DISCUSS HAWTHORNE’S CRITIQUE OF PURITANISM AND OF ORGANIZED RELIGION IN GENERAL WITHIN THE SCARLET LETTER.
ENGLISH 204-5WA American Literature before 1865
Final Researched Essay
DETAILS: NO FIRST OR SECOND PERSON VOICE
| Target length | · 2000 words of TEXT, +/- 10%(i.e., between 1800 – 2200 words)
· Works Cited page is ALWAYS in addition to a target length |
| Deadline | · FINAL DRAFT DUE via Blackboard· NO LATER THAN NOON, Thursday, July 30 |
| Points available | 500 |
| Format | · MLA format (1 inch margins, 10-12 point font, number pages in upperright corner)
· MLA Parenthetical citation style · Text should display sophisticated and formal American collegiate English |
SOURCES
| Minimum SIX separate SOURCES (not citations!) required |
| DO NOT include ANY internet pages/websites! |
| Do NOT include ANY of the following:· NO “popular”/mass market magazines (examples: Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, People, Psychology Today, etc.)
· Absolutely NO WEBSITES or INTERNET SOURCES! · NO general encyclopedias or dictionaries (examples: Encyclopedia Brittanica, World Book, Webster’s Dictionary, etc.) |
| ALL sources MUST BE academic/scholarly in nature—examples of acceptable sources include:· scholarly/academic journals (you have FREE access to thousands of online full-text articles via the STLCC library website)
· scholarly/academic books · major daily newspapers · television or radio programs (especially interviews or news) · documentaries
…and similar sources.
See resources in the Research/MLA Documentation Resources folder in Blackboard for further information, or ask the instructor or a STLCC reference librarian if you are unsure about your sources! |
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| ACADEMIC INTEGRITY REMINDER:
BE SURE TO FOLLOW MLA Parenthetical format to AVOID PLAGIARIZING!
If you are not sure when OR how to fully and formally document sources, consult a standard writing/style guide, the Research/MLA Documentation Resources folder in Blackboard, the instructor, and/or the Writing Center. You have many resources available to help you.
BE SURE THAT YOUR WORK IS PLAGIARISM-FREE BEFORE SUBMITTING A FINAL DRAFT. Once I have seen it, it’s too late to go back and “undo” plagiarism.
There is no such thing as “accidental plagiarism” in college or on the job. It is YOUR responsibility to know and follow the rules.
BE SURE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE RULES REGARDING YOUR OBLIGATIONS TO CLEARLY AND FULLY CITE AND DOCUMENT ALL INFORMATION (including ideas, AND summaries and paraphrases of information that is not “common knowledge,” as well as direct quotes) BORROWED FROM ANY OUTSIDE SOURCE.
Understand that I do NOT have options: ethically, I must report all instances of plagiarism to my Department Chair and Dean..
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ESSAY ASSIGNMENT:
Read the particular topic/prompt carefully, and focus your response on what is being asked! Every time I teach this class, I receive papers from students who seem to pick out a concept from the prompt and then write on a completely different question—and they earn failing grades because their papers do not address the assignment. Don’t be one of these students!
Choose ONE of the following topics on which to write (links to electronic versions of each of these texts are given at the end of this assignment, and all are readily available in libraries/bookstores):
- Discuss Hawthorne’s critique of Puritanism and of organized religion in general within The Scarlet Letter. Be sure to consider his critique within the context of American religious thought during the period in which Hawthorne wrote it. How and why did he undertake his criticism during a time of increased national Christian fervor?
- A persistent and unconfirmed bit of folklore says that Abraham Lincoln supposedly greeted Harriet Beecher Stowe at the White House by saying, “So, you’re the little lady whose book has caused this great war!” Based on your research and on a reading of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, argue for or against this connection: did Stowe’s novel play a substantial role in the outbreak of the Civil War, or not?
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- Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life in the Iron Mills was widely criticized among contemporary readers as a shocking, scandalous piece of fiction. What specific elements in the novel would have been
considered outrageous, disgraceful, and shameful during the time in which Harding’s novel was published? (Note that much of the outrage was centered on contemporary notions of gender roles and the way in which Davis subverted them.) Are there parallels for those troublesome elements in modern American society—ideas that would seem to be “untouchable” by respectable fiction? If so, are they still focused on issues of gender, or is there some other basis for them? Explain and defend your response.
- Consider James Fenimore Cooper’s portrayal of the exploration and settling of the American frontier in his novel The Pioneers. Compare/contrast this depiction to the pioneer experiences portrayed in at least three films/television series. How/why are modern interpretations similar to Cooper’s representation, and how/why are they different? How does the time in which a particular interpretation is created affect the portrayal of American Westward expansion? Based on your research, which portrayal is most accurate, and why?
- Discuss Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson in terms of the “place” and value of women during her day, both in the normal role of a white female in her community and also as a valuable commodity when dealing with the native Americans. Now, choose a more modern work of literature or film that explores one or more of the same basic theme/s in American life: women’s role; the commodification of women; women in peril; the power dynamic between women and men.
| Remember, your outside source materials should be used ONLY to support/reinforce your own ideas—do NOT simply string together cited material from these sources! In such a short paper, limit yourself to NO MORE THAN THREE direct quotes and NO block quotes (i.e., direct quotes of four or more typed lines)—paraphrase or summarize and cite borrowed information instead! |
| Before submitting your final draft for grading, keep the following in mind: |
| I will NOT read or grade papers:
· that fall substantially outside the target range of 2000 words, +/- 10% (that is, shorter than 1800 or longer than 2200 words of text). · that do not include a Works Cited page. · that incorporate fewer than the required SIX acceptable outside sources. · that are submitted after the deadline. · That are not submitted in MS Word document (.doc OR .docx) format VIA BLACKBOARD. |
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| REMINDERS ABOUT SUMBITTING YOUR WORK
Remember that it must be submitted: · via the Assignment utility of Blackboard (NO email or printed submissions accepted!) · as a MS Word document file UPLOAD (I CANNOT reliably open any other file format, and I cannot mark/give specific feedback on text entered into the text box) · no later than this deadline (I have a very short deadline for submitting final grades for the course)
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RESOURCES
| HELPFUL WEBSITES for MLA documentation
· Purdue OWL (online writing lab): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/1/ · BibMe (bibliography entry generator): http://www.bibme.org · Citation Machine: http://citationmachine.net/index2.php?start=&reqstyleid=1&more=yes#
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| ONLINE, FULL-TEXT versions of the texts listed:
· Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33 · Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/203 · Davis, Life in the Iron Mills: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/876 · Cooper, The Pioneers: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2275 · Rowlandson, Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/851 |