Griffin Library WSU Databases for Literature Citing Sources Writing Center

Paper 1

English 368                                                                                          Dr. Campbell                                                                        Paper 1

Prospectus:                   50-100 words
Paper:                                     5-7 typed, double-spaced pages, or 1250-2000 words

September 22, 2011

Prospectus due (send it to me at campbelld@wsu.edu )

September 29, 2011

Typed rough draft due in class

October 4, 2011

Paper due at beginning of class if you are turning in a paper copy OR uploaded to Angel by 9 p.m. if you are turning in an electronic copy.

Your first paper for English 368 does not require secondary sources; rather, its purpose is to demonstrate your ability to do the following:

  • To choose a significant, appropriately limited topic based on the works we’ve read;
  • To investigate and support a thesis of your own devising;
  • To analyze with skill and insight specific literary works; and
  • To present the whole in a clearly organized, well-written fashion.

    • Content is very important, but good organization, sentence structure, and editing skills are also important. Citations and the Works Cited page should follow MLA format. More guidelines for turning in papers in this class are here: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/format.htm. You can find good information on citing sources online here: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch04_o.html
    The prospectus is a brief typed proposal that covers (1) the overall subject of your paper; (2) its thesis or overall argument; (3) the works to be covered; (4) outside sources, if any. Turning in the paper's introductory paragraph will also satisfy the prospectus requirement.  The prospectus and the rough draft are not graded, but if they are not turned in, the paper will lose five points (1/2 of a grade) for missing either the prospectus or the draft.
    The following are suggestions for possible topics for your paper, but you can also develop your own topic in consultation with me.
    1. The evasive "I": narrative technique and point of view in The Blithedale Romance or Moby-Dick. What is the effect of first-person narration in one or both of these books? In what way does it multiply or complicate the novels' themes? What does the first-person narrator expose, explain, or conceal?
    2. The Blithedale Romance and Moby-Dick examine the idea of the "foreign" versus the "familiar"; that is, they explore their protagonist's fears about, and sometimes acceptance of, characters of another race, culture, or religion. Examine this idea in any one or two of the novels. You might also choose to examine the way in which characters of a particular race or ethnicity are portrayed in the work.

    3. In a famous essay on The Blithedale Romance, Philip Rahv argues that Zenobia is one of Hawthorne's "dark ladies," as is Hester in The Scarlet Letter, Beatrice in "Rappaccini's Daughter," and Miriam in The Marble Faun. Rahv contends that Hawthorne treats these characters unjustly and that "inevitably the dark lady comes to a bad end while the blond is awarded all the prizes." Would you agree with this assessment? What attitudes in literature or in nineteenth-century American culture does it reflect? Choosing one other work, consider Zenobia and The Blithedale Romance in light of these ideas.

    4. Examine closely a single pattern or a few closely related patterns of images or themes in The Blithedale Romance or Moby-Dick. See the "Reading Questions on Moby Dick" handout for suggestions.

    5. Choose one of the chapters in The Blithedale Romance or Moby-Dick and, through close reading, show the ways in which it exemplifies or relates to the book as a whole.

    6. Compare and contrast two characters who act as foils for each other, making sure that you discuss any interactions that they might have.

    7. In what ways do some or all of these novels critique idealism, or, more specifically, characters who pursue their own ideals at all costs?

    8. Your own topic. Some of you have already sketched out some interesting ideas in your weblogs; choose one that might lend itself to further discussion and develop it into a paper.