Sunday, February 21, 2010

Readings for 2/23 and 2/25: Morrison and Ellison


Novelist, essayist, professor, and literary critic Toni Morrison (b. 1931)

On Tuesday, 2/23, we will finish Nella Larsen’s Passing—for more background on the literary movement popularly regarded as the “Harlem Renaissance,” please click on the link below to be directed to the online site PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide - An Ongoing Project, created by Dr. Paul P. Reuben.
 
I also asked you to read up to p. 58 of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. I will have handouts of the seminal Ellison essay, “The World and the Jug.” I am shifting the Audre Lorde selections to Tuesday, 3/16.

PRESENTATIONS THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 2/23
Keyonna Hill: Booker T. Washington, "The Atlanta Compromise Speech" (1895)
Cecily Hillman: John H. Smyth, "The African in Africa and the African in America" (1895)


Thursday, 2/25
Pamela Hunter: Mary Church Terrell, "In Union There is Strength" (1897)
Quiana Warner: Alexander Crummell, "The Attitude of the American Mind..." (1898)
Teri Hills: Lucy Craft Laney, "The Burden of the Educated Colored Woman" (1899)

Guidelines for English 238 Final Research Paper


Ralph Waldo Ellison (1914-1994), novelist, essayist, and literary critic. Author of Invisible Man, Juneteenth, and Three Days Before the Shooting, and the essay collections Shadow and Act and Going to the Territory.

ASSIGNMENT: You will write a final essay of 6-8 pages, allowing you the luxury of extended thought and discussion of a dominant theme in one of the semester’s readings or on one of the major works we have read (Ex: Passing, The Bluest Eye). This essay will be written utilizing Modern Language Association guidelines. We will have a brief “brainstorming” session on Tuesday, 3/23 to assist you in developing a topic and focus for your final paper.

CORRECTION: THIS PAPER IS DUE ON TUESDAY, 4/20. NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED. (corrected by Prof. Williams, 3/28/10)
This paper will be due on Tuesday, 4/6. Any paper submitted after this date will result in a loss of 5 points per class meeting day overdue (ex: submitted by Thursday, 4/8 for a possible maximum of 25 pts; submitted by Tuesday, 4/13 for a possible maximum of 20 pts). You may submit your paper early. NO papers will be accepted after Tuesday, 4/13/10.

Sample themes: abolitionism, accommodationism, adventure, aesthetics, alienation, childhood, class distinctions, colorism/color consciousness, community, corporeality, education, equality, family, femininity, feminism, freedom, gender roles, hypocrisy, individuality, integration, intellectualism, interracialism, law, literacy, masculinity, morality, passing, poverty, race relations, racism, radicalism, rebellion, religion, repatriation, responsibility, revolution, science, segregation, separatism, sexism, sexual exploitation, sexuality, slavery, stereotyping, violence. Some of these themes overlap—your thesis should reflect your theme in a clear, well-articulated manner.

The paper will follow MLA guidelines in matters of form (see MLA in-text citation style below—for complete MLA style, click at left on course blog), and it will contain a Works Cited Page, in-text citations to those sources, and a complete outline. 

If you wish to (not mandatory), you may turn in a typed draft of the research paper by Thursday, 4/1 for a quick review. This will be quickly scanned during class for structure and documentation and returned to you. You must use a total of ten (10) in-text citations from at least five (5) sources, in any combination, for your essay.

For this final research paper, YOU MAY NOT USE the following as sources, as they are NOT considered scholarly works: SparkNotes, CliffsNotes, ClassicNotes, Enotes, GradeSaver, or any other student guides.

A Wikipedia entry may NOT be used as a source—however, if the “Source” section of a Wikipedia entry contains a scholarly work (a journal article or academic book) that you want to quote from in your paper, you are free to retrieve the work from the library (hard copy or from a database) and incorporate it into your paper.

YOUR PAPER WILL BE GRADED ON CONTENT AND MECHANICS 
(see Student Checklist for Papers). 

ANY INSTANCE OF PLAGIARISM IN THE RESEARCH PAPER WILL RESULT IN AN “F” ON THE ENTIRE PAPER WITH NO POSSIBILITY FOR REVISION.
_____________________________________________________________________

SUBMISSION DATES

ABSTRACT: Students must present a one paragraph abstract of approximately 75-100 words summarizing the paper and how he or she plans to proceed, detailing the following: Why you chose it; what is important about it; what you intend to examine; what library resources you intend to use to complete the assignment. Due Tuesday, 3/23

BIBLIOGRAPHY: You must present a Bibliography of sources (books, journal articles, newspaper articles, media sources, Internet sources) that you think you be using for your research paper. The page will consist of no fewer than five (5) outside sources. At least three (3) of the sources must come from scholarly books or articles on the main topic. Internet sources can comprise no more than two (2) of the sources. 
Due Tuesday, 3/30

OUTLINE: An outline is required as part of the grade for the research paper. This outline must directly correspond to the research paper. 
Due Tuesday, 3/30

DUE DATE for Research Paper (with final Works Cited page): Tuesday, 4/6.

ANY PAPER SUBMITTED AFTER THIS DATE WILL RESULT IN THE LOSS OF 5 POINTS PER CLASS MEETING DAY OVERDUE. NO PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER TUESDAY, 4/13/10. NO EXCEPTIONS. PAPERS MAY BE SUBMITTED EARLY.

Requirements for Individual Presentations


Portrait of Knoxville College Glee Club, ca. 1880s.
 

Regarding the requirements for the presentations--the objective of the assignment is to present the work in such a way as to heighten the class’s interest in learning more about the author or the topic presented in the text. I mentioned the guidelines in class numerous times, and I posted them on the course blog. Several of you lost 2 points of credit for not completing the assignment as instructed. Here are the instructions again:
Please provide a one-page handout containing the title of the speech and its author, along with one or two passages which exemplify the major theme of the piece. This handout should include at least 3 educational/scholarly links  to more information about the author (such as an online bibliography, collected works, etc.).
You must provide a brief overview of the piece, as well as some analysis as to why you think the work is of continuing literary/historic value.

If you send it to me in advance (by 12:00 NOON the day of your presentation), I will make copies for the class so that you don't have to spend money on copies. Do NOT print out or send the speech--all the students in the class have access to the original speech online. Just send the one-page handout as a Word Document.


If you choose NOT to provide the handout, you will automatically lose 2 points, so you will only be eligible to earn up to 8 of the 10 points--the choice is yours.


Class will begin with the delivery of the presentations, so come to class on time.

*There will be no make-up allowed for this presentation, which is worth 10 points.*





Best,

Prof. Williams  

P.S. Please spare me stories of technical difficulties--you all have plenty of time to get this done--thanks!


 

Monday, February 15, 2010

Passing, Hollywood Style!

Hi, class,

Here are the presentations scheduled for this week:


Tuesday, 2/16
Michelle Johnson: Ferdinand Barnett, "Race Unity" (1879)
Zandra Thomas: Lucy Parsons, "I Am an Anarchist" (1886)

Thursday, 2/18
Janere Davis: Frederick Douglass, "On Woman Suffrage" (1888)
Allyssa Bell: Anna Julia Cooper, "Women's Cause is One and Universal" (1893)
William Snell: Ida B. Wells, "Lynch Law in All Its Phases" (1893)

What follows are two scenes from the film adaptations of novelist Fannie Hurst's Imitation of Life (clip misspells "imitation"). The first version, made in 1934, stars African American performers Louise Beavers (Delilah) and Fredi Washington (Peola) as the mother and daughter, respectively. The second adaptation, filmed in 1959, features Juanita Moore (Delilah) as the long-suffering mother, and Susan Kohner (Sarah Jane) as her daughter. Interestingly, Susan Kohner is a white actress passing as a black woman passing as a white woman in this version.



Imitation of Life, 1934. Delilah (Louise Beavers) and Peola (Fredi Washington).



Imitation of Life, 1959. Annie (Juanita Moore) and Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner).

Friday, February 12, 2010

Literary Analysis Quiz #2 – Nella Larsen’s Passing - Due Tuesday, 2/16/10

Literary Analysis Quiz #2 – Nella Larsen’s Passing

DUE IN-CLASS on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010

No late essays or make-ups will be allowed, per the syllabus.
All essays are due at the BEGINNING of class!

Write an essay of between 300-500 words in answer to ONE of the following questions. Please follow standard essay-writing principles—strong thesis statement, thoughtful, well-reasoned, organized, and fully-developed argument, supporting details, and proper grammar. This essay must be TYPED and DOUBLE-SPACED, per MLA format. Cite specifically to the source, using standard MLA-style documentation.


1) In her introduction to Nella Larsen’s Passing, critic Thadious M. Davis writes that “…Larsen represents passing as a practical, emancipatory option, a means by which people of African descent could permeate what W.E.B. DuBois termed ‘the veil of color caste.’”

Question: How is this idea of “freedom” exemplified in the novel thus far? Cite specifically to the source, using standard MLA-style documentation.


2) Critic Deborah E. McDowell writes: “In Passing, understanding that Irene Redfield, from whose perspective much of the novel is told, is an unreliable narrator, is key to understanding the novel. Equally important is the function of Clare and Irene as doubles, a strategy that undermines Irene’s authority as the center of racial consciousness, and uncovers the issues of sexuality and class that an exclusive focus on race conceals.”

Question: The metaphor of passing accrues several layers of meaning. What are they? How do they relate to each other? Cite specifically to the source, using standard MLA-style documentation.

3) “[Irene] was caught between two allegiances, different, yet the same. Herself. Her race. Race: The thing that bound and suffocated her. Whatever steps she took, or if she took none at all, something would be crushed. A person or the race. Clare, herself, or the race. Or, it might be all three.”

Question: What does this passage mean? Cite specifically to the source, using standard MLA-style documentation.

All best,

Prof. Williams