For all of you who’ve come to me with paper topics that didn’t quite fit into the structures of the previous assignments, here’s your chance. This third essay assignment offers you a great deal of flexibility. In fact, I encourage you to choose your own topic, rather than working with one of the suggested topics below.

Here are the parameters: Your essay must have a clear, intelligent thesis, which you state and argue in five to six well organized, well written, and well developed pages. The following questions are meant to stimulate your thinking, but also to leave you room to carve out your own topic. You'll need to narrow the question appropriately in accordance with your own interests, and to develop a specific thesis appropriate to a paper of this length. Be sure, too, that your essay is analytical, rather than merely descriptive. Don't just tell your reader what happens; consider as well how and why it happens. If you choose to write a comparative essay, be certain that you explicitly compare and contrast the texts that you're examining, rather than merely discussing a question as it relates to both texts. Finally, while this assignment is not an explication, you should support your thesis with close readings of the text or texts. I strongly encourage you to talk to me about your essay as you work. I'm happy to hash out arguments, read outlines, and read typed rough drafts.

A final draft of ESSAY #3 is due on APRIL 29 at the beginning of class.

1.   Several of the writers we've studied consider the relationship between language and truth, or between language and reality. Consider this relationship as one writer defines it, or compare and contrast the relationship in two writers. How are language and truth related? Is there a gap between them? If so, does this gap present an obstacle to be overcome, or an opportunity for creative expression?

2.  Harriet Beecher Stowe uses a number of different domestic settings in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Think about these settings, and write a paper in which you explore one or more of them carefully. You might consider the gothic setting of Legree's plantation, perhaps comparing it to the Poe's House of Usher. Or, you might consider the relationship between Stowe's houses and the ideology of domesticity that flourished in nineteenth-century New England. (See Beecher's Treatise on Domestic Economy and Nancy Cott's The Bonds of Womanhood, on reserve in Barnard library, if you're interested.)

3.  Both Melville and Dickinson wrestle with Calvinist ideas in their texts. How similar are their theological concerns? And how similar are the literary strategies with which they explore these concerns? You'll have to think beyond the obvious here; clearly, Dickinson's spare lyric poetry is formally different from Melville's whale of a novel. You might, for example, consider the extent to which Dickinson and Melville incorporate traditional religious forms into their texts. How similar are Dickinson's use of hymn meters and Melville's manipulation of Father Mapple's sermon?

4.  Consider Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl in the context of the other course texts that deal explicitly with slavery. You might compare her narrative with Douglass’s narrative, or with Stowe’s representation of slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. To what extent does Jacobs seem to be responding to these earlier texts? Are there particular points at which her text echoes or disputes the earlier texts?

5.  Design your own topic. We've been reading rich and exciting texts, and the above list of topics doesn't even begin to describe the possibilities. Your essay should remain closely text-based, and must involve close reading of at least one (and probably not more than two) of the assigned texts. If you select this option, you must confer with me about your topic by April 20.

OTHER TIPS:

Some of you are still having difficulty with MLA format. I strongly advise you to check out the English Department’s guide to the preparation of papers or the MLA Handbook for details.

Proofread your papers carefully. Seemingly minor surface errors detract from the polish and professionalism of your essay, and they do affect my impression of your work.

Read your essay aloud to yourself–or to your roommate. This can help you identify passages that are wordy or unclear, and it can also help you to catch surface errors.