Paper 3
For this paper you should choose one of the topics below and write a 500-word essay with a central thesis.
Prompts (Choose one):
- The play A Raisin in the Sun is often talked about for the ways it represents intersections of social class and race. One large part of this discussion involves the American dream, a concept that is loosely imagined as the desire for every American to attain middle class status, which is itself a vague category that signifies different things to different groups of people. If you choose this prompt, I would like you to detail your interpretation of how A Raisin in the Sun represents the American dream. How does Lorraine Hansberry depict social mobility? How does this depiction represent the crossroads of race and social class? And, how does this depiction of the American dream resonate with today? Don’t feel like you need to answer all or any of these questions. They are meant to get you thinking.Be sure to include a thesis statement in your first paragraph that states your central point and use textual examples throughout to make this point.
- This semester we have used two social annotation platforms: hypothes.is and Manifold. Using these platforms, you have annotated several poems and a digitized copy of Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno. In doing these activities you have hopefully gained a better sense of yourselves as readers. For this prompt, I would like you to reflect on the annotations you made. Do you notice any trends in what kinds of questions you had about the texts? Do you notice any trends in the kinds of observations you had about the texts? Do you notice any changes to the ways you read throughout the semester? Did the chapters from Jonathan Culler’s book influence your reading over the semester? Don’t feel like you need to answer all or any of these questions. They are meant to get you thinking.Be sure to include a thesis statement in your first paragraph that states your central point and use textual examples throughout to make this point.
Format:
- Typed, double-spaced
Due Date:
- Friday, December 11th
- Turn it in to Blackboard under “Paper 3: A Raisin in the Sun/Annotation Assignment”
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