Writing Assignments
Writing Assignments
Paper 1 | Paper 2 | Paper 3 | Final Exam
About Wikipedia
Avoid citing Wikipedia in academic essays. Since it is not edited by reputable experts, it often has errors and isn't reliable. It's okay to use it as a starting point for your own research, but go on and find other sources to verify the information, and cite those in your essay.
Online Tutoring
You can now get tutoring online, as well, if you want help with your papers. This is free to students registered in classes at Harbor College. Click HERE and you'll be taken to a registration page. I hope this will be helpful to you; this is a new service for Harbor College, so please let me know how it goes if you use it.
Writing Assignment 1
Choose one of the following topics and write a complete, considered answer. Be sure to support your statements with evidence from the text, and be sure to use correct MLA documentation. Required length: 2-5 pages (500-1250 words). This assignment is due Friday, September 30.
1. Jack Hicks talks about California as "a distant green haven with disaster lurking at its edge." Choose one of the works we have read and explain how the writer does or does not support this view.
2. Hicks says that several writers in the late 1800s and early 1900s participated in the "deconstruction of the California Dream" (199). Choose one of the following writers and discuss whether he or she does this, and if so, explain how: Twain, Harte, Bierce, Baum.
3. The theme of "the quest" runs through almost all of Western literature. Do you see this same theme in the Indian works we read for this class?
4. L. Frank Baum is known primarily as a children's writer for his Oz books. But many critics have argued that Baum was using his Oz stories to comment on various political events, people, and institutions. Do a little research on Baum and see what the various interpretations are. Do you agree with them?
5. Mark Twain's story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," is full of metaphors which comment on the Californian and American character and dream. Do a close reading of the story and interpret the metaphors.
6. Choose your own topic; clear it with me first.
For help writing this assignment, go to Writing About Literature ; for more specific help, feel free to e-mail me with questions.
Writing Assignment 2
Choose one of the following topics and write a complete, considered answer. Be sure to support your statements with evidence from the text, and be sure to use correct MLA documentation. Required length: 2-5 pages (500-1250 words). This assignment is due Friday, November 11.
1. A recurring theme in much of California literature is the juxtaposition of beauty with catastrophe. Choose one of the following and discuss whether you see this idea reflected in it: Tortilla Flat, Ask the Dust, The Day of the Locust, any of Joan Didion's essays, Tortilla Curtain.
2. How do you interpret the ending of The Tortilla Curtain?
3. In his book, Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915, Kevin Starr writes, "Beneath the sense that all was possible, that anything went, lurked a baffled yearning for limits, which in its frustration threatened to turn at any minute into a repressive counter-force that denied the dream of liberation through which Californians mythically defined themselves" (440). Choose one of the following and discuss whether you see this idea reflected in it: Tortilla Flat, Ask the Dust, The Day of the Locust, any of Joan Didion's essays, Tortilla Curtain.
4. In Ask the Dust, how does Fante contrast the popular image of Los Angeles with its reality?
5. In The Day of the Locusts, how does West contrast the popular image of Los Angeles with its reality?
6. Choose your own topic; clear it with me first.
For help writing this assignment, go to Writing About Literature ; for more specific help, feel free to e-mail me with questions.
Writing Assignment 3
Choose one of the following topics and write a complete, considered answer. Be sure to support your statements with evidence from the text, and be sure to use correct MLA documentation. Required length: 2-5 pages (500-1250 words). This assignment is due Friday, December 2.
1. What vision of the American Dream is presented in Under the Feet of Jesus?
2. In Donald Duk, how are California's past and present related?
3. In Devil in a Blue Dress, Easy Rawlins is not always honest or virtuous. What are his values?
4. Choose one of the following novels and explain how the characters' experiences are shaped by their ethnicity: Under the Feet of Jesus, Donald Duk, Devil in a Blue Dress.
5. Writer Jonah Raskin says, "California [is] a landscape where we're free--at least freer than most other places--to make up our own myths and to live or to die by them." Choose one of the following novels and discuss whether or not it supports this idea: Under the Feet of Jesus, Donald Duk, Devil in a Blue Dress.
6. Choose your own topic; clear it with me first.
For help writing this assignment, go to Writing About Literature ; for more specific help, feel free to e-mail me with questions.
Final Exam
Of the works we have read this semester, which one have you liked the best? Explain. Which one did you like the least? Explain. Which did you think was the best written? Explain. This is a personal essay, so feel free to use "I." Suggested length: 1-3 pages. (Maximum possible points: 100.)
This assignment is due Monday, December 12, by midnight.
NO LATE FINALS WILL BE ACCEPTED!!!
How to submit your work
Your essays will be submitted to me via e-mail. Save your assignment as either a Word file (.doc) or a Rich Text File (.rtf) and then attach that file to your e-mail message. When sending assignments, your e-mail message should include your name, the class number (English 209), and the name of the assignment which is attached.
Use correct MLA format for the appearance of your essay and your documentation.
Eliminate spelling, grammar, and other mechanical errors from your writing.
Send your e-mail to me at annw708@earthlink.net.
“Whatever starts in California unfortunately has an inclination to spread.”
~Jimmy Carter