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For this project you will write an analytical paper related
to Willa Cather’s My Antonia.As long as you engage critically with
the material, there aren’t too many restrictions but you should make sure to
discuss your ideas with me over conferences, during office hours or over
email.Here are some possible
topics:
1.You can analyze the way the text
portrays a concept, such as love, family, villains/monsters, immigration,
goodness, loyalty, cruelty, happiness, tragedy, heroism, etc. Your research
might include other scholarship on that issue and/or historical scholarship
about the time during which the work was written.
2.You can do a critique of the text from
a certain perspective, such as gender, class, race, sexuality, age, etc. Your
research might include theoretical works from the perspective you’ve selected
(feminist theory, working-class studies, etc.) and/or historical scholarship
about the time during which the work was written.
3.My Antonia deals with otherness in many
ways, through immigration, nationality, race, gender, language, geographic
location, etc.For this option,
you would look at your own interactions with otherness, either being the other
or interacting with a certain other for the first time.In which ways did your experiences
mirror those explained by Cather?In which ways were they different?Has My Antonia helped you gain
a different perspective on your experience?Your research might include historical and/or sociological
research for the otherness you’re writing about both for yourself and My Antonia.
4. Cather’s work
focuses on immigration and women’s rights.For this option you can compare the debates and
circumstances around immigration today to the ones Cather is describing.How are the immigrants Cather describes
different from the immigrants we have today?What can we learn about the United States’ relationship to
immigrants from Cather that still applies today?Have circumstances for immigrants today improved or worsened
from the time Cather describes?You can also look at the current situation for women in the work place,
media representations, sexual freedom etc. and compare it to the kinds of
arguments Cather makes about women in My
Antonia.How much have things
actually changed?Has the progress
we’ve made come with new difficulties for women?Has there been a price to the sort of equality Cather
champions in her work? Your research might include historical and/or
sociological research about immigration or the women’s movement both during
Cather’s time and today.
If none of these options seem appealing to you, we can
discuss other possibilities.
Keep in mind the concepts of ethos, pathos, logos and having
a clear thesis that we have discussed in class, as well as audience awareness,
tone and language.Remember to
take into account what your audience knows about this topic and what their
already established opinions are.If you think illustrations, graphics or pictures would add to the impact
of your project, you are welcome to use them, but you must address them as you
make your points.
Your paper should be double-spaced and 5-8 pages long
(around 1,500 - 2,400 words). You will need at least three sources.One from the web, one from print
(newspapers don’t count as print for our purposes) or the library catalogue,
and a third that can be whatever you wish as long as it’s credible.You can have more than three sources
but don’t get carried away.No
more than eight would be advisable.
Your name must be on the assignment and you need to give it
a title.Your first draft is due on Monday, February 20.You should have an electronic copy of
the paper that you can email to your fellow workshop members.Your final draft is due on Thursday, February
23.I will return work
electronically.Everyone will
receive their graded assignments within a week of turning them in, but not all
at the same time.I will return
them as I grade them, and I will grade them in the order that they reach my
inbox at: [email protected].
A “C” project should:
• Meet all requirements of the assignment.
• Provide appropriate description so that an audience can
understand the situations and issues
involved.
• Have a thesis that follows logically from the body of the
paper.
• Control surface errors.
• Use MLA citation to document all sources.
A “B” project should do everything a “C” paper does but
should also:
• Show evidence that possible audience objections have been
anticipated and responded to.
• Incorporate sources smoothly.
• Include an analysis that interrogates the experiences,
observations and sources critically.
An “A” project should do everything a “B” paper does but
should also:
• Arrive at a thesis that is original, insightful and
sensible.
• Show a flair with language and/or visual rhetoric.
• Have a clear organizational strategy based on audience
needs.