Intro to Literature —7 pp. Paper

Send papers as Microsoft Word attachments to rpfeingold@smcm.edu
The subject line of your e-mail should read “7 pp. draft”
I will confirm receipt, so if you haven't heard from me by an hour after you send the file, try again.

Your paper should be 2300 words, or roughly 7 pages. Please don't include your name anywhere on the paper itself—I try to grade anonymously. After I’m done, I can reconstruct who wrote what from my e-mail files.
For further information about my general technical & stylistic expectations, please see my paper-writing FAQ page : this will give you information about citation styles, tips on how to construct an argument, etc. It’s really important that you read this document all the way through—I don’t know how to stress this any more!.

Assignment:
Since you’ve already written a number of papers for me before, this one shouldn’t be too surprising. Write an essay about a recurrent theme, image, collection of symbols, idea, or narrative device in The Big Sleep, Housekeeping. or The Dark is Rising. Don’t stop at listing or describing the phenomenon in question, but formulate an argument about what it means, why it matters vis-a-vis an overall reading of the text.

For example, it’s not enough to say “memory is an important theme in Housekeeping”; try arguing, instead, that “Ruthie’s obsession with her lost mother is expressed not only through numerous passages that deal with memory, but alsothrough her fascination with concrete, material souvenirs of the past—and the ultimate failure of such souvenirs to offer solace.” Or, rather than “I am going to talk about the ways water is central to the novel,”“Water symbolism pervades the novel, providing an important way of visualizing the chaos and fluidity Sylvie represents.”

I expect a clearly stated thesis; a well-developed argument; and careful, close analysis of individual textual passages that you cite to support your argument. Please look at the paper-writing instructions for tips and guidelines on quoting and interpreting text in your writing. As I’d really like to see what you're thinking, I would prefer that you don't use outside sources; if, however, you do, you will of course include a bibliography and footnotes.

Possible general topics include:

Water imagery in Housekeeping
Sexuality in The Big Sleep
Magic and Sexuality in The Dark is Rising Food and drink in Alice
Housekeeping as a coming-of-age novel
Philip Marlowe: White Knight, or borderline corrupt Everyman?
Music and poetry in The Dark is Rising
Transience in Housekeeping
Vision, visual description, and detection in The Big Sleep
The Dark is Rising as coming-of-age novel
Memory and loss in Housekeeping
Marlowe’s LA as urban jungle
Death in Housekeeping
Babies/children in Housekeeping
How spaces define character in any of the texts

You’re absolutely not required to write on one of these topics—they’re just here as suggestions, in case you can’t think of anything.

If you have any questions, by all means contact me via e-mail, come to my office hours, or stop by to see me. Just as a suggestion: try not to wait to do this until midnight the day before the paper’s due.