LITR 5733 summer 2004 Tuesday, 15 June: in-class or email midterm
(assignment from syllabus)

Take-home / email midterm:
Due: By 7pm, Tuesday, 15 June

Weight: approximately 30% of final grade

Length: 5-10 typed, double-spaced page equivalent

Submission format: You may take the exam in-class by writing for 2-3 hours in pen and ink during the regular class period, or you may take the exam out-of-class using a similar period of time writing on a word processor and sending me the exam via attachment.

Topic assignment: Write a complete essay that applies the concept of “narrative” as a literary and cultural category to the immigrant narrative, the minority narrative, and points between.

If these terms seem too monolithic or cold, imagine the assignment as a narrative and analytic description of your learning curve in the opening weeks of this course. What knowledge did you come in with of the course’s subject matter, and how have you learned to receive or process its perspectives? What uses may the course and its organization serve in the study of literature and culture?

In any case, this topic will be refined and possibly extended during the opening weeks of the course.

Additional requirements: Refer to at least one student midterm from previous semesters

Textual requirements: Refer to at least one text from each day of class--e. g., at least one text from each of the following:

Thursday, 3 June: Examples of the Immigrant Narrative. Yezierska, “Soap and Water” (IA 105-110) [handout]; Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-34); Harrison, “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” (VA 158-169); Naqvi, “Thank God for the Jews” (IA 229-236)

Monday, 7 June: Minorities and the immigrant narrative. Baldwin, from No Name in the Street (VA 284-290); Bambara, “The Lesson” (IA 145-152); Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (IA 205-209); Erdrich, "American Horse" (IA 210-220)

Tuesday, 8 June: Non-Mexican Hispanics: Immigrant or Minority?  Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-34); Cofer, "Silent Dancing" (VA 179-186) Diaz, "How to Date a Browngirl . . . “ (IA 276-279)

Thursday, 10 June: Afro-Caribbeans: Immigrant or Minority? Jordan, “Report from the Bahamas” (VA 305-315); Danticat, “Children of the Sea” (IA 98-112); Marshall, “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen” (VA 82-89); Marshall, “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” (IA 368-377)

Monday, 14 June: Mexican Americans as Immigrants or as Ambivalent Minority? Rodriguez, from Hunger of Memory (VA 229-235); Soto, “Like Mexicans” (VA 301-304); Candelaria, "El Patron" (IA 221-228); Cisneros, "Barbie-Q" (IA 252-253) 

(question from LITR 4333 2003 midterm:)

Assignment: Write an essay centering on the following questions and also addressing the sub-points below.

How successfully, and in what ways, does the Immigrant Narrative (as presented by this course’s texts) provide a yardstick or criterion for investigating American multicultural identities and literature?

Specifically, referring to texts specified below, how well does the Immigrant Narrative or American Dream story provide materials for comprehending and evaluating the behaviors and values of the dominant culture, of minority cultures, and of other cultures that may fall or move back and forth between immigrant and minority status?

In your review of these texts, consider some of the following issues as signs, symptoms, or determinants of such identities or status:

·        Language and literacy

·        Family structure / individualism

·        Color coding

·        Original relation with USA & resulting Social Contract

·        Attitudes toward the law or other dominant-culture institutions

·        Assimilation or resistance

·        Style of appearance; marked or unmarked

Keep in mind the language and emphases of the relevant course objectives:

·        “The Immigrant Narrative” (background to all course objectives)

·        Literary Objective 1 (story of immigration as a fundamental narrative of American literature and culture)

·        Cultural Objective 1a (American Dream versus American Nightmare: To compare and contrast the immigrant narrative with the minority narrative.)

·        Welcome to refer and connect to other objectives

As a conclusion, summarize your “learning curve” in handling terms and concepts such as immigrants and minorities. As Americans we sometimes dodge or wish to simplify such issues

Above all, try to write a unified essay, even though the material is diverse. Try to make connections, comparisons, and contrasts between the different texts and categories. Try to keep everything on a single “path of learning.”