Literature

For this second essay, I want you to choose one of the stories listed and identify a theme within that story, some message you feel the writer is trying to convey. How does the writer go about developing this theme? Is that argument still relevant today? Since creative writers are very specific in their word choice and order, you will want to take a look at their word choice and use of language strategies so that you can discuss how these elements influence the reading of the poem you’ve chosen to analyze. You will also need to take a look at the characters used in the story and the purposes they serve in helping to develop the overall theme you see. You need to make sure to cover these categories in your essay for this assignment: Literary Criticism: The literary criticisms (found on pages 1332-1355) can be used to go deeper into the analysis of a piece of writing. I want you to limit yourselves to these criticisms: Feminist Criticism, Marxist Criticism, or Psychoanalytic Criticism. You need to choose only one, and bring in examples from the story to help illustrate your points about how this lens can be used to find meaning within that story. It should be clear to me, the reader, which lens you are using.  Character Analysis: You will want to take a look at one or more of the characters in the story and connect them to the overall theme you are writing about. How is this character developed? How do they help to develop the theme? Style, Tone, and Language Analysis: Take a look at the language used by the writer. Make note of creative word choices or sentence structure. Does this add to the understanding of the writing? You may want to take a look at the tone the author uses. How does the tone affect the reading of the story and the delivery of the theme? What other language strategies does the writer use? Are these strategies effective in helping to develop the theme? In what ways? You will need to bring in a minimum of five sources to help you explore a theme of your chosen story. Again, like the first essay, these sources must be reputable and academic. If you try to use sources like bartleby.com, owlcation.com, supersummary.com, enotes.com, etc., you will lose significant points on this assignment.  For this essay, you are limited to writing about one of the following stories: “The Lottery” starting on pg. 336 of textbook “The Yellow Wallpaper” starting on pg. 434 of textbook “Hills Like White Elephants” starting on pg. 75 of textbook Length requirement: This essay needs to be a minimum of 1800 words (not counting the Works Cited page). You will lose a point for every 25 words your essay falls below the requirement. These points will be taken off after the rubric has been completed.( Teacher Instructions) I will be using the short story called “Hills Like White Elephants” I will add it as a file so that you could read it also the criticism ill be using is “Feminist Criticism” Also the narrator is going through postpartum depression if you could somehow correlate it in the essay

In Chapters 2-4, what is Ivan’s philosophy of life? what are his primary motivations? his primary goals? In what does that philosophy change at the end of the story?

“The Waste Land” is a few pages long, but it is highly confusing.  Let’s embrace that! Find at least 2 lines/short passages that are confusing.  What makes them confusing?  What different interpretations could one reasonably have about the lines/passages?  Why would Eliot want to make us feel confused about the subject of the lines/passages? NOTE: I don’t buy the idea that Eliot is “leaving it open for the reader to decide.”  If that is your goal, you listen, not write.  If you bother to write something, it is because you have something you want to communicate to your readers.  Why would Eliot want to communicate a sense of confusion? A lot of websites try to explain the poem (though some do a better job of this than others).  They won’t help you here, because they attempt to give answers and your goal here is to raise questions.

This assignment builds on the discussion of globalizing ideal beauty. For this assignment you should read The Modern Girl Around the World (Introduction, Ch. 2 and Ch. 3). Prepare an article suitable for a high end fashion publication like CR Fashionbook.com and mobile devices (i.e. incorporate layers of text, images, video and charts) that discusses the relevance of the Modern Girl in light of today’s style. What makes the Modern Girl “modern”? How is this relevant today? What “bundle of commodities” deUine the modern girl? Is the bundle different today? Is the idea of “technologies of the self” still relevant or has it changed? 4. What is the connection between the “modern girl”, ideal beauty and race? 5. Identify exemplars of today’s modern girl. Your discussion will be evaluated based on how it informs our understanding of markets and marketing methods to position products for the Modern Girl. See: http://www.crfashionbook.com

1. What is the title of the poem?  2. Who is the author?  3. Do you like the poem? Why or why not? 4. Who is the speaker? (The author is not the speaker. The speaker is a personae the author creates.) In other words, what can you assume about the speaker’s gender, age, educational level, life experience, personal situation, and world view based on his/her language and style of expression? 5. Who is the audience? To whom is the speaker addressing?  6. What is the situation? In other words, what is happening in the poem?  7. What are the major images in the poem? What can you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell? 8. How do those images add to the understanding of the poem? 9. Are there metaphors and similes? If so, discuss. 10. Are there any symbols in the poem? If so, discuss. 11. What is the central meaning of the poem? What does it mean to you? 12. Theme is the main idea from the author’s perspective. What is the theme of this poem? 13. What does this poem suggest about human nature, experience, and condition?  14. How could this poem apply to your life?

Answer the following questions about Linda Pastan’s poem “Ethics”. Responses should be your own observations and interpretations. You may include a quote(s) from the poem in your response. 1) Pastan raises an ethical question in lines 3-6 of her poem. What do you think is the most ethical choice- to save a person or save a priceless work of art? Have you ever heard of a similar ethical dilemma? Why do people like to debate these topics. 2) Why does the speaker reflect on the imagery of an actual Rembrandt painting in lines 17-23? What might the colors symbolize? 3) Looking at the final lines of the poem, what does the speaker conclude about the solution to the question posed in the beginning? 4) Do you think readers of the poem would have to see a Rembrandt painting to understand and appreciate the poem itself? Link to the poem https://shenandoahliterary.org/blog/2011/09/linda-pastan-ethics/

Have you ever heard someone called a “sheep” before, as in “Bob is just another sheep following the crowd”? When we use such figurative phrasing, what do we mean by it? As noted in our lecture notes on “Self-Reliance,” Emerson never properly defines the concept “self-reliance.” Instead, he spends the first several pages (if not the entire essay) describing the phrase in the attempt to promote individuality. With that in mind, why do you think Emerson intentionally avoids giving us a singular, definitive meaning of the phrase? How might this connect back to the problem of people acting like “sheep”? How do you think Emerson feels about people acting like “sheep”? Give me a single passage to support your close reading and response. Then, think about compliance in today’s world. If we could talk with Emerson today, how do you think he would feel about social media and #trending? This part of the response will probably be the trickiest: give me a single word that you feel best incapsulates his feelings about society, independence, and creativity.

You are to respond to the prompt found below in a four-page paper. Please read through all of the instructions that follow before beginning the assignment.  Prompt: Following the conquest of Mesoamerica, European (and Asian) artistic materials, forms, and subjects were introduced to the region. What resulted was the merging of cultural practices, referred to as cultural hybridity (mestizaje or tequitqui). Cultural hybridity presents itself in the art of viceregal New Spain both visibly and invisibly. Select four artworks studied thus far to describe and analyze taking into account the issue of cultural hybridity, as it pertains to the artworks’ media (the materials they are made from), formal properties, subject matter, and/or creators. Questions to consider in the discussion of each artwork: How is cultural hybridity visible and/or invisible in the artwork’s media, forms, and/or subject matter?  Who produced the artwork? Is knowledge of the artist and/or their background relevant to understanding the work? Why? Artwork selection: Choose the artworks thoughtfully. The four artworks must be selected from the assigned readings and they cannot be the same artworks already discussed in the weekly assignments. The artworks should be exemplary of a range of media (different materials), and they should be dated to different decades/centuries within the colonial period (1521-1821). Properly identify each artwork discussed (include the artist, if known, title, and date). You must address the artworks’ media, formal properties, and subject matter, as well as what is known about the context (time/place) in which they were produced. THE FOUR ART WORKS: 1. “Burning the clothes and books and costumes of the priest” from Diego Munoz 2. “Map of Cholula”, c.1581 from Unidentified artist    3. “The Lamentation” c.1556 from Unidentified artist at the monastery of San Andres.    4. “Saint Bernardino and Indian Patrons”c.1605 Unidentified artist in Church of San Bernardino de Siena , Xochimilco, Mexico City References: Your paper must be phrased in your own words and it should expand upon information found in the assigned readings and course assignments (successful papers will not include content copied and pasted from course assignments, but instead consist of new text generated for this assignment). You may conduct additional research, but only reference the following credible sources: books, scholarly articles, museum websites, and Khan Academy. If you quote from or closely paraphrase your sources, please keep it to a minimum, and include proper citations in MLA or The Chicago Manual of Style format. Attach a bibliography to the end of your paper. Formatting Guidelines: Your paper must be at least four full pages of text (and no more than five full pages of text) and contain an introduction with a strong thesis statement, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. It is to be typed in Times New Roman 12-point font and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Proofread your work for typos and grammatical errors. You do not need to upload reproductions of the artworks. Please follow the instructions carefully as failure to do so will negatively affect your grade on the assignment. Plagiarized assignments will not receive credit.

To develop the ideas a bit more fully.  For example, the notion of “fear” isn’t really a theme yet (a theme is an idea you should be able to state in a short sentence).  A good question to ask yourself would be: what are these two stories telling us about fear?  That in extreme situations it can lead to madness, even murder?  That it can so warp our thinking that we’ll commit the unthinkable in order to avoid facing it?  Once you’re able to express this theme/idea in a sentence, you’ll have your “topic of discussion” sentence.  Then, tell us how each story is addressing/developing this theme slightly differently.  This will be your thesis statement.

irections: Read Judith Ortiz Cofer’s essay “ The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”. Answer the questions below. Be sure to copy and paste the questions and then respond. You must provide extensive analysis and use evidence from the story. Thereafter, do not forget to respond to one classmate’s work for this assignment. 1. Why does Cofer initiate her essay with an anecdote? Why did the man start singing a song from West Side Story to her? 2. Why didn’t Cofer’s parents assimilate into the mainstream American culture when their daughter was young?  Do you agree with their decision? Explain. 3. Why did Cofer’s parents monitor closely during her younger years? How was their sheltering significant in molding  4. What were some cultural conflicts the Puerto Rican girls encountered?  5. How did the Puerto Rican girls dress create a misrepresentation of their character?  6. Explain the sexual harassments the women faced. Who is responsible for it?  7.  Why does Cofer provide a background at Puerto Rican’s social codes?  8. How do you feel about the provocative aspect of their dress codes?  Can it cause any detrimental consequences? Explain. 9. Why do you think nearly most of the world at that time had two references of Latinos: West Side Story and Evita?  10. How is Hollywood responsible for some of the Puerto Rican stereotypes? 11. During Cofer’s poetry reading, how did the older woman react after hearing Cofer read the poem? (40t) 12. Do you think Cofer’s presentations have debunked the Latin women myths? Explain.