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The texts from the first part of our semester address the complexities and challenges of being and becoming an autonomous person, of forming and maintaining an authentic individual identity amidst the social, cultural, economic, environmental, and historical pressures we must navigate. Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance” lays out a particularly American perspective on the value of individualism and self-creation. The selection from Ellison’s Invisible Man considers what happens when the drive toward self-determination is forcefully opposed by the larger culture, in this case in the form of systemic racism. Gloria Anzaldua’s essay offers a feminist perspective on similar issues. How do these texts understand identity formation and its problems? How do you? What are the results, costs, and consequences of pursuit of an authentic life as an individual?For your first major essay, you will select one of the stories or essays above and, in the most specific terms possible, articulate a compelling issue, question, or theme this text raises for you. You will put your chosen primary text into conversation with one outside text that can help supply intellectual tools (interpretive lenses, theories, metaphors, paradigms) to help you deepen and develop the consideration of your chosen issue. See the “Supplementary Reading List” for possible outside texts to consider (I am also more than happy to help you locate additional texts relevant to the issue you are writing on). You will analyze and quote relevant passages from each of your chosen texts.The essay will be thesis driven––that is, it will stake an explicit and provocative position on your chosen issue. In other words, your paper will argue for a particular insight or understanding of the issue at hand.Since this is our first longer essay, we’ll devote class time toward various aspects of the writing process. We’ll also do a few exercises to help familiarize you with skills relevant to the assignment: constructing thesis statements, undertaking “close readings” of scenes and passages. Along the way you will turn in an essay proposal in which you describe your initial plan for the your paper. Additionally, all students will have the OPTION to submit revised version of the paper that will seek to take advantage of my suggestions and feedback for a slightly higher grade. The required length is four pages. As with all typed assignments, this will be in size 12 Times New Roman font, double spaced, and use standard margins. See the schedule for due dates.
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Table of Contents
Essay 1 Supplementary Reading List
Please note that this list offers just a few places to start. You may seek out additional critical resources of your own. Feel free to consult with me to help find writing on the issues and themes you are most interested in. Titles below that are not available online may be found with the help of QCC librarians. Don’t be afraid to track down a full hard cover book––it feels good in the hands.James Baldwin, "Letter from a Region of My Mind" (1962): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/11/17/letter-from-a-region-in-my-mindCathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings (2020)Jay Caspian Kang, “What a Fraternity Hazing Death Revealed about the Painful Search for an Asian American Identity” (2017)Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/magazine/what-a-fraternity-hazing-death-revealed-about-the-painful-search-for-an-asian-american-identity.html?_r=0Jay Caspian Kang, "The Myth of Asian American Identity": https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/magazine/asian-american-identity.htmlThomas Chatterton Williams, “Black Blue and Blond” (2015) Link: https://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2015/01/black-and-blue-and-blondLeon Wieseltier, “Against Identity” (1994) Link: https://newrepublic.com/article/92857/against-identityJesse Mccarthy, “Notes on Trap” (2018) Link: https://www.jesse-d-mccarthy.com/notes-on-trap/Frank Wilderson III, Afropessimism (2020)Adolph Reed Jr., “The Trouble with Uplift” Link: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-trouble-with-uplift-reedThe New York Times 1619 Project (2020, multiple essays) Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.htmlNicole-Hannah Jones, 1619 intro essay: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.htmlWesley Yang, “The Face of Seung-Hui Cho” (2011) Link:https://www.amazon.com/Face-Seung-Hui-Kindle-Single-Singles-ebook/dp/B005405VSC?tag=longform-20https://nplusonemag.com/issue-6/essays/face-seung-hui-cho/Shelby Steele, The Content of Our Character (1991)Richard Rodriguez, “The Achievement of Desire” (1982) Link:https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/fywpd/files/2019/01/rodriguez-achievement-of-desire.pdfRoxanne Gay, Bad Feminist (2014)John McWhorter, “Antiracism, Our Flawed New Religion” (2017) Link: https://www.thedailybeast.com/antiracism-our-flawed-new-religionCamille Paglia, “Sex and Violence, or Nature and Art” (from Sexual Personae, 1990) Link:https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/3711972/mod_resource/content/1/Sexual%20PersonaeKate Manne, “The Logic of Misogyny” (2016) Link:https://bostonreview.net/forum/kate-manne-logic-misogynyTa-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (2015)Ayad Akhtar, Homeland Elegies (2020), Disgraced (2013)Bonus Video: PBS Frontline, “Seven Days in Bensonhurst” (1990) Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSw0LC6kvgo
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