ENG 4210 Essay 1

Length: 1500-2250 words (4-6 pages, double-spaced, 1” margins, standard font, with page numbers)

DEADLINES:

Wednesday, October 12 draft due via email (Optional!I’ll still happily answer questions after this date.)

Wednesday, October 19essay due (NOTE: slight extension compared to syllabus)

You may bring me a printed copy in class or email a copy () by the end of the day (midnight).

Please note: October is a busy time for this course. Keep an eye on the syllabus and be sure to plan ahead and avoid procrastination so that your schedule doesn’t get out of hand.

For this assignment, you’ll write a critical essay on either Defoe’s Roxana or Richardson’s Pamela, choosing one of the three options on the following page. I’d be happy to discuss ideas with you as they develop.

Your essay should offer a clear argument about the novel that doesn’t simply state the obvious but that rather advances a claim that takes some proving, that might even be provocative or surprising to readers familiar with the novel. Tips for writing a strong argument are on the back of this page.

Apart from the argument (which should govern the entire essay), your paper should feature close analysis that supports that argument. Avoid plot summary, and consider details and form(how something is said, not just what is said) whenever possible.

Draw on the skills you’ve been developing in your short writing assignments.

Some reminders:

  • Make sure your title previews your argument (rather than just repeating the assignment). While you’re at it, write a first sentence that grabs your reader!Write what you’d enjoy reading.
  • Cite your sources. Include a works cited page that includes any source you use.
  • There is, unfortunately, no telepathy in academic writing. Try to get your full line of thought on the page; don’t assume that your reader already understands what you want to say.
  • If you’re interested in visiting the Writing Center, be sure to plan ahead. They get booked early.
  • Ask me for help whenever you need it. Don’t suffer in silence!

The Thesis

(adapted from Jack Lynch’s website, linked [including examples!] on our course blog)

Agood thesisis:

  • Argumentative.It makes a case. That's the biggest difference between athesisand atopic— a topic is something like “Slavery inHuck Finn.” That's not a case, only a general area. Athesis, on the other hand, makes a specific case, it tries to prove something. One way to tell a thesis from a topic: if it doesn't have an active verb, it's almost certainly still a topic.
  • Controversial.That doesn't mean something like “Abortionists should be shot” or “George W. Bush's election was illegitimate” — it means that it has to be possible for an intelligent person todisagreewith your thesis. If everyone agrees on first sight, your thesis is too obvious, and not worth writing about. It also has to be something you can reasonably argue about: it's not enough merely to give an unsupported opinion.
  • Analytical, not evaluative.A college English paper isn't the place to praise or blame works of literature: theses like “Paradise Lostis an enduring expression of the human spirit” or “The Sound and the Furyisn't successful in its choice of narrative techniques” aren't appropriate. That's the business of book reviewers. No need to give thumbs-up or thumbs-down; evaluate the work on its own terms.
  • About the readings, not the real world.Never forget that books are books and, if you're in an English class, you're being asked to talk aboutthem. Many books are unreliable guides to thereal worldoutside the texts, and it's dangerous to talk about, say, Renaissance attitudes toward race based only on your reading ofOthello. Talk aboutOthello.
  • Specific.It's not enough to deal in vaguegeneralities. Some students want to write their paper on man and God, or on the black experience in the twentieth century. Both are far too nebulous to produce a good paper. Get your hands dirty with the text.
  • Well supported.That's the key to the rest of the paper after those first few paragraphs.

The thesis statement should appear very close to thebeginningof the paper. Some professors want it in a specific place — often the last sentence of the first paragraph. That's as good a position as any, but I prefer not to be rigidlyformulaicin such matters. In any case, though, the thesis statement should be very near the beginning (in the first paragraph or two).

Note, though, that just because the thesis should be at the beginning of the reader's experience, it rarely comes at the beginning of the writer's experience. You do not need a refined thesis in order to start writing. If you begin with aprovisionalthesis and then do good and careful close readings, you will often find a version of your final thesis in thelast paragraph of a first draft. Integrate that version into your first paragraph and revise from there. Do not worry too much about your thesis, therefore, untilafteryou've written out your close readings! A good final thesis shouldemerge from, not precede, your analyses.

Of course you have to know exactly what you're saying by the time you finish, but don't let that stop you from beginning to write. The fear of the blank screen — think of the old movie cliché of the would-be writer with the trashcan overflowing with crumpled paper — paralyzes too many people. Theses don't spring into being in their final form.

ESSAY 1 OPTIONS:

Choose from one of the following prompts to write your essay.

1)We’ve talked a lot in class about what gets left out of a simple plot summary (like the ones that were included on eighteenth-century title pages). For this option, read the Wikipedia plot summary of Roxana and then, in your essay, make the case that something left out of that summary is actually crucial for fully understanding the novel. You can either make a case for a particular episode or for a quality of the novel’s form, but, whatever you choose, you should explain why that neglected part of the novel is so important. What might we not understand if we ignore the part you’re defending? In backing up your case, use thorough analysis of evidence from the text. (It may go without saying, but just to be clear: you may—and probably should—cite Wikipedia in this essay. Just make sure to do so accurately.)

2)Look at the first page of the introduction to our edition of Roxana, which provides selections for three different alternate endings of Defoe’s novel, all of which were published after his death. Write an essay either defending Defoe’s original ending or making the case for the superiority of one of the alternate endings. Whichever you choose, explain why the ending you’ve chosen reveals something important about the novel that the other endings may obscure. Back up your case with carefully chosen evidence and analysis of that evidence.

3)Some critics have argued that Pamela is a novel about writing itself. Richardson talks about developing his technique of “writing to the moment,” and, of course, everything we read is evidence of Pamela’s preoccupation with writing. For this option, make a case for the specific importance of writing to the novel (that is, in what way do you think writing is important?). The key here will be explaining why you think Richardson may have featured the act of writing to the extent that he does. Be as specific as possible, and be sure to state clearly what kind(s) of writing you’re referring to. Back up your case with analysis of judiciously chosen evidence from the text.

Note that (with the exception of Wikipedia for option 1 and your book’s introduction for option 2), these prompts do not require the use of outside sources. You may cite Lennard Davis’s article if you find it useful. You may also use reference works (like the OED). Otherwise, I urge you to focus on and explore your own thinking rather than consulting secondary sources.