History 305

Devine

Spring 2011

Essay Assignment #1 (Option B)

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

This essay is due Sunday, March 13th by 11:59 pm. You may email your essay to me as an attachment (the preferred method), turn it in to the History Department office (Sierra Tower 610) during business hours, or hand it to me in person. Late essays will be penalized, so please turn your assignment in on time.

 

If you completed Option A and would like a chance to improve your grade, you may turn in an Option B essay.  I will count only the better of the two grades.

 

I prefer you email me the paper since this is the best way to ensure that it does not get lost. Please send a copy to James as well (james.adams.397@my.csun.edu). When you email us, you should also send a copy to yourself on the “cc” line. If you receive the email, it’s likely we did as well. I will send you a confirmation email when I receive your paper, however, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY (and not the email server’s) that I get it. (“But I sent it to you – didn’t you get it?” will not be a legitimate excuse for a late paper.) 

 

HOW LONG SHOULD THE PAPER BE?

 

Papers MUST be 1500 words and no more than 1900 words.

 

HOW SHOULD I FORMAT THE PAPER?

 

• Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins all around.

 

• Please number your pages by using the “insert page number” feature on your word processor.

 

• Give your essay a title that indicates what the paper is about. (Something more revealing than “Essay #1” or “Tarzan”) Clever titles will be duly noted.

 

• Base your essay entirely on the assigned course reading. You do not have to (nor should you) draw on any outside sources.

 

Don’t forget to put your name at the top of page 1 of the essay before you email it. (People actually forget to do this.)

 

HOW DO I CITE?

 

If you are quoting directly from a source, cite the author and page number in parentheses within the body of the text, i.e. (Hammett, 47). All direct quotes MUST be in quotation marks and must be cited. Paraphrases of ideas drawn from the book MUST also be cited.

 

If you have any questions or are in any way unsure about what you are being asked to do, be sure to speak with me or James via email or in person.

 

HOW WILL I BE GRADED?

 

You will be graded on:

 

1)    focus (do you have a thesis statement and does it answer the question asked?)

 

2)    evidence (do you back up your argument with specific information from the reading?)

 

3)    coherence (is your argument consistent and understandable throughout the piece?)

 

4)    scope (does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth?) 

 

 

THE ASSIGNMENT

 

Answer ONE of the following questions:

 

 

1.    Why was Rudolph Valentino both alluring and threatening to many Americans during the 1920s?  What was the basis of his attraction?  What fears did his popularity raise?  Why was there such a stark difference between what men thought of Valentino and what women thought of him?  In particular, why did Valentino’s background as an Italian immigrant and a professional dancer cause women to fawn over him while men denounced him?

 

[In answering, you should cite specific evidence from Gaylyn Studlar’s chapter on Valentino to back up your points. You may also want to use some of the background material in Erenberg’s Steppin’ Out to inform your discussion of the historical context in which Valentino operated (i.e. the 1920s). Remember, you need to address why Valentino was loved and hated by a specific generation of men and women.  What larger trends were going on at the time in American society that account for people’s reactions to Valentino?]

  

 

2.    How did the technical innovation of sound – everything from dialogue to music to sound effects – transform Hollywood movies during the 1930s?  How did the “talkies” differ from the previous decade’s silent films in content, tone, method of presentation, and depth of characterization?  How did filmmakers employ sound to explore and emphasize themes they could not adequately engage in silent movies?  Finally, how did sound change the way audiences “consumed” films?

 

[In answering, introduce specific evidence to support your points. In particular, draw on ideas from the assigned readings and our discussion of the film clips we watched in class.  Referring to specific scenes in specific movies to illustrate your points is the best way to approach this assignment. You should also demonstrate to the reader the various things sound films could do that silent movies could not. In the paper’s first paragraph, indicate to the reader how your essay will answer each of the questions posed in the prompt.]

 

 

3.    Although pre-code Hollywood films such as Modern Times, Duck Soup, and She Done Him Wrong were intended primarily as light entertainment for Depression-era audiences seeking escape from their problems, how were they also clever – and often biting – satires of many of American society’s most cherished values and institutions?

 

[Among those values and institutions you might consider when answering this question are: government and political leaders, capitalism, patriotism, the nobility of war, the wisdom of the common people, middle class manners and mores, and Victorian sexual propriety. You should introduce specific evidence to support your points. In particular, draw on ideas from the assigned readings and our discussion of the film clips we watched in class.  Referring to specific scenes in specific movies to illustrate your points is the best way to approach this assignment.]

 

4.    Pick TWO of the following themes from The Maltese Falcon study guide – loyalty; truth and deception; masculinity; femininity; authority; and the city – and, referring back to the questions raised on the study guide under each theme, compose an essay that engages these questions and draws some overall conclusions about Hammett’s approach to these themes.

 

[In the essay’s first paragraph you should make clear to the reader which two themes your paper will discuss and indicate what basic arguments you will make regarding both themes.  Refer to specific moments or incidents in the novel to illustrate the points.  Whenever you make an assertion, be sure you introduce evidence from the novel to show the reader what you’re saying is true.]

 

 

5.    To what extent, if at all, is Sam Spade different from the other characters in The Maltese Falcon – Gutman, Brigid, Cairo, Wilmer, Dundy, Effie?  Why might one argue that, unlike the other characters, Sam is never a “sap”?  Why might Depression era readers have seen Spade as a “hero” (or, perhaps, as an “anti-hero”) while viewing the other characters more negatively or critically?

 

[In answering, you might consider what motivates Spade, the ways in which he interacts with the other characters, what he seems to value, what he dismisses as hypocritical or foolish, whether he has a sense of honor or a fundamental moral code, or how his behavior differs from that of the other characters.  In showing why Depression era readers might have preferred him to the book’s other characters, cite specific passages from the novel where Spade demonstrates qualities that this audience might have found admirable and explain why the context of the Depression made such traits admirable.]