1
Emma Burris-Janssen
English 1011.009: Writing through Literature
Second Essay Assignment
Fall 2014
Image by Lucinda Schreiber for NPR
Texts
(Though you certainly wouldn’t want to address all of these texts, I would like you to use more than one of them to address the issues raised in the essay prompt.)
Chapter 2 of Narrative Medicine by Rita Charon
Excerpt from The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
“Art” by Eric Nelson
“Flu Shot” by David Watts
“The Caves of Lascaux” by Miriam Karmel
“(Un)Body Double: A Rhapsody on Hairless Identity” by Jane E. Schultz
“Devil’s Bait” by Leslie Jamison
“The Road to Carville” by Pat Tompkins
W;t (the film version based on Margaret Edson’s play)
“In the Operating Room” by Mary Borden
Please feel free to draw on others’ essay drafts and illness narratives (with proper citation, of course) where helpful.
Assignment
In this part of the course, we have been focusing on the gaps that exist within healthcare: gaps in communication, empathy, expectations, experience, knowledge, and the self (just to name a few).
What I’d like you to do in this essay is to explore one of these moments of division – one of the moments when communication breaks down, when we see the limitations of empathy, when we are forced to acknowledge the limitations of our knowledge about the complexities of the body and the self. In other words, where do you see a gap in healthcare? Why do you think this gap exists? What can be done to bridge it? Can it be bridged? Should it be bridged?
Evaluation
As always, when I am responding to, evaluating, and grading your essays, I will primarily be looking for the following things: (1) evidence of your close and considered engagement with your source material and with the terms of the assignment and (2) a clear sense of your contribution to this ongoing discussion.
Some Logistical Considerations
This essay should be seven pages long and should be set in Times New Roman, 12-point font. Your paper should also have an MLA header, an engaging title, page numbers, one-inch margins, and it should be stapled whenever submitted in hard copy.
Deadlines
Wednesday, October 8: Post your first draft on our HuskyCT Discussion Board by 9 am.
Thursday, October 9-Tuesday, October 21: In-class workshopping of Essay 2; everyone should attend these workshops prepared to assist in the peer review process.
Tuesday, October 28: The final draft of your essay is due by class time; please post your final draft on our HuskyCT Discussion Board by 1 pm.