Tips for Essay #1

Essay number one is a comparison and/or contrast paper, which makes thesis building tricky at times. The thing to remember about this kind of paper is that your thesis must not simply compare and/or contrast elements in the two texts. It must go BEYOND that to SUGGEST SOMETHING ABOUT THE TEXTS.

Here is an example of a bad thesis:

There are many similarities between OROONOKO and AMIJIMA. Both protagonists fall in love, both sacrifice themselves and their lovers for a greater good, and both have to face "villains" who try to dishonor them.


While all of those ideas are well and good, the thesis above does not rise beyond a simple comparison. An analogy might be if I tell you that FAUST is a lot like HARRY POTTER, but then don't explain why that's an important thing to mention. You'd think I was wasting your time with a pointless exercise in comparison and contrast.

A better thesis might read like this:

The suicides in OROONOKO and AMIJIMA occur among couples who are victims of society. This suggests that death was the only satisfying alternative for the lovers.

This thesis is a bit better in that it seems to argue something that is suggested by the comparisons the paper will then make.

Other tips:
Write in present tense. Literature does not disappear when the book closes.
Aim for at least one quote per paragraph.

Socratic Seminar #1: What is Love?

The unexamined life is not worth living.--Socrates

For our first Socratic seminar, our essential question deals with concepts of love, as well as ways that authors have defined manhood, womanhood, duty and passion. The seminar should cover everything we've read so far. You will be graded on both the questions you generated before class and on your participation.

Here are some guidelines for preparing your questions, taken from Studyguide.org. You must prepare TWO of each type of question.

WORLD CONNECTION QUESTION: Connects the text to the real world.

Example: What lengths would you go to to rescue the one true love of our life?

OPEN-ENDED QUESTION: an insightful question about the text that will require proof
and group discussion and "construction of logic" to discover or explore the
answer to the question.

Example: Why was Candide so gullible?

UNIVERSAL THEME/ CORE QUESTION: a question dealing with a theme(s) of the text that will encourage group discussion about the universality of the text.

Example: How do each of the texts reflect mono no aware?

LITERARY ANALYSIS QUESTION: a question dealing with HOW an author
chose to compose a literary piece. How did the author manipulate point of
view, characterization, poetic form, archetypal hero patterns, for example?

Example: What is symbolic about the gardens at the beginning and end of CANDIDE?

Guidelines for Participants in a Socratic Seminar

1. Refer to the text when needed during the discussion. A seminar is not a test of memory. You are not "learning a subject"; your goal is to understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in the text.

2. It's OK to "pass" when asked to contribute.

3. Do not participate if you are not prepared. A seminar should not be a bull session.

4. Do not stay confused; ask for clarification.

5. Stick to the point currently under discussion; make notes about ideas you want to come back to.

6. Don't raise hands; take turns speaking.

7. Listen carefully.

8. Speak up so that all can hear you.

9. Talk to each other, not just to the leader or teacher.

10. Discuss ideas rather than each other's opinions.

11. You are responsible for the seminar, even if you don't know it or admit it.

Expectations of Participants in a Socratic Seminar

When I am evaluating your Socratic Seminar participation, I ask the following questions about participants. Did they….

Speak loudly and clearly?
Cite reasons and evidence for their statements?
Use the text to find support?
Listen to others respectfully?
Stick with the subject?
Talk to each other, not just to the leader?
Paraphrase accurately?
Ask for help to clear up confusion?
Support each other?
Avoid hostile exchanges?
Question others in a civil manner?
Seem prepared?

The Love Suicides of Amijima

In order to fully experience Chikamatsu Monzaemon's play, THE LOVE SUICIDES OF AMIJIMA, you must understand a bit about Japanese theater. Both in form and pattern, Japanese theater dealt with realistic themes in an exaggerated and highly theatrical way. The period in which Monzaemon wrote is called the Genroku period, a kind of renaissance where the chonin class, or merchant class, inspired new stories in art.

THE LOVE SUICIDES OF AMIJIMA were originally performed as a bunraku (or joruri) play, which is done using large, realistic puppets. Please explore this Bunraku site from the Japanese art council, as well as this site which includes photographs of the play. Click on the final "points of interest" link for the pictures.

Mrs. Rowlandson, Metacom and Weetamoo

Once again we return to the travel narrative as a form with the captivity story of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman taken prisoner during King Phillip's War.

King Phillip was the son of Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief who famously helped the pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving. King Phillip's real name was Metacom, and he and his sister-in-law, Weetamoo, engaged the English colonists in the bloodiest war of our history in an effort to take back their land.

Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and her children were captured during a raid on Lancaster. This site offers some background information on Rowlandson's capture, as well as some pictures of the locations Rowlandson details, and here is an etext version of the book.
As you begin reading, consider the ways that Rowlandson's text is in conflict with itself. While she clearly considers her captors to be "devils", she also reveals admiration for them.

The picture above is a sculpture of Metacom, or King Phillip.

Essay #1

The due date for Essay #1 is Friday, February 8

Your first essay for World Literature II asks you to compare and contrast two of the works we've read so far. Choose ONE of the options below:

1) Compare/contrast OROONOKO's travels with those of MARY ROWLANDSON. In comparing and contrasting (you don't have to do both, necessarily), consider how the texts reflect the culture(s) the author encounters. What is revealed? What is purposely left out? Also, consider how the text reveals information about the author's own culture. The online essay "Travel Narratives" by Jerry Bentley from the University of Hawai'i has some interesting information about travel narratives that might help you develop your ideas.

2) Compare/contrast OROONOKO or CANDIDE with THE LOVE SUICIDES OF AMIJIMA. How do both texts balance conflicts of the heart with a sense of duty? How is love represented in the texts? Is it genuine?

3) Compare/contrast CANDIDE with the MARY ROWLANDSON narrative. In what ways does Voltaire mock the kind of story that Rowlandson tells?

As you can see, I'm not "giving" you a thesis. You have to develop one on your own. The questions above are prompts to get you thinking about the two works you've selected.

YOU SHOULD NOT do any other outside research for this paper. The ideas in the essay must be original and your own.

When you quote from the text, make sure to use MLA format. The OWL at Purdue has an online guide for you to use if you no longer own your old composition textbook.

Your paper should be 4-6 pages long, typed in Times New Roman, double-spaced with 1 inch margins all around, and creatively titled. No cover pages, please. Staple or paper clip your essays.

I'll be available for conferencing during office hours or by appointment. Please come by! Or, visit the English Center on the 3rd floor of the Haley Center for assistance with your paper.

Candide and the Lisbon Earthquake

The earthquake in CANDIDE which we read about for today's class has historical origins. It destroyed a major cultural center in Europe, and is believed to have been well above 8.5 on the Richter scale.

Voltaire was so moved by this event (as was all of Europe), that he composed a poem on the disaster. Here are a few lines:


UNHAPPY mortals! Dark and mourning earth!
Affrighted gathering of human kind!
Eternal lingering of useless pain!
Come, ye philosophers, who cry, "All’s well,"
And contemplate this ruin of a world.
Behold these shreds and cinders of your race,
This child and mother heaped in common wreck,
These scattered limbs beneath the marble shafts—
A hundred thousand whom the earth devours,
Who, torn and bloody, palpitating yet,
Entombed beneath their hospitable roofs,
In racking torment end their stricken lives.
To those expiring murmurs of distress,
To that appalling spectacle of woe,
Will ye reply: "You do but illustrate
The Iron laws that chain the will of God"?
Say ye, o’er that yet quivering mass of flesh:
"God is avenged: the wage of sin is death"?
What crime, what sin, had those young hearts conceived
That lie, bleeding and torn, on mother’s breast?
Did fallen Lisbon deeper drink of vice
Than London, Paris, or sunlit Madrid?
In these men dance; at Lisbon yawns the abyss.
Tranquil spectators of your brothers’ wreck,
Unmoved by this repellent dance of death,
Who calmly seek the reason of such storms,
Let them but lash your own security;
Your tears will mingle freely with the flood.

Here, we see Voltaire's philosophy of anti-optimism revealed.

Quiz #1
Read the excerpt from "Poem on the Lisbon Disaster" again. What argument does Voltaire use to attack Leibniz's (and Pangloss') philosophy of "all is for the best"? Answer the question in a typed, double-spaced, reasoned paragraph for Friday.

I Want Can-dide!

We're going to be leaping into the Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment, in World Lit II. If you thought OROONOKO was gruesome, wait until you get a load of CANDIDE (e-text here).

But, there's a twist. Whereas Aphra Behn was being totally serious about the grim reality of slavery in OROONOKO, Voltaire is toying with us, exaggerating injuries for effect, hoping to make us both think and laugh. In short, CANDIDE is a satire, a la "The Simpsons" or "Saturday Night Live" (on a good night).

We'll discuss the Enlightenment at length, as well as your reading, in class tomorrow. But for now, consider these things as you read:

1. What attitudes towards established governments and religions does Voltaire reveal here?
2. What kind of person is Candide? Pangloss?
3. What do you think about all of the "convenient" reunions? What effect does having to suspend belief so often have on your reading of the text?