analyzing a narrative of slavery

Book: The American Yawp

http://www.americanyawp.com/text/01-the-new-world/

 

DIRECTIONS: You will write an essay of approximately  4 to 5 pages of text, double-spaced, in 12-point font.

Analyze a brief passage from the Twelve Years a Slave. Choose one or two paragraphs from the Narrative and copy and paste your choice at the very beginning of your paper (this does not count as part of the word/page count).  Although you are only analyzing a brief passage, your essay must demonstrate clear evidence that you have read the book in its entirety.

Please choose a passage from the following chapters, based on your “group” for journal entries.

Group A: Chapters 1–6 THIS IS THE GROUP I AM.

Group B: Chapters 7–11

Group C: Chapters 12–18

Group D: Chapters 19–22

Should you wish to choose a passage from outside this “assigned” range, please ask the instructor beforehand and give a brief explanation for your reasoning.

You should choose a passage that you believe is very important to Northup’s story as a whole, or choose one that is particularly meaningful, moving, or intriguing to you. After you have chosen your passage, your essay should unfold in three parts.

1. First, explain how your selected passage fits into the overall context of the narrative.  What events or decisions led up to this moment? What consequences follow the events or decisions described?  What actually happens in the passage itself? (Don’t spend too much space on this section.)

2. Then, justify your choice.  Why did you choose this passage? What did you find so significant about it? Why is it important in the context of the whole narrative?

3. Finally, analyze the passage. Why do you think Northup wrote this passage? How would you interpret the type of language that he used in this passage? What effect do you think he intended it to have on his audience? Do you think that Northup succeeds in getting his message across? How might the audience interpret (or misinterpret) his meaning?

CITING SOURCES: The first time you quote or use information from Northup’s book, put a footnote at the end of the sentence (after the period or end quotation mark), citing not just the original text but the specific edition you used.  On Microsoft Word, you insert a footnote using the “Insert” menu.  Use proper citation according to the Chicago Manual of Style or CMS, followed by a comma and the page number(s) where you obtained the information for your first footnote.  [If you have used an online edition without page numbers then at least cite the chapter number.]  For all other citations of Northup’s book, you can provide a parenthetical citation: put the page number(s) in parentheses before the period at the end of your sentence.  Note that if you cite an editor’s footnote or introduction, you should make clear that the information is from the editor(s) and not from Northup himself.  You are otherwise NOT expected to do outside research for this paper, but if you do use another source (online or otherwise), you must provide a proper footnote, using proper CMS citations: a brief guide to this citation style is here: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

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