Assignment Paper

English 103 – Long Paper – Dr. Kent Lewis
Value: 30%
Rough draft Due:
Corrected Final Paper Due:

In this assignment, students shall produce a literary analysis discussing at least two of the following texts: Disgraced, Radicalized, and The Nether. Note: you don’t have to consider all 4 of the stories in Radicalized; you can look at a single story such as “Automated Bread,” as long as it is compared to either Haley or Akhtar’s play. You can’t choose two stories within Radicalized, however. The essay should be between 1,500 – 2,000 words long — about 6-8 typed pages. Unless given permission, you must choose a different work from the one covered in your oral presentation. You are not required to use secondary sources, but are free to do so, as long as you document them according to MLA style.
A good essay will find a common theme / topic that both texts investigate, and show the different ways in which each text develops them. You are free to define your own essay topics, but if you are having difficulties, the questions below offer useful starting points
Note: You must have a rough draft of this essay ready by ____; you must bring 2 printed copies of your essay to class for workshopping. Failure to meet this requirement shall result in a 5% deduction from the grade of the essay
What’s a Literary Analysis?
A literary analysis takes a work of literature and explains the human, social, religious, philosophical, moral or aesthetic message of a text. Unlike journalism or philosophy – which state their meanings in direct and clear terms – literature works through indirection, implication, narration, symbolism and subtlety. Authors are almost never straightforward with their meanings – although they almost always have one. Sometimes they are delightfully convoluted, suggesting many, often contradictory meanings. As a critic, your job is to take the plot of the literary text, and reveal a single meaning that unifies the text’s ambiguous and clashing elements. Inevitably you will discuss plot, but make sure that your paper does not merely summarize or retell the story. A literary analysis does more than just summarize – it presents an argumentative claim about the meaning of a text, and it cites plot and dialogue to confirm and corroborate that claim.
And when you write a literary paper, try to
• Give your essay a snappy title that identifies the text studied and captures interest
• Make a provocative rather than obvious claim (nobody needs to read a paper that explores self-evident ideas)
• state your claim in one sentence somewhere in your introduction (a thesis)
• assume that your audience has read the text (but doesn’t agree with your interpretation)
• provide concrete proof from the text to support your argument
• keep tense in present (whenever possible)

PROVIDE MLA DOCUMENTATION FOR ALL YOUR SOURCES, including the works of literature you’re analyzing. No MLA documentation = zero grade.
The following questions should be considered spring boards that launch you into fruitful areas of thought. You do not have to answer all the specific question elements, but rather should tailor questions to your own self-defined purpose. If you can make another story / text fit the question, feel free to adjust it:

1. Both Disgraced and “Model Minority” investigate the lingering effects of racism / prejudice in our society. Discuss the message that each text has on this topic.
2. Compare and contrast the internet’s potential for fostering real life harm, as portrayed in The Nether and “Radicalized.”
3. Compare and contrast the internet’s potential for providing socially healthy outlets and resisting injustice or oppression. Discuss with regard to “Automated Bread” and The Nether. Is the “dark web” a force for good or evil?
4. Doctorow’s stories – especially “Automated Bread” – describe systems that control people and limit choices (often while promising to do the opposite). In The Nether agent Morris also tries to limit people’s freedom and control their fantasies. Discuss.
5. In Disgraced, Amir has come to America and adopted a whole new, semi-fictional persona. In The Nether, characters like Doyle and Sims go on-line and also create brand new personas. Discuss the different politics of identity and role-playing.
6. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Martin Mars makes selfishness and aggression appear as virtues; In Disgraced, Amir echoes the same Darwinian / corporate values. Discuss how these egoistic, hierarchical moral systems are presented and critiqued.
7. Describe “Model Minority” and The Nether as statements on the dangers of unrestrained and unchecked policing.
8. Both The Nether and Disgraced have characters who confess to rather dark, violent, and destructive impulses. What is the true nature of humanity as depicted in each play?
9. Both The Nether and “The Masque of the Red Death” describe societies that are falling apart, causing people to retreat and isolate themselves. Discuss.
10. In “Radicalized,” Doctorow describes a health care system so unjust that people resort to violence to change it. In The Nether, Sims skirts the law and encourages people to engage in virtual violence. When is it necessary to defy authority? Is violence ever a solution?
11. In Disgraced, Amir is a vocal critic of his religion, feeling it makes people petty and tribal; in contrast, Doyle praises the nether for its capacity to transform humans into gods. Compare and contrast the different portraits of the religious impulse in each.
12. In Disgraced, Amir is upset that she paints him as a slave. Can we ever escape the shackles of our own slavery? Are our chains always visible? Are they self-imposed? Discuss with regards to Disgraced and “Automated Bread.”
13. In The Nether Detective Morris wants to shut down the imaginative and virtual world of the Hideaway, the fictional creation of Sims. In Disgraced, Emily’s art work comes under criticism because she paints in the Islamic style but is not Muslim. Discuss the portrayal of art in each. Is it ever okay to censor / shut down a work of the imagination?
14. Both Disgraced and The Nether are tragic love stories, where various forces conspire to keep the two beloveds apart. Discuss the two plays and their messages on love.