To find ONE theme and five different genres/texts, you have two options:
Option #1: continue with the 25-point quiz you did in Module Six on connecting a theme on suffering, racism and hope among five different genre/texts in unit seven: Baldwin’s short story, Albert’s academic essay, historical account of blues, Hughes’ poem, and Holiday’s song. (1. Please click here if you want to review the quiz in Module Six. 2. Please click here if you want to review the readings from Module Six) **You can use some of the ideas and passages you wrote in Module Six.
or
Option #2: you choose another theme from "Sonny Blues" to explore in your three-page paper and choose four separate genres that support and provide insight on this theme.
Here are some themes:
- rampant drug abuse in poor communities of color
- drug addict’s impact on the family
- complex (both troubling and loving) relationship between brothers
- the role of music as a form of resistance
- the role of Harlem in early and mid 20th century in the struggle for civil rights
or
Option #3: you can choose a theme from any of the texts we read in the semester and choose four separate genres that support and provide insight on this theme:
- "The Lottery"
Examples: 1) a group of people who are scapegoated in US society, 2) a social norm or tradition that is harmful or destructive, 3) the normalization of violence
- "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
Examples: 1) individuals or group of people who are exploited for the benefit of US society, 2) passive acceptance of exploitation
- The Yellow Wallpaper
Examples: 1) medical mistreatment of individuals or communities that have historically lacked power and representation, 2) infantilizing of so-called unruly or unfeminine women, 3) "God-like" attitude among doctors, 4) misunderstanding of mental illness
- Things They Carried
Examples: 1) misunderstanding of PTSD, 2) the lasting effects of PTSD, 3) psychological trauma of war, 4) the unrealistic expectations of soldiers to acclimate back into civilian life
or
Option #4: you choose another literary text (short story, poem, drama) from our anthology Norton Introduction to Literature, and identify a theme from that text, then find four other genre texts that further explore that theme. If you have a favorite book, poem, or short story that is not in our anthology, but would like to use it as your literary text, please do so.
Here is a list of genres that you may want to look at:
1. TV program
2. Film
3. Poem
4. Song
5. Fiction (short story, book)
6. Non-Fiction (biography, autobiography)
7. Academic essay
8. Blog
9. Website
10. Youtube clip
11. Social media (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter)
12. Visual images (art, graphs, cartoons)
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Not sure where to begin if you choose option #2? Here are some suggestions: Suggestion #1: Read Joyce Carol Oates "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" on pg. 114 in Norton anthology. (Here is an electronic copy if you do not have your anthology) Download (Here is an electronic copy if you do not have your anthology). A potential theme is sexual predatory behavior and sexual objectification of girls and young women. This short story can be your first genre. Then for the remaining four, you can choose website on #MeTooMovement, a Youtube clip on the sexual objectification of girls, an advertisement that hypersexualizes young girls, and an interview by the author Joyce Carol Oates on her short story. Suggestion #2: Read excerpts from Tim O’Brien’s Things They Carried on pg. 609 in our Norton anthology. (Here is an electronic copy if you do not have your anthology). Download (Here is an electronic copy if you do not have your anthology).If you are reading from the electronic copy, please read the first two chapters, "The Things They Carry" and "Love" to get a solid foundation of the story — it is a quick, enjoyable read! A potential theme is war and the struggle to assert and keep one’s humanity in the midst of physical and psychological violence. The excerpts from O’Brien’s novel is your first genre. Then for your remaining four genre texts, you can choose a documentary on O’Brien in the Vietnam war found on Youtube, an argument essay found in Norton anthology by Stephen Kaplan on pg. 622, a graph showing the percentage of PTSD among returning veterans, and a blog on the emotional and physical demands of combat men and women. Suggestion #3: Read Toni Cade Bambara’s "The Lesson" on page 146 in our Norton anthology (Here is an electronic copy if you do not have your anthology) Download (Here is an electronic copy if you do not have your anthology). A potential theme is on wealth distribution: is our society structured into "haves" and "have nots" (those who have access to power and money and those who are denied access?) Is wealth associated with education, class, and race? That is, if one is born in a poor district attending poorly equipped schools and living in a dangerous community with no successful businesses near by, is one likely to be denied access to opportunities to obtain power and wealth? You might want to get a sociological analysis and a graph on power and wealth (wealth inequality). Perhaps you can find a documentary or show that explores the inequality of wealth in our society. Equally, can you think of a song that explores this inequality. |
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To Whom are you writing and what is your purpose? Audience: The audience and purpose of your paper is to write to the academic community. The academic community is made up of scholars and budding intellectuals who expect successful integration of quotes and summaries, in addition to formal language, proper grammar, and college-level vocabulary. More importantly, your academic audience will examine every single word and challenge every viewpoint you make. This means that you will need to be prepared for the skeptical reader who will expose any weaknesses he or she identifies. Purpose: The purpose of this writing activity is to explore how a deep conversation on an important social theme is occurring across different genres. Most likely you have not written on a topic like this, so you may be a bit confused. Please make sure you read the four questions below to help you develop your paper: 1. What important insight does each separate genre (text) provide on this theme? 2. How is this theme an occurring issue today? 3. Would anyone disagree that this theme is not a significant or real issue people are grappling with? 4. What should the reader know about the theme to fully understand how serious it is?
**Please make sure you integrate a passage from each text |
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