans through acts of kindness.
Organize your argument around this thesis statement. Think of between two and four sub-points and structure your argument around them.
Sample Outline (for the above thesis):
MLA format means you should include a list of works cited at the end of your paper, even if it only includes one work. For example:
Bradford, William. From Of Plymouth Plantation. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Volume A. Fifth Edition. Ed. Paul Lauter. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. pp. 326-346.
Some grammatical tips:
Avoid using the passive voice whenever it is possible to do so. When writing in the passive voice, you remove the subject from the sentence or at least de-emphasize it. This makes writing less engaging to most readers.
Example:
ACTIVE VOICE: Huck loves Emmeline.
(Note structure: subject/verb/object)
PASSIVE VOICE: Emmeline is loved.
(Structure: object/"to be" verb/past participle)
ACTIVE VOICE: Huck loved Emmeline.
PASSIVE VOICE: Emmeline was loved.
(Passive voice can exist in any verb tense.)
Avoid contractions when writing college papers. Replace "they're" with "they are" and replace "don't" with "do not" (these are just a few examples of the numerous possible contractions out there.
Italicization is the best way to signal that you are referring to a word itself and not to the thing that the word represents. Notice how I am using italicization of the terms in the following section "e". You should also italicize titles of books (even in parenthetical references and lists of works cited) and foreign-language words like je ne sais quoi.
The word it's (with an apostrophe) is a contraction of it is. The word its (without an apostrophe) is the possessive of it. Its and whose both deviate from the above rule about possessives.