essay i
Essay I: Southern Literature
1. Conventional representations of the South tend to portray the region in a simplistic manner and to reduce Southerners to stereotypes of shiftless hillbillies, indolent belles, and intolerant bigots. While many of the stories we have read invoke similar stereotypes, the authors seem to subvert these conventional assumptions to present more complex and sympathetic representations of this region and its inhabitants. For this topic, you are to choose one of the texts we have read and write a 4-6 page essay in which you analyze the author’s representation of the South. You need to develop an argument that covers the following topics: 1) How are the South and Southerners presented? 2) What conventional assumptions about the South does the text address? 3) How does the text reinforce or challenge these stereotypes? 4) How do other textual elements (i.e., setting, tone, symbolism, and point of view) develop the story’s portrayal of the South?
2. Many of readings for this unit emphasize historical, cultural, and social changes through characters that symbolize social progress set in opposition to characters that represent traditional values. For this topic, you are to choose one of the texts we have read and write a 4-6 page paper in which you interpret the writer's representation of a particular cultural or socio-economic change (i.e., Fitzgerald's treatment of migration to the North, Walker's representation of Black Nationalism). You need to develop an argument that covers the following points: 1) How do various characters symbolize progressive and traditional ideals? 2) What is the nature of their progressivism and traditionalism (i.e., how do they attempt to reinforce or challenge convention?) 3) Does the story present this conflict in an unambiguous manner that privileges one position over another or does the work criticize aspects of both progressivism and traditionalism to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the
1. Conventional representations of the South tend to portray the region in a simplistic manner and to reduce Southerners to stereotypes of shiftless hillbillies, indolent belles, and intolerant bigots. While many of the stories we have read invoke similar stereotypes, the authors seem to subvert these conventional assumptions to present more complex and sympathetic representations of this region and its inhabitants. For this topic, you are to choose one of the texts we have read and write a 4-6 page essay in which you analyze the author’s representation of the South. You need to develop an argument that covers the following topics: 1) How are the South and Southerners presented? 2) What conventional assumptions about the South does the text address? 3) How does the text reinforce or challenge these stereotypes? 4) How do other textual elements (i.e., setting, tone, symbolism, and point of view) develop the story’s portrayal of the South?
2. Many of readings for this unit emphasize historical, cultural, and social changes through characters that symbolize social progress set in opposition to characters that represent traditional values. For this topic, you are to choose one of the texts we have read and write a 4-6 page paper in which you interpret the writer's representation of a particular cultural or socio-economic change (i.e., Fitzgerald's treatment of migration to the North, Walker's representation of Black Nationalism). You need to develop an argument that covers the following points: 1) How do various characters symbolize progressive and traditional ideals? 2) What is the nature of their progressivism and traditionalism (i.e., how do they attempt to reinforce or challenge convention?) 3) Does the story present this conflict in an unambiguous manner that privileges one position over another or does the work criticize aspects of both progressivism and traditionalism to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the