Choose one topic for each paper and write at least 750 words not including the Works Cited page, use correct MLA citation with in-text parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page, and cite at least one secondary source for each paper. Refer to specific passages from the novels. Be sure to review ALL of the files in the Writing Academic Papers folder, including student model papers before you start locating sources and writing.
Paper Qualifications for grading : formatting, citation, a title that connects to your thesis, logical organization, an arguable thesis/argument claim, topic sentences/supporting propositions, more analysis than summary, strong/authoritative/credible secondary source support (a good rule of thumb is to have at least one primary and one secondary citation per paragraph), quotes from the novel (but not too long to distract/annoy me), being on topic, meeting the minimum requirements for length and sources, edited for spelling/punctuation/ grammar.
Paper One: My Antonia
Choose one topic:
1. Discuss Antonia’s character: how is she a maternal character? What character traits does she get from each of her parents?
OR
2. Trace the role of the seasons throughout the novel and explain how nature has a symbolic purpose as well as an organizing purpose.
Paper Two: Their Eyes Were Watching God; film?Their Eyes Were Watching God
Compare/contrast the novel with the film (Halle Berry plays Janie). Here are some aspects you might consider: plot; characters; use of nature metaphors like the horizon, the pear tree, or water; themes such as marriage, speech and silence.
Paper Three: The Joy Luck Club
Choose one topic:
1. How are the daughters in the novel “translations” of their mothers?
OR
2. Over the course of the novel, the mothers find themselves learning as much from their daughters as their daughters are learning from them. Discuss what lessons the mothers might have to learn from their daughters. How might the very activity of narrating their stories lead them not just to the sharing of insights but the discovery of new ones?
