Second Paper Assignment

Due in section on Friday, April 27th

Answers must be:

§ Between 1250-1750 words (5-7 pages)

§ Typed in 12pt, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, and in paragraph form.

§ No generalizations about the novel in the first paragraph (as in, “The novel was a literary work that had an enormous impact on people.”)

§ A minimum of 2 close readings are required.

Choose one of the following topics for your essay. Answer most, but not all, questions posed in the topic. You will need to take an argumentative stance and close read at least two passage as supporting evidence for your view. Although you may apply what you have learned from section and from lectures, do NOT choose a phrase, passage, or image that Prof. Schaub or I have addressed extensively:

1. Using Native Son, A Raisin in the Sun, Goodbye, Columbus, or House Made of Dawn choose a pairing or pattern of interesting details and make a case for its importance, in terms of the text. Why is this pairing or pattern significant? Beyond being cool or notable, how does it help us understand the underlying meanings of the text? To answer these questions – and to complete your analysis – you should explore what ideas the author conveys through this particular pairing or pattern. What argument seems to lie behind it? What point does the author use it to make? You cannot address any of the imagery from the midterm exam or Prof. Schaub’s lectures.

2. “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,--an American, a Negro; two warring souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”-W.E.B. DuBois The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

   Discuss DuBois’s theory of double-consciousness (as articulated in this quote. No outside research is necessary) in relation to either Bigger from Native Son or a character of your choice from A Raisin in the Sun. Your paper should include close readings of both the above quote and scenes from your chosen text.
3. Choose a relationship among two or more characters within the same novel and discuss how their relationship provides significance to the themes of the home, class consciousness, gender difference, or personal development (choose only one of these themes). Write an analysis of this theme and its differences, changes and/or developments in A Raisin in the Sun, Goodbye, Columbus, or House Made of Dawn (choose only one of these texts).

Syllabus Revision

Hi all,
I felt that you needed a break, so I decided to delay assigning the second paper topics until this Friday. This also means that you have until April 27th to write your papers.

As always, with any papers, please feel free to come to my office hours. In fact, if you feel nervous, you can also email me with a preliminary draft. I will provide some general feedback for you.

Paper topics coming soon.

Opposites Attract

In this book both Brenda and Neil take pot shots at each others social class. She constantly calls things he says nasty and he makes fun of the stuff she does like wanting a nose job and wanting him to do what she wants. It seems that each was trying to change the other into there ideal mate. Do you think that either one of them would be ever to see the others point of view and except each other for who they are and were they came from or would they self destruct themselves by constantly picking out the others differences?

Appearances

Per Jana C.:

When Neil first called Brenda to ask her out on a date, on page 7 she asked how he looks and she found out that he is dark but not a Negro. I thought it was weird that she was concerned about what he looks like, but it never comes up later in the chapter. I was just wondering what are your thoughts about Brenda's feelings towards appereances because she feels so strongly about looking beautiful.

Physical Social Movement

There's a lot to be made from Neil's comments on page 90 about physical social movement. Neil remarks, "The neighborhood had changed: the old Jews like my grandparents had struggled and died, and their offspring had struggled and prospered, and moved further and further west, towards the edge of Newark, then out of it, and up the slope of the Orange Mountains, until they had reached the crest and started down the other side, pouring into the Gentile terriotry as the Scotch-Irish had poured through the Cumberland Gap." This physical movement of people on the basis of wealth sets up a decisive barrior between Neil, who lives with his Aunt and Uncle in Newark, and Brenda, who lives with her family outside of Newark. Brenda's parents go a long way to make this barrior even more real with their letters to Brenda after Mrs. Patimkin's discovery of the diaphragm; those letters clearly outline that their is a social gap between Neil and the Patimkin family. Neil goes on to say, "Now, in fact, the Negroes were making the same migration, following the steps of the Jews..." Neil is put in an awkward place because of the physical movements on the basis of wealth; Brenda has already been put on the other side of a stiff border, and even the little boy who comes to the library to admire Gauguin is leaving him behind. What is it that doesn't allow Neil to make the same social migration that the rest of Newark is making?

Teasing

In Goodbye, Columbus Neil and Brenda have an interesting relationship. Roth makes the hints that they both need each other, but at the same time, they put each other down a lot. The constant teasing but also them valuing their relationship, leads some to wonder why they tease so much if they love each other like they say they do. So what do you think is the reason for them teasing as much as they do if they are actually in love?

Making fun of Brenda

Per Sammy R:

As the professor discussed in lecture this Monday, Neil constantly makes fun of Brenda. Examples are Brenda: "I had my nose fixed.", Neil: "What was the matter with it?", Brenda: "It was bumpy.", Neil: "A lot?" and Brenda: "Oh break the goddamn things. I hate them.", Neil: "Why don't you have your eyes fixed?". We came up with a couple possible reasons for this constant teasing in class, such as he's simple and/or practical. However, what's your personal feelings about why Neil makes fun of Brenda thoughout the story?

Gauguin's Pictures

Philip Roth makes an obvious connection between Neil and the boy who comes into the library. Neil sympathized with the boy who stared at Gauguin's pictures of Tahiti all day, desiring this life that he didn't have. Short Hills even began to remind Neil of the stream in the pictures. Later in the story, the struggle to keep the book in the library began to parallel the trouble that Neil was having fitting into the Patimkin family, and at the very end, Neil found that the book was checked out. He said he never saw the boy again but that it was for the best because it was silly to carry those dreams around. This occurs immediately before Neil and Brenda end their relationship.
Do you as the reader feel that such a drawn out symbol is necessary? Does this parallelism take away from the story or add to it and why? For what other reason do you feel Roth added this child into the story?