History 371H

Devine

 

Paper Assignment #1 Option A: Mark Twain, Puddn’head Wilson

 

This essay is due Monday, September 22nd 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. If you choose not to do this assignment, you may complete Option B (due October 6).

 

If you are submitting this essay as a draft and intend to work with a writing tutor on a revision of your essay, please indicate in the subject line of your email or on the first page of the hard copy of your paper that the document you are submitting is a draft. Your final version will be due ONE WEEK after your appointment with the writing tutor. To make an appointment, call the History Department at 818.677.3566.

 

All students are welcome to make an appointment with me to go over a draft before submitting a revision and the same deadline will apply.

 

How Long?

           

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

 

Format?

 

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

 

• Please remember to number your pages.

 

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

 

• Base your essay only on the assigned course reading. Come up with your own ideas and arguments, don’t regurgitate whatever you find on Spark Notes or other online sources.

 

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

 

How to cite?

 

If you are quoting directly from Twain or Fishkin, cite the author and page number in parentheses within the body of the text, i.e. (Twain, 47). All direct quotes MUST be in quotation marks and must be cited, otherwise you are plagiarizing. It is not necessary to include a works cited page.

 

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 adequately 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?)

 

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 via email or in person. 

 

 

THE ASSIGNMENT

 

 

Answer ONE of the following three questions:

 

1.    How does Mark Twain use the characters, plot twists, and descriptions in Pudd’nhead Wilson to ridicule the both the southern code of “honor” and the provincialism of small town Americans?

 

2.    Throughout the novel Pudd’nhead Wilson, how does Mark Twain – through the clever use of humor and irony – level a profound critique of white supremacy (the notion that whites are inherently superior to blacks)? How is he able to do this without directly insulting his contemporary readers – many of whom may not have shared his enlightened views on race?

 

3.    How does Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson address the old debate of “nature vs nurture”? 

 

To Twain, is nature (“blood” or “race” or biology) more important in shaping who a person becomes than nurture (one’s environment, what one is taught, one’s upbringing)? How does Twain try to confuse his readers as to what he really thinks?

 

 

      Regardless of which prompt you answer, be sure to cite specific evidence from the novel or from Fishkin’s article to support each point you make.