Return to main page

 

Schaefer                                                   American Literature I                                                      Fall 2006

First Essay Assignment

Length: 4-6 pages

Due: Monday, October 2

 

This first assignment asks you to extend the cultural approach to interpretation we’ve been taking in class to material beyond our course reading list.  Choose any piece of writing you wish up through p. 424 in volume A of our anthology that we have not discussed in class and analyze it in terms of the writer’s attitudes toward and relationship with the god or gods that govern his or her world, the land in which that world exists, the other members of his or her own cultural group, and the members of other groups with which he or she comes into contact—Europeans if your writer is Native American, Native Americans if your writer is European.

Since talking about a work's content and our analysis of it requires that we take a second and third look at what's in that work, what's in us, and how these two elements interact, writing is a way of learning.  But writing is also a way of teaching, in that your essay is an attempt to help a reader see the work as you see it.  Therefore, your essay should embody the qualities you value in a teacher's presentation: intelligence, open-mindedness, liveliness, specificity, and effort.  Remember as well that this kind of writing is also an argument—an argument that your interpretation of the work is valid—and so your essay should further embody the qualities of a successful piece of persuasive writing: a clear statement at the outset of the proposition you intend to prove (your thesis), followed by a good deal of specific, relevant evidence to back up that proposition, presented in a clearly explained and coherent fashion (remember that to build a successful argument you must make sure that your reader sees how all your ideas relate to one another and to your thesis).

Perhaps the most important point to remember in this kind of writing is that your goal is not merely to provide a plot summary or paraphrase of the work but rather, as noted above, to formulate your own thesis about how the elements of the work reveal the author’s attitudes and then support that thesis with specific and relevant examples from the work.  Take note of the difference between a topic and a thesis: a topic is simply a subject you're going to write about that in itself offers no evaluative idea you could argue for, while a thesis puts forth an argumentative proposition about the work's meaning.  "Mary Rowlandson attributes her capture by and rescue from the Indians to God’s providence" is a topic, a simple statement of fact about Rowlandson’s narrative.  "Rowlandson’s attribution of her capture by and rescue from the Indians to God’s providence deprives the Indians of their full humanity" is a thesis, a proposition about how one element contributes to the work's meaning that you could develop over the course of an essay.  You can often find a thesis, or move from a topic to a thesis, by asking some general questions:  What purpose does this serve?  That is, why is this scene in the story, or why does the author use this particular pattern of images or set of allusions?  What's the significance of the way the author depicts these particular characters? Along with our class discussion and outside critical sources, our anthology's introduction to each author may give you some ideas about where to begin finding a thesis.  Don't forget to cite this introduction or any other outside critical piece as a source if some of its insights find their way into your final draft; see the second paragraph below for guidance in how to do this.

Another important point to keep in mind as you're planning your essay is selectivity.  If your preliminary thinking about the work is effective, you'll probably have much more material to support your thesis than you can possibly use in a 4-6-page essay; you'll need to decide on the elements or examples that best back up your interpretation and just use those, so that you'll be able to develop them in enough detail to make them convincing.

To document your sources for direct quotations and paraphrases in this essay, use the standard MLA (Modern Language Association) format, which consists of parenthetical page numbers in the text of the essay keyed to a "Works Cited" section at the end.  You'll find this form explained in detail in the MLA style manual and the Holt or Harbrace handbooks, all of which are available in the library and the University Writing Center.  (This form is illustrated in the sample essay that accompanies this assignment sheet.)

Please feel free—welcome, in fact—to consult with me at any stage of your writing process.  Come by during my office hours or make an appointment for a specific time that fits your schedule.