Reference no: EM131662876

Topics for the first paper

Any paper you write for this course should be analytical: it should present, explain and defend an argument or thesis, using specific evidence from our reading to support its conclusions. Don't worry too much about form-I don't care about "thesis paragraph" or "conclusion paragraph."

Use the early drafts of your paper to find out what you have to say, what you are thinking, then develop your ideas in subsequent drafts, revising your writing to make it clearer and more convincing for your reader. Your paper should include some brief quotations, used as evidence for important points, from any works under discussion.

You should revise sentences and paragraphs for clarity and accuracy and economy of expression, and finally you should proofread for mechanical errors. If you need help with ideas or the text of an essay, let me know. I'm always glad to help.

You may choose from this list of topics, you may modify any of these topics, or you may come up with your own topic. When in doubt, ask my advice. You also should remember that a topic is just a general subject. Within the topic, you will need to develop a thesis, the central ideas of the paper that you want to defend and explain. You are not allowed to use any sources for your paper other than the primary text that you are discussing.

1. What do the writing of De Las Casa or Cabeza de Vaca tell us about the assumptions of Europeans who came to the new world? What were their cultural attitudes, prejudices, or expectations? Can you find supplemental material from other selections by such authors in our textbook to support your conclusions?

This answer calls by implication for some comparison of the differing attitudes and points of view brought to the new world by different Europeans. Cabeza de Vaca, for example, did not share quite the racist view of Native Americans held by most of his contemporaries.

2. Explain how Olauda Equiano's "Narrative" can be useful in helping us understand not only the overt and obvious abuses of slavery but also the attitudes of the enslavers and of the enslaved toward each other.

This topic calls for some explanation of the complexities of the relationships between the narrator and his masters or other whites who held authority over him.

3. Compare and contrast the poems by Bradstreet with each other and with Taylor's "Upon Wedlock and Death of Children." Focus on how these poems illustrate or cope with their respective central points of tension.

4. Compare and contrast either Irving story with either Hawthorne story. Which story do you find to be the better work of art? Why?

5. Focusing on any one story by Irving or Hawthorne, explain what this story has to say about the culture of early nineteenth century America.

6. Focus on the central irony of any one of the four stories we've read by Hawthorne and explain how it works in the story.

7. Write an essay that focuses on and explains the meaning of any of the female characters in the stories by Irving and Hawthorne.

Note: I refer to the story or stories by Washington Irving in our text (I believe there is only one in the latest edition). Although I have not assigned these stories you are free to write about Irving's fiction if you wish, though not his non-fiction.

Irving's stories often have good comic elements and develop central ironies that are pointed and amusing. His stories also suggest his attitudes toward early nineteenth century American culture.

Attachment:- policies requirements.rar