Assignment Three for English 218 Spring 2004

Draft Due: Mon April 26

Final Due: Wed April 28

For this assignment, I’d like you to write on The Life and Loves of a She Devil, Egg Dancing, or Suckers. As before, you can use one of these prompts or you can develop your own. In either case, I will ask you to write a paragraph in which you explain what topic you are going to develop and I’d like you to include your thesis to show me that you have a debatable argument. Remember, our focus is on what these novels tell us about our culture today. What arguments about our culture, if you will, are these novels making? How do they function as rhetorical artifacts that show the concerns and problems in our culture? In addition to the textual evidence you find in the novels, consider other sources that will help you advance your arguments.

  1. Argue that The Life and Loves of a She Devil is or is not a feminist novel. Remember, you will need to define what you believe a feminist novel is (using the handout I gave you on feminism). Then you will match those criteria to the novel to prove your thesis. Remember, that because Fay Weldon does not idealize women, that does not mean this is not a feminist novel. In other words, try to avoid being overly simplistic. Indeed, you may find that there is a tension in the novel between feminism and something else.
  1. In The Life and Loves of a She Devil, Fay Weldon attacks romantic fiction. She accuses it of misleading women, lying to them, and perhaps even encouraging women to accept a patriarchal and therefore oppressive society. Argue that this is true. Consider why Weldon believes romantic fiction to be so dangerous and whether other authors would agree.
  1. Show how The Life and Loves of a She Devil is not only a biting satire of English society, but it is also an indictment of the male establishment’s standards of beauty and women’s willingness to subscribe to these standards. Consider what Ruth is willing to undergo and why and how her surgeons view her.
  1. Liz Jensen satirizes a number of institutions in her novel Egg Dancing. Specifically she examines the TV Evangelical movement, the treatment of the mentally ill, and the medical community along with the class system in England, government organizations such as the place Linda works in, and even classy hotels. Show how Egg Dancing is a satire and consider Jensen’s remarks about how what she writes if affected by the fact that she lives abroad. Remember to find a good definition of satire and include that in your introduction to set up your paper.
  1. Argue that Egg Dancing is a feminist novel. Remember, you will need to define what you believe a feminist novel is (using the handout I gave you on feminism). Then you will match those criteria to the novel to prove your thesis.
  1. Consider how Egg Dancing satirizes the treatment of the mentally ill and the various delusions the patients (and doctors) suffer. What is Jensen saying about madness and sanity and what does she think of our treatment of those who don’t fit into normal society? Again, remember to define satire and choose a definition that matches what Jensen does.
  1. Think about the whole issue of designer babies, genetic manipulation, and the future. Although humorous, Egg Dancing suggests that we should not meddle with children and genes. Investigate further what is possible conducting research and then apply to the novel. Note that 60 Minutes 11 did a special on this on Wed 14th April: Go to this site and print the material there as soon as possible because these links disappear quite quickly. Likewise, go to this story entitled “The Case Against Perfection” available online in the Atlantic Magazine:
  1. Be creative. Again, think about the issue of designer babies and genetic manipulation. Show how Egg Dancing examines this issue and then by thinking about Gregory and Root Hooper, design your own ads that would be developed for this product. You could describe in detail the TV ad you would show, or if you feel even more creative, design the print ad itself you would place in a magazine. In either case, you will include some paragraphs that show me why such an ad would be in keeping with what Jensen implies in her novel.
  1. Vampires as the ultimate consumer. In the novel Suckers, Anne Billson satirizes London in the late 80s (and early 90s) and the consumer culture that has taken over (personally I think it still remains and is not limited to London). In formulating a thesis, consider why the vampire is such an appropriate motif for the consumer culture that she satirizes.
  1. A number of critics have noted that the vampire figure is reshaped and reenvisioned for each era. In what interesting ways does Anne Billson adhere to and play with our notion and cultural knowledge of vampires?
  1. Argue what you think makes the vampire such an intriguing figure in literature and film. You might consider other vampire works you have read and compare Billson’s vampire with those other figures to show the range of vampire figures and indicate some of the reasons we are so engaged with these figures.
  1. If you have watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you might want to compare Dora (Billson’s vampire slayer) with Buffy. Again, you might develop a thesis for such a comparison by considering the idea that the vampire motif is changed or revised for each age.

Composition

  • Your purpose in these essays is to persuade readers (the class and of course me) that you have a valid argument. Therefore, for this class you are really writing an argument in which you want to persuade your readers that you have a reasonable set of claims. To accomplish this, you will need a clear thesis supported by reasons and textual evidence from the novel. Remember, an argument thesis must be debatable; the novel Indian Killer is about a murder is not a thesis. It’s a statement of fact.
  • Your textual evidence, by way of quotations and details from the novel, should be carefully integrated into your essay. Remember that quotations should always be incorporated into sentences with your words. A quotation cannot stand on its own as a sentence. No orphan quotes please. Quotations illustrate your ideas. After a quotation, you should explain to the reader that quotation shows. Don’t make the reader make the connection between your claim and quotation. That’s your job as the writer. You can incorporate a quotation into your sentence by using a comma, a “that clause” or a colon. See pp. 159-163 in your handbook on using quotations for more detail. You should use MLA documentation (Fielding 27) in your essay, and you should have a complete works cited page.
  • You should aim to produce 5-6 typed double spaced pages with one-inch margins. You may use outside sources such as the book reviews, interviews, and articles you find on the Literature Resource Center, Ebsco, Lexis Nexis, or even from your textbooks for other classes. If you do use outside sources, make sure you do not plagiarize by giving full credit to the author even if you just paraphrase rather than quote the idea. See pages 148-157 of your handbook for more details on using the words of other writers.