Final Essay Instructions and Sample Outline
For the essay portion of the final exam, you will assess the literary value of a work of your choice. You will do this by applying the literary criteria we discussed at the beginning of the year.
The work should have Introduction
The work should have Engagement
The work should have a Perennial Theme
The work should have Mimesis
The work should have Conclusion
You may choose any work at all for this essay, provided that the work is in one of the three literary genres (prose, poetry, or drama.)
Song lyrics will be considered poetry for the purposes of this essay.
The essay should follow a five-paragraph outline (Introduce the topic, apply the criteria in the three body paragraphs, and conclude convincingly). The essay should be from 1-3 full handwritten pages long. (~250 words)
Students are allowed to bring in an outline for their final exams. Below is a sample outline. Students are not allowed to use my topic text.
I: Introduction: Is “Baby Got Back” Literary?
- “Baby Got Back” is unfairly denigrated by defenders of the literary canon and should be recognized as literary.
II: Engagement
- Clever use of literary devices: Rhythm, Rhyme Scheme, Epigram, Tone.
- The work stays with the reader. After a recitation, he or she may find himself or herself involuntarily recalling lines all day.
III: Perennial Themes
- Racism. “I mean, gross. Look!/She’s just so … black!” (ln 10)
- Transactional nature of relationships. “You say you wanna get in my Benz?/Well, use me, use me” (ln 24-25).
- Human vulnerability. “Mix-a-lot’s in trouble/beggin’ for a piece of that bubble” (ln 51-52).
Cf. “Silicon parts are made for toys” (ln 49) and “God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another.” (Hamlet III.1)
IV: Mimesis
- The speaker is an authorial persona. He professes that he is speaking honestly for himself and for others. “I like big butts and I cannot lie/ You other brothers can’t deny.” (ln. 1-2) and “Even white boys got to shout” (ln. 72).
- The speaker assumes the role of a voice crying in the wilderness, chiding the manufactured and false standards of female beauty promoted in mainstream culture, even in platforms that are supposedly meant for women. He warns “…the beanpole dames in the magazines:/You ain’t it, Miss thing!” (ln. 91-92). (cf. Your machinery is too much for me/ You made me want to be a saint.” (Ginsberg “America” ln. 17-18) (Maybe also cf. ln. 45-47 same poem “Time Magazine” bit.)
V: Conclusion: “Baby got Back” is undeniably literary. You other critics can’t deny.
- “Baby Got Back” exhibits all the features of literary work and must therefore be considered literary.
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