History
371
Devine
Fall
2010
Essay Assignment #1
(Option B)
INSTRUCTIONS
This
essay is due by 11:59 pm on Sunday, September
26. If you did not do Paper 1 Option A, you may complete this assignment or
wait to do Option C, which will be on Kevin Boyle’s Arc of Justice. If you did Option A, you may also turn in this
assignment and I will count the higher of the two paper grades. If I do not receive your paper by 11:59 pm on
September 26th, I will assume you are doing Option C. You may email your essay to me as an
attachment, turn it in to the History Department office (Sierra Tower 610)
during business hours, or hand it to me in person. I am willing to read and go
over drafts with you.
I
prefer you email the paper to me since this is the
best way to ensure that your paper does not get lost. When emailing, send a copy to yourself on the
“cc” line. If you receive the email, it’s likely I 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.)
Please “cc” Shirley as well.
How Long?
Papers
MUST be 1500 words. If you use MS
Word 2003, you can check number of words by pulling down the FILE menu, selecting
PROPERTIES, and then clicking on the STATISTICS tab.
Format?
• Typed,
double-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins all around. Margins can be set by using the FILE menu in
MS Word and choosing “Page set up.”
• Please number your
pages (use the INSERT menu on MS Word and choose “Page numbers…”)
• Give your essay a
title that reflects what the paper is about. (Something more revealing than
“Essay #1” or “Twain Paper”) Clever titles will be duly noted.
How to cite?
If
you are quoting directly from the book, cite the author and page number in
parentheses within the body of the text, i.e. (Twain, 47). All direct quotes
from the book MUST be in quotation marks and must be cited. Paraphrases of
ideas drawn from the book MUST also be cited.
You may also cite the optional readings if you like, using the same
citation method, i.e. (Sundquist, 25) or (Fishkin 32).
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 the teaching assistant via email or in
person.
How
will I be graded?
You will be graded on focus (do you have a thesis statement and does it answer the
question asked?), evidence (do you
back up your argument with specific information from the reading?), coherence (is your argument consistent and
understandable throughout the piece?), and scope
(does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth?).
Answer ONE of the following questions:
1. In Pudd’nhead
Wilson, Mark Twain satirizes various aspects of late 19th
Century American society. Explain how Twain uses the characters, plot twists,
and descriptions in his novel to ridicule TWO of the following:
a) Americans’ racial
prejudices
b) The provincialism of
small town
c) The American legal
system
d) The southern code of
“honor” and the pretensions of would-be American aristocrats
In answering, draw on specific passages from
the book to back up your point. Show what you’re saying is true; don’t
just make unsupported assertions that have no evidence to back them up. Explain how or why a particular
incident or quote ridicules an aspect of 19th Century society, don’t
just assert that it does.
2. Write an essay
explaining how Pudd’nhead Wilson addresses the old debate of “nature vs
nurture.” What does the Twain’s message
to his readers seem to be? To him, is nature (“blood” or “race” or
biology) more important in shaping who a person becomes than nurture (one’s environment, the
social context one lives in, one’s upbringing)?
Does Twain try to confuse his readers as to what he really thinks? If so, how?
Cite specific evidence from the novel to support each point you make.
3. What message do you
think Twain is trying to send at the end of the novel? Has “order” been restored now that Tom’s true
identity has been revealed and he has been sent “down the river”? In other words, is this a “happy”
ending? Or, does the ending show just
how much racism and slavery have corrupted
In making your case, you will need to
introduce specific evidence from the novel to show that what you’re
arguing is persuasive. Don’t make statements without backing them up with
evidence.
4. Choose a character
from Pudd’nhead Wilson and explain
how Twain uses the character (his/her actions, words, preconceptions, perhaps
even others’ perceptions of that character) to present his own social
commentary on late nineteenth-century America.
How does Twain use this character to reveal his own views on race,
social hierarchy, politics, southern honor and so on?