In the Combahee River Collective Statement, the members of the CRC explain that their goal is
to formulate an integrated analysis … based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression
are interlocking (p. 1). As Audre Lordeherself a member of the CRCputs it, There is no
hierarchy of oppression (2:48).
In light of these thoughts about what weve called intersectionality, write an essay of
approximately 1500 words in which you analyze a fictional character from an American text of
your choice (film, TV show, novel, play) in relation to two of the identities weve explored
together this semester: race or ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or ability.
Beginning with a clear thesis statement about how your character has been affected by these
identities, formulate an argument that takes into account the relevant ideas about class, race,
gender, etc., that weve explored together this semester. NOTE that Im not asking you to write
about or even define the concept of intersectionality; you can assume my familiarity with that
concept. Your argument should be a response to questions such as:
What are the aspects of your characters identity that youre going to explore? E.g., what
is her/his/their race or ethnicity? Class? Sexual orientation? Gender? Immigration status?
How are those identities constructed by/in American culture? For this youll need to draw
on relevant assigned materials from our course.
How is your character represented in relation to these identities? What is her/his/their
position in society? Is it a position of power or of marginalization? Is one aspect of your
characters identity empowering while the other is marginalizing?
What cultural work does your character perform? In other words, does he/she/they
perpetuate or resist the stereotypes associated with these categories or does he/she/they
do both?
In addition to your chosen film, TV show, novel, or play, you must use at least two of the
assigned materials from Weeks 5 through 14 to help you analyze the identities your
character represents. What you should be doing is exploring the complexity of your characters
life in relation to the multiple identities that they embody or express. NOTE: If you choose a
character from a TV show, you need to watch at least six episodes so you can get a full sense of
who your character is.
For example, one could consider the character of Chiron, the young gay Black boy/man in the
Barry Jenkins film Moonlight (2016), who is marginalized by his sexual orientation and his class.
Or the character of Katherine G. Johnson in the Theodore Melfi film Hidden Figures (2016) who,
as a mathematician working for NASA, is marginalized by her race and gender. Once you start
thinking about this, Im sure youll see that there are many possible texts that would make
good subjects for this assignment.
To do well on this assignment, you will need to:
State your thesis clearly. It might be a good idea to run your thesis by me before you
begin serious work on the paper.
Express your ideas clearly. Those of you who had issues with clarity or organization in
your first essay might want to schedule an appointment with the Reading and Writing
Center to help you do better this time.
Support your thesis with arguments based on your chosen text (novel, film, etc.) and your
chosen readings from assignments from Weeks 5 through 14.
to formulate an integrated analysis … based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression
are interlocking (p. 1). As Audre Lordeherself a member of the CRCputs it, There is no
hierarchy of oppression (2:48).
In light of these thoughts about what weve called intersectionality, write an essay of
approximately 1500 words in which you analyze a fictional character from an American text of
your choice (film, TV show, novel, play) in relation to two of the identities weve explored
together this semester: race or ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or ability.
Beginning with a clear thesis statement about how your character has been affected by these
identities, formulate an argument that takes into account the relevant ideas about class, race,
gender, etc., that weve explored together this semester. NOTE that Im not asking you to write
about or even define the concept of intersectionality; you can assume my familiarity with that
concept. Your argument should be a response to questions such as:
What are the aspects of your characters identity that youre going to explore? E.g., what
is her/his/their race or ethnicity? Class? Sexual orientation? Gender? Immigration status?
How are those identities constructed by/in American culture? For this youll need to draw
on relevant assigned materials from our course.
How is your character represented in relation to these identities? What is her/his/their
position in society? Is it a position of power or of marginalization? Is one aspect of your
characters identity empowering while the other is marginalizing?
What cultural work does your character perform? In other words, does he/she/they
perpetuate or resist the stereotypes associated with these categories or does he/she/they
do both?
In addition to your chosen film, TV show, novel, or play, you must use at least two of the
assigned materials from Weeks 5 through 14 to help you analyze the identities your
character represents. What you should be doing is exploring the complexity of your characters
life in relation to the multiple identities that they embody or express. NOTE: If you choose a
character from a TV show, you need to watch at least six episodes so you can get a full sense of
who your character is.
For example, one could consider the character of Chiron, the young gay Black boy/man in the
Barry Jenkins film Moonlight (2016), who is marginalized by his sexual orientation and his class.
Or the character of Katherine G. Johnson in the Theodore Melfi film Hidden Figures (2016) who,
as a mathematician working for NASA, is marginalized by her race and gender. Once you start
thinking about this, Im sure youll see that there are many possible texts that would make
good subjects for this assignment.
To do well on this assignment, you will need to:
State your thesis clearly. It might be a good idea to run your thesis by me before you
begin serious work on the paper.
Express your ideas clearly. Those of you who had issues with clarity or organization in
your first essay might want to schedule an appointment with the Reading and Writing
Center to help you do better this time.
Support your thesis with arguments based on your chosen text (novel, film, etc.) and your
chosen readings from assignments from Weeks 5 through 14.
Show that you understand the readings you draw on for support. This means not just
inserting random quotes, but actually integrating the ideas of those readings into your
essay.
Avoid excessive plot summary. Tell me only as much of the story as you need to to make
your points clear.
Your essay will be graded according to the strength of your thesis and arguments, how well you
integrate assigned readings/viewings, and the clarity of your prose and organization.
As with Essay One, these are NOT to be research papersyou should NOT consult any sources
other than assigned materials or those available on Canvas for our class. No outside research is
allowed, and any paper that clearly contains material from an outside source will
receive a 0.
You can use informal citations to give credit to your sources; parenthetical reference by authors
name and page number, where available, is fine: (Gutierrez, 37), for example. If you cite a
source from the reader, use the readers page number, not any page number from the original
publication of the article. For the PowerPoints, please cite by slide number (except when the
slide is itself a quotation from one of our assigned sources, in which case cite that source); for
the videos, (Kazi) is enough, although a time stamp would be helpful. Papers with major
citation problems (i.e., a serious failure to cite sources) will be docked one full letter
grade.
Your paper should be in doc or docx format, in 11- or 12-point font, double-spaced, with
standard margins; please include your word count at the end of your paper.
inserting random quotes, but actually integrating the ideas of those readings into your
essay.
Avoid excessive plot summary. Tell me only as much of the story as you need to to make
your points clear.
Your essay will be graded according to the strength of your thesis and arguments, how well you
integrate assigned readings/viewings, and the clarity of your prose and organization.
As with Essay One, these are NOT to be research papersyou should NOT consult any sources
other than assigned materials or those available on Canvas for our class. No outside research is
allowed, and any paper that clearly contains material from an outside source will
receive a 0.
You can use informal citations to give credit to your sources; parenthetical reference by authors
name and page number, where available, is fine: (Gutierrez, 37), for example. If you cite a
source from the reader, use the readers page number, not any page number from the original
publication of the article. For the PowerPoints, please cite by slide number (except when the
slide is itself a quotation from one of our assigned sources, in which case cite that source); for
the videos, (Kazi) is enough, although a time stamp would be helpful. Papers with major
citation problems (i.e., a serious failure to cite sources) will be docked one full letter
grade.
Your paper should be in doc or docx format, in 11- or 12-point font, double-spaced, with
standard margins; please include your word count at the end of your paper.
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