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AssignmentsNote: This page contains topics for inquiry papers and formal essays ONLY. For handouts, see the "Resources" page. Note that we decided in class Friday (10/27) that inquiry papers may be handed in at any time, not just on on Mondays. However, you are still not permitted to write on material we've already covered in class. This is an opportunity to prepare your fresh perspective on the reading, not to rehash what we already spoke about! If we're reading a novel, for example, just write about a section of the book we haven't yet gotten to (see Syllabus for the day-to-day page breakdowns). ************************************************************************************************** Topics for Inquiry Paper on Toni Morrison's Sula 1. Morrison's calling the hill where the community resides "the Bottom" is only the first of many ironic reversals in the novel. Trace some of the others, such as Morrison's treatment of "insanity," "evil," or "magic." 2. What effect does Morrison's decision to signify new chapters by year, rather than by numbers or titles, have? 3. Do a close reading of the form of Morrison's sentences in the opening section, explaining the significance of their syntax (their passive voice, for instance, or the repetition of the conditional "would"). 4. Trace a line of imagery in the novel--the significance of food images, for instance. 5. Why does Shadrack institute National Suicide Day? What does he hope to accomplish? 6. What effects do Sula and Nel's families have on their views of the world? Closely examine Nel's experience on the train going south with mother, for instance (22). 7. What are various characters' interpretations of the birthmark over Sula's eye? What do these observations tell us about Sula and/or the people who make them? 8. Sula does not appear until well into the novel. Why does Morrison choose this structure for a novel named after this character? 9. At a crucial moment (note the context), Sula asks Nel, "How do you know?...About who was good. How you know it was you? Maybe it was me" (146). Who is good, Sula or Nel? What is the town's point of view? Morrison's point of view? your own? 10. Develop your own inquiry topic as a draft of your third essay. ************************************************************************************************** Topics for Paper #3 (due Wednesday, December 13, in class) Four to six pages, double spaced. These essay topics encourage you to compare texts, though you do not need to do so. Essays that analyze more than one text effectively may be eligible for the Writing Proficiency Portfolio required of most undergraduates.
Due Wednesday, December 13, in class. NO LATE PAPERS ACCEPTED AFTER THE DAY OF THE FINAL EXAM, DECEMBER 18. Anyone who has turned in one late paper already MUST turn this one in on December 13.
1. Throughout this course, we have examined texts that not only examine particular kinds of power, such as the power of violence or of government, but also wield power themselves, such as the power to include or exclude, to define. What kinds of power (“hard” or “soft,” for instance) exist in the worlds of The House of Mirth and/or Sula? How may one and the same character be both powerful and powerless? Does the author’s or authors’ language help us to understand the nature of power? Examine specific examples.
2. The distinction between the public and private spheres was an influential way of defining women’s experience through the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries, because women were generally forced to adhere to rigidly defined “functions” in public and private realms. Though it was an “accepted social axiom that a man may go where he pleases,” this freedom of movement was not extended to women (The House of Mirth bk.1, ch.12; 138). Wharton’s novel, as well as Emily Dickinson’s letters and verse, defy (but also sometimes celebrate) women’s association with the private realm. Do the private and public appear to have a gender in their work? Where are women most “free”?
3. Tweak topic #2 toward a discussion of the role of another form(s) of space in Wharton, such as the role of the city or the country estate, American versus European spaces, et cetera.
4. Emily Dickinson and Wallace Stevens not only excel in the lyric form of American poetry, but also share an intense interest in the problem of spirituality and belief. These questions interest both writers as questions, as sources of doubt which can also serve as starting points for inquiry and reflection. For example, they ask whether divine and poetic inspiration could in fact be related: “could condescension,” which might include God’s taking on flesh, “be / Like this consent of Language / This loved Philology” (Dickinson #1651); “what is divinity if it can come / Only in silent shadows and in dreams?” (Stevens, “Sunday Morning”). Both seem to see this spiritual inspiration as a source of pain and responsibility as well as of pleasure and faith. Examine the representation of religion in one or both of these authors, paying close attention to sound, meter, and structure.
5. The verse of Langston Hughes could be called dramatic rather than lyric, because he tends to invite us to imagine that his verse is being spoken by a character, such as his famous alter ego “Alberta K. Johnson” (Connaroe, pp. 249-55). In addition to the drama, the vernacular and dialect provided an important source of inspiration for Hughes. How do Hughes’s use of drama and vernacular create the sense of a body speaking? Why might it be important to have an embodied speaker, rather than an impersonal “I”? Why might this technique be important to an African-American or other ethnic literature?
6. In Sula Morrison plays with familiar oppositions, such as good versus evil, reality versus fantasy, science versus magic, and so forth. Through a close examination of Morrison’s text, evaluate the degree to which it may be seen as a challenge to binary thinking. Propose your own oppositions and evaluate how they structure, or are unstructured by, Morrison’s novel. How, for instance, might Sula and Nel be understood both as opposites and as doubles?
7. Come up with your own topic (submit it to me for approval at least a week before the essay deadline). You must write on one or two of these authors: Dickinson, Wharton, Hughes, Stevens, Morrison. ************************************************************************************************** Inquiry paper topics for Edith Wharton are courtesy of Dr. Jes Medoff. Inquiry Paper Topics for Week Ten: The House of Mirth, bk. 1, chs. 1-12
Inquiry Paper Topics for Weeks Eleven and Twelve: The House of Mirth, to end
SPOILER ALERT: PLEASE DO NOT READ THESE QUESTIONS BEFORE FINISHING THE NOVEL!
************************************************************************************************** Possible Inquiry Paper Topics for Week Nine: Dickinson’s Poetry Reminder of Poems Assigned: #67 (in Connaroe, pp. 77-78), #108 (78), #258 (79-80), #288 (80), #328 (81), #341 (81-82), #435 (84-85), #441 (85), #449 (85), #584 (90-91), #712 (93), #754 (94-95), #986 (97), #1732 (105); #528 (handout), #1651 (handout); plus any others you might be interested in
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Topics for Paper #2 (due Friday, November 3)
Your paper must be double-spaced and around five pages long. Don’t use an unreasonably large or small typeface.
You may build your essay on a response paper you have submitted. Insofar as it suits your interests, you may bend but not break the paper topics. You don’t have to address ALL of the questions in the topic; they are intended as ways of encouraging you to form your own opinion.
If you would like to talk your paper over with me, you should come to my office hours (MWF 1:15-2:25 in Wheatley 6-91). If you can’t make those times, I always welcome students to make appointments with me at other times; just write me at leonard.vonmorze@umb.edu.
Once again, I’m including a few tips about getting started:
1. Don’t worry about finding “right” answers: You are insightful and should trust your instincts, but you should test them against the text to make sure the text sustains your impressions. Whatever happens, you’ll have interesting things to say. 2. Think in terms of paragraphs: As you begin to plan this essay, think of it in terms of paragraphs, that is, points you want to make. Check to see if you have a unifying thesis. Anchor your understanding in the text of your poems or the novel: quote as needed, but remember that quotations are not self-explanatory. Your job is to also and comment on them so as to make your point, whatever it might be. 3. Have an argument about what you are discussing. There needs to be something that you are trying to prove; if there is not, there is no reason to write about it. Assume your reader knows the material but may not see it your way. Your goal is to convey your ideas to such a reader clearly, fully, and persuasively. Your authority will depend on how well you make your points, including quotations and other concrete references. Include page references for all quotations. 4. Attend closely to the actual words of the text. You need to use textual evidence, but be sure not to quote without offering interpretation. Merely adding quotations to your paper achieves little. You have to point out textual details which support your argument. 5. Analyze, don’t paraphrase. You need to use evidence, which involves interpretation. Of course, sometimes it can help to offer some context for the passages you choose to examine. But do not mistake a summary of these facts for a thesis. Do not submit a paraphrase or (horrors!) a summary of your text. 6. Don’t sweat the historical context. Much of my take on these materials in lecture involves historical backgrounds, but you don’t need to recap them. You might not even need to know this background to write a successful paper. You should incorporate this information into your paper only if it supports your own argument.
Topics: Be sure to provide the number of the topic you are addressing.
************************************************************************************************** Possible Inquiry Paper Topics for Frank J. Webb’s The Garies and Their Friends
For Week 7 (due October 16), I’ve provided topics which are specific to a particular chapter. Choose a chapter, then address all of the questions relating to it. The headings relate to the topic; they are my words, not Webb’s.
For Week 8 (due October 23), I’ve provided more general topics, as well as chapter-specific ones. To address the general topics well, you will probably need to have finished the novel.
For Week Seven: Questions on Specific Chapters
Chapter 1: Surprises a) From your reading of the opening chapter, what can you say about the Garie family? And how does Webb tell us about its secrets? (For example, how does Webb disclose information about the pasts of individual members of the household?) b) Are you surprised by Webb’s descriptions of American regions and the convictions about race that prevail in them?
Chapter 2: Space a) What’s the Ellis household like? How do they make money? Who runs things? What images are used to describe domestic activities? b) How is the city of Philadelphia broken up? What are its neighborhoods like?
Chapter 3: Mrs. Thomas What work exactly does Mrs. Thomas do in her capacity as “a housekeeper of the old school” (63)? What are her primary goals in life? How does Webb present her character?
Chapter 4: Webb’s Strategies a) What are we learning about the time scheme of the novel? b) Why does Webb keep Mr. Winston on stage (when we know that he will soon be moving abroad)? How has Mr. Winston changed over the course of his life?
Chapter 5: Surprises Does the outcome of Mr. Garie’s search for an overseer surprise you? Why? Compare Webb and Douglass on this point.
Chapter 6: Walters and Charlie What is Mr. Walters’s objection to service work? Why do you think he is so vehement on this point?
Chapter 7: Race and the Middle Class a) What insight does Webb provide into class differences within racial groups? b) What makes Caddy Ellis tick?
Chapter 8: Meeting Mr. Garie’s Relatives Would you call Uncle John a racist? Why or why not?
Chapter 9: Telling Versus Showing Does Webb’s depiction of slaves (e.g., on 133-34) contradict what he explicitly says about slavery? Do these descriptions surprise you? Why do you think they are described in this way?
Chapters 10 and 11: On the Road (a) What happens to Charlie in the railroad car? In what direction are they traveling? What happens to the Garies in the railroad car? In what direction are they traveling? b) What does Webb tell us about the urban characteristics of Philadelphia, and what does he lead us to expect from the Garies’ experience of the city? c) How would you describe Mr. Walters’s bachelor pad?
Chapter 12: Characterization a) What do Stevens’s kids look like, and how does it compare to how they behave? b) How does Clarence react to disappointment?
Chapter 13:The First Wedding What do you make of Mr. Garie’s retort to the “Christian” minister who refuses to serve him: “I wished to obtain a marriage certificate, not a passport” (167)?
Chapters 14 and 15: Pejorative Terms Why do the servants call Mrs. Bird an “abolitionist”? How should we understand the significance of the phrase “white niggers” (187)? What other terms are used in the chapter (also compare Chapter 21)?
Chapter 16: Race and Class What role does class standing play in white Philadelphia (in terms of leisure activities, sources of income, profession, etc.)?
Chapter 17: Ethnicity or Characterization (You may only have time to answer just ONE) (a) Why do you think that Webb makes McCloskey Irish? (b) Why does Mr. Stevens tend to soliloquize? Who else soliloquizes and why? Do you think this is a good novelistic strategy?
Chapter 18: Disguise How does this chapter contribute to the theme of disguise (in terms of clothes, voice, skin, etc.)?
Chapter 19: Diction and Violence What kind of violence would be involved in a “trifling combats between the negroes and whites” (230)? How and why are types of violence being distinguished in this novel?
Chapter 20: Confrontation a) Before you read this chapter, what do you expect will happen? After you’ve read it, how did your expectations stack up? What do the events suggest about the racial makeup of Philadelphia neighborhoods? b) What’s the role of women in community defense?
Chapter 21 Pejorative Terms What’s the significance of the term “amalgamationist” (250)? Are there differences in the way that people are verbally attacked? Why?
For Week Eight: General Questions
1. When Webb’s novel was rediscovered during the academic revival of African-American literature in the 1960s, it was dismissed for several reasons. Basically, the reasons boiled down to four main points:
Do you agree with these charges? How would you support or refute them?
2. There is a fair amount of violence in this novel. But are there different kinds of violence as well? (What is the difference between a fire-company gang and an organized mob, for instance? or between “spontaneous” and orchestrated violence? Does there seem to be a “female” and a “male” violence, or are those categories oversimplistic?) How and when does Webb cause us to feel both the attractiveness and repulsiveness of violence?
3. Notice Webb’s quasi-cinematic narrative technique as you’re reading. For example, there are numerous examples of what could be called “cross-cutting” technique, where Webb moves between the story of one person and that of another. (While he’s writing long before movies were made, developments in photography could have influenced him.) What is the effect of these juxtapositions? What other “cinematic” techniques do you see him using?
4. Webb plays very cleverly on his readers’ expectations. Note carefully when you find yourself surprised by the difference between expectation and experience—what is Webb up to? How does he play with familiar oppositions like white/black, rich/poor, North/South? Are you surprised to find so much discussion of real estate?
5. Why is disguise so prominent in The Garies? What, thematically speaking, do clothing and dress contribute to the novel?
6. Webb’s novel is a very careful analysis of how race, class, and gender relate to one another in settings of urban conflict. Think about how you’d draw a flow chart of some of these relationships (perhaps listing specific characters, passages, and events). How would the characters of this novel define “race”? What are the sources of their wealth? How do the characters from the two central families emerge into manhood or womanhood?
7. While Webb spends much time on questions of race, class, and gender, the novel is just as interesting for social questions that seem, at least on the surface, to be absent from the discussion. Most obviously, Webb’s novel was written at a time (1857) when slavery was still very much an American institution, yet there is little explicit representation of slavery. Would you say that the “peculiar institution” (as slavery was often called) is truly absent from the novel? What about the idea of an American nationality? Is this present or absent?
For Week Eight: Questions on Specific Chapters
Chapter 22: Esther Ellis How is Esther’s character developing? How does Webb represent these changes, and why?
Chapter 23: The Hospital What is Webb trying to tell us about the condition of Philadelphia in his depiction of the hospital doorkeeper? How does this chapter depict the city?
Chapter 24: Warmouth a) How is Whately “converted”? How does this chapter develop the theme of the difference between expectation and reality? b) What do you see as the significance of Aunt Comfort?
Chapter 25: Webb’s Rhetorical Appeal How does Webb tug at our emotions in this chapter? What role does violence play in those emotional appeals?
Chapter 26: Letters How do characters’ letters help to reveal their inner selves?
Chapter 27: Education How is Clarence’s school in Sudbury different from Charlie’s situation in Warmouth? (You could also consider chapter 31 in this light.)
Chapter 28: A Series of Small Questions a) How does Webb’s paragraph about the postbox (318) stand out? Why? b) How does this chapter develop Webb’s contrast between North and South? c) From Esther’s remark that her brother’s “life will be a hard one to fight,” should we infer that his life will be harder than hers? (323) Does the answer surprise you? Is gender becoming more significant in the storyline (the ideal of “becoming a man,” etc.)? d) Why is Charlie Ellis apparently more ambitious for “respectability” than Kinch de Younge?
Chapter 29: Gender Does the idea of “womanhood” in this chapter serve as a counterpoint to the previous chapter’s emphasis on “manhood”?
Chapter 30: Narration a) Why does the narrator suddenly become more “present” at this point in the novel? b) How well has Mr. Stevens fared with “Father Time”? How does Webb convey the answer to this question?
Chapter 31: Clarence a) What makes Clarence tick? He says something rather shocking on page 353—how should we interpret his statement? b) How does the newspaper report (359) relate to the larger themes of the novel?
Chapter 32: Passing a) What are the obstacles to passing? b) Read page 370 closely. How do we learn of the engagement? How does the fiancée’s father react? How does the tone of these descriptions affect you?
Chapter 33: Revelation Gloss Mr. Bates’s reaction to George Stevens’s revelation (380-31). How does he now interpret the entry of this prospective son-in-law—just described as “a gentleman of education and independent means” (377)—into his life?
Chapter 34: Nighttown How is Lizzie Stevens received in the lower-class neighborhoods of Philadelphia? How does Webb describe the class characteristics of the neighborhoods?
Chapter 35: The Second Wedding Notice that the book begins (and here almost ends) with a feast. Do a close reading of the last paragraph on page 403. (If you have space, you can also do the next three paragraphs [on page 404].)
Chapter 36: Ending a) What do you think Webb would say about Clarence’s fate? b) What is the prerequisite for marriage, according to Caddy? How is this important for understanding the underlying values of the novel? ************************************************************************************************** Douglass’s Narrative: Possible Inquiry Paper Topics (in this one case, you may turn in this inquiry paper on Monday, October 2, Wednesday, October 4, or Wednesday, October 11—NOTE: You may do only one on Douglass)
1. A key idea in Douglass’s work and career as an advocate for Abolition is that of rhetoric, the power of the voice to persuade listeners. How does the idea of the voice work in Douglass’s text? Consider, for example, the identity of the audience whom Garrison and Phillips want Douglass’s voice to reach. Or, read the three-page excerpt from The Columbian Orator entitled “Dialogue Between a Master and a Slave” which I have included on our course website, accessible through the www.litandwriting.umb.edu web portal for 206/1 (look under “Resources”). Douglass cites this dialogue on page 32 of his Narrative. How does the slave’s role in this dialogue reflect, or not reflect, Douglass’s position?
2. Why do you think the Irish might play such a prominent part in Douglass’s Narrative? How are they represented? How do their concerns reflect Douglass’s own? One way of approaching this question is to read the excerpt from The Columbian Orator entitled “Arthur O’Connor’s Speech in the Irish Parliament” which I have included on our course website, accessible through the www.litandwriting.umb.edu web portal for 206/1 (look under “Resources”). Douglass cites this speech on page 32 of his Narrative.
3. What is the role of education and miseducation in Douglass’s Narrative?
4. Some critics have found that Douglass’s Narrative ends up championing the capitalist system, with its underlying “free-enterprise ideology.” This argument hinges on the relationship of slavery to the marketplace. For, in order to get out of slavery, the slave has to get into the market; in order to cease being “property,” “property has to purchase itself,” as one critic puts it. In freeing himself or herself through an act of self-purchase, the slave would expose a central contradiction in the slave system. Trace Douglass’s analysis of the economics of the slave system in relation to Northern capitalism. Key scenes might be the description of the division of workspace on Colonel Lloyd’s property, and the brawl with the apprentices in Mr. Gardner’s ship-yard. Analyze one of these or another scene in detail. How are working-class whites, or labor in general, depicted in Douglass’s Narrative? ************************************************************************************************** Whitman’s and Melville’s Civil War Poems: Possible Inquiry Paper Topics (due Monday, October 2)
1. Both Whitman’s and Melville’s poems about the Civil War (each published in 1866) consider the problem of perspective, or how a viewer’s position may influence his or her perception of an event. Whitman’s verse from Drum-Taps (pages 41-46 in Connaroe) demonstrates the influence of the development of photography, and Melville signified his approach in the subtitle of Battle-Pieces: Aspects of the War. Consider how the poet handles the problem of perspective in one or more of these poems. If you wish, you may compare their approaches.
2. First, a little background: Whitman’s Drum-Taps is based on his experiences as a hospital worker for the Union army. But when the news of Lincoln’s death was conveyed to Whitman, he was staying with his mother in New York. On that April morning when the news came, he went outside to console himself with the scent of the lilacs that had just bloomed in his mother’s garden. Drum-Taps was already being prepared by the printer, so Whitman’s famous poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” appeared in a Sequel to Drum-Taps. So my questions are: What are Whitman’s primary concerns in the “Lilacs” poem? Are they the same themes as appear in the Drum-Taps poems? How are those concerns expressed through the fragmented form of the poem? ************************************************************************************************** Topics for Paper #1 (due Friday, October 6)
Your paper must be double-spaced and at least four pages long. Don’t use an unreasonably large or small typeface. You may bend but not break the paper topics to suit your interests. You don’t have to address ALL of the questions in the topic; they are intended as ways of encouraging you to form your own opinion.
If you would like to talk your paper over with me, you should come to my office hours (MWF 1:15-2:25 in Wheatley 6-91). If you can’t make those times, I always welcome students to make appointments with me at other times.
Due Friday, October 6, at the beginning of class.
1. Unlike Bryant, whose poem “The Prairies” depicts the thoughts of an isolated consciousness, Whitman saw his verse as an attempt to open a conversation between himself and the reader. Looking back on his verse late in life, Whitman stated that “the word I myself put primarily for the description of [my poems] … is the word Suggestiveness. I round and finish little, if anything; and could not, consistently with my scheme. The reader will always have his or her part to do, just as much as I have had mine.” What “parts” do Whitman’s self and the reader play? Some other questions to consider might be: Where and how does the “I” of Whitman’s poem speak of merging with the “you”? Do the “I” and the “you” change over the course of the poem? (Just one possible example: To whom is Whitman speaking when he says, “Stand back!” in the crisis moment we looked at on page 82?) How does Whitman make his voice “present” to us? What is at stake in the relationship between the self and the reader (or listener)—do identities merge? or divide? Does it relate to the broader issue of sympathy (in the sense of putting oneself in another’s shoes) in Whitman’s verse?
2. Does Whitman break the social boundaries which separated the people of his era by race, gender, and/or age? Where does he do this, and why? What larger “One” does he wish to create from the “Many” he speaks of? An additional facet of this topic might be to consider the way in which Whitman’s social transgressions relate to his transgressions of aesthetic expectations. Here, you might follow the suggestion of Peter Stallybrass and Allon White, who argue in their book The Poetics and Politics of Trangression that “the ranking of literary genres or authors in a hierarchy” is linked to broader hierarchies like those around “the human body, psychic forms, geographic space, and the social world” (p. 2). Does Whitman’s transgression of social rules relate to his breaking of poetic conventions? Where, specifically, do you see aesthetic barriers being crossed?
3. Much of Tommo’s anger in Typee is directed against Western culture. Correspondingly, much of his love is consumed in a passionate embrace of the Typee way of life. How do these emotional extremes influence the book’s politics? Is Tommo a primitivist? Does his desire to critique Western society enhance, or distort, his representation of the Typees? Does Tommo suceed in “going native”—that is, in understanding the Typee lifestyle from the inside?
4. Melville and his narrator, Tommo, are not quite identical. What would be lost if the novel were narrated in the third person? Where might Melville be distancing himself from the narrator? How does the difference between Melville and Tommo permit Melville to trace the relationship between expectation and reality, to identify the limits of one typical American’s views of the world, or to achieve other goals?
5. Contemporary reviewers of Typee either praised or denounced the work based on its political critiques. One could imagine yet a third reviewer, who would argue that Melville’s critique of either (a) imperialism and colonialism or (b) civilization (as opposed to “savagery”) does not go far enough. Where would you stand among these reviewers? How would you evaluate the case that Melville makes against one (or perhaps more) of these targets? What is the political import of the book? How does Melville define the “savage”?
Here are some tips for getting started:
1. Don’t worry about finding “right” answers: You are insightful and should trust your instincts, but you should test them against the text to make sure the text sustains your impressions. Whatever happens, you’ll have interesting things to say. 2. Think in terms of paragraphs: As you begin to plan this essay, think of it in terms of paragraphs, that is, points you want to make. Check to see if you have a unifying thesis. Anchor your understanding in the text of your poems or the novel: quote as needed, but remember that quotations are not self-explanatory. Your job is to also and comment on them so as to make your point, whatever it might be. 3. Have an argument about what you are discussing. There needs to be something that you are trying to prove; if there is not, there is no reason to write about it. Assume your reader knows the material but may not see it your way. Your goal is to convey your ideas to such a reader clearly, fully, and persuasively. Your authority will depend on how well you make your points, including quotations and other concrete references. Include page references for all quotations. 4. Attend closely to the actual words of the text. You need to use textual evidence, but be sure not to quote without offering interpretation. Merely adding quotations to your paper achieves little. You have to point out textual details which support your argument. 5. Analyze, don’t paraphrase. You need to use evidence, which involves interpretation. Of course, sometimes it can help to offer some context for the passages you choose to examine. But do not mistake a summary of these facts for a thesis. Do not submit a paraphrase or (horrors!) a summary of your text. 6. Don’t sweat the historical context. Much of my take on these materials in lecture involves historical backgrounds, but you don’t need to recap them. You might not even need to know this background to write a successful paper. You should incorporate this information into your paper only if it supports your own argument. ************************************************************************************************** Weeks Three and Four - Suggested Starting Points for an Inquiry Paper on Melville’s Typee If you are still uncertain about how to produce a succeessful inquiry paper, I would urge you to write a response to the topic suggested for next Monday (9/18).
Suggestion for an inquiry paper for 9/18: Examining one of Melville’s chapters closely
Xerox for yourself EITHER Chapter One or Chapter Three of the novel (pp. 21-26 and pp. 33-36, if you have the New Riverside Edition). Read the chapter you have chosen once through just to get a sense of the surface content. Then reread it very closely, more than once. Pay attention to word choice (diction) and images, and untangle the sentences (syntax) as needed. Annotate the page for yourself, marking it up, making marginal notes, noting significant words, etc. Look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary. All this takes time, so work patiently; don’t rush. If needed you can attach a separate page for vocabulary. Do a 10 minute free writing to help you think about the task.
Once you are finished, write a short paper discussing what the chapter is about. Here are some leading questions: How does Melville begin showing us the character of his narrator? What details does the narrator choose to call to our attention, and how does he describe them? What is the tone of the language, and where? (That is: Is this tone consistent, or does it seem to change over the course of the chapter?) You’ll notice that passages from the first edition which were removed from the second edition are in brackets. Do these deleted passages establish different attitudes, feelings, expectations, etc. towards the novel’s subject matter than those which were kept?
If you have not read this work before you will approach it from a position of total ignorance, without expectations, which is ideal for this exercise. Some of you may not be so “innocent”; your reading may be shaped by what you already know about this novel, whether you’ve read the entire novel or just the back cover. Either way, there are no “right” answers in this assignment. The point is just to become aware of yourself as a reader and a questioner, not as a know-it-all. Like the narrator, you are an explorer here. You may make new discoveries, but you may also hit dead ends. Please don’t do any advanced reading or preparation about Melville. If you have trouble with this passage, that in itself is worth discussion.
You’ll need to be clear and specific, to write concretely, use examples, refer to specific words or phrases, and quote as needed to explain your ideas. Avoid vagueness and generalities. Write economically.
This should be a typed and double-spaced two-page essay (about 500 words). Turn in your xeroxed pages with your essay. Suggestions for an inquiry paper for 9/25: Topics
1. Chapter 18 is one of the richest and most riveting parts of the novel. Modeling your analysis on the topic for last week’s inquiry paper, do a close analysis of either the Fayaway episode (pp. 132-35) or the Marnoo episode (pp. 136-143). Pay as close attention to Melville’s language as you possibly can. In your conclusion, try to speculate on the thematic links between the first and the second part of the chapter.
2. In addition to Fayway and Marnoo, we meet other impressive islanders in this novel, perhaps none more intimidating than Mehevi. First record your “gut feeling” about him, and then cite specific language demonstrating how Melville conveys that characterization to you. You might need to look at the first few pages of the reading for Wednesday for more information about Mehevi.
3. Tom’s leg wound returns again and again in the narrative. What symbolic values do you think are associated with the condition of Tom’s leg? In order to respond to this question well, be sure to cite specific passages.
4. Trace the discourse of religion in the chapters we have read. Try to forget your presuppositions about American faiths, and instead just identify Melville’s specific references to practices and institutions. For example, you might simply quote two or three passages and then interpret them closely. How do these references fit into their specific rhetorical contexts? Do they fit, or is the rhetoric of religion strange or discordant in the novel? If you have trouble with passages which allude to religion, this may signal to you that these passages are worth discussing.
5. Typee is a text which was, in effect, censored very soon after it was first published. But even at the manuscript stage, a very large amount of material had to be deleted. Take a look at the parts of the text which Melville either decided or was forced to remove, whether from the manuscript or from the first edition. The latter may be found in brackets throughout the narrative in the New Riverside Edition, and the former on pages 256-82. (If you have the Penguin edition, both of these appear in the index; they are also available in other editions such as the Oxford Classics.) From the content of the censored passages, what can you infer about the publishing companies and the reading public of Melville’s time? ************************************************************************************************** Week One - First Inquiry Paper (due Monday, September 11)
Whitman’s vocabulary is often unfamiliar to us, but it is unfamiliar for many different reasons. Sometimes he uses obsolete words; at other times he coins neologisms. Sometimes the words come from specific disciplines, at other times from slang. The goal of this inquiry is to understand how and why Whitman uses the vocabulary he does. The class will be divided into two groups. To do this assignment, you will need to use the Oxford English Dictionary and/or the Dictionary of Americanisms. For the OED, you can either go online or go to the library. Since it is much easier to go online, it is to your advantage to familiarize yourself with the procedures for accessing these reference guides electronically. To do this, you will need a student ID and a library bar code. If you do not have a bar code, go to the circulation desk at Healey to obtain one. Once you have gone to the library web page (www.lib.umb.edu), first look for the heading “Electronic Resources,” and select “Databases and Indexes.” On the next page, select “Oxford English Dictionary.” After you enter your barcode information, you will have access to the OED. If you cannot use the OED online, go to the reference stacks on the Fourth Floor of Healey. The volumes have the call number PE1625 .O87 1989. For the Dictionary of Americanisms, go to the reference stacks on the Fourth Floor of Healey. The volume has the call number PE2835 .D5 1966.
GROUP A (last names A through G):
GROUP B (last names H through Z ):
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