Write an essay of 2-3 pp. (or 600-750 words) in which you discuss a text (or image) in the current module using something you’ve encountered earlier in this year’s course (more specifically, before the current module).

As in the first paper this semester, you will be offering an interpretation of some aspect of the text or image, so you should think of yourself as answering a question in a way that employs material from earlier in the course. Although this earlier material might help to explain a puzzling aspect of a text or image, that’s not necessary. The text or image might be clear enough, at least at one level, in its own right, and the earlier material might serve to help you achieve an even fuller understanding of it.

Even a short passage or simple image cannot be discussed completely in this short a paper, so you should be careful to limit yourself to a specific aspect of whatever material you discuss. And, while, in the case of a text, this aspect need not be exhibited in a single passage (it might, for example, be some aspect of a character’s personality), you should cite a specific passage or passages in which it is illustrated. Similarly, the earlier material you employ need not be limited to a single passage, but you should have something quite specific in mind, and you should make specific citations. (Although you might find yourself writing about a pair of passages—or a pair of characters, events, or ideas—and even writing about some similarity or difference between them, don’t think of this as a comparison paper: your focus should be on the material from the current module, and it is only in order to say something about it that you should consider the earlier material.)

As usual, the best form for the paper will depend on its content; but one form of organization that will usually work is to (i) describe the text or image from the current module and the aspect of it you will consider, then (ii) describe the earlier material you will use to further your understanding of it, and finally (iii) say what this earlier material helps you to see or say about the material from the current module.

Monday 4/24 is a lecture day, so I won’t meet you in class. If you want to hand in a hard copy, you can catch me at the lecture or drop it off at my office (Center 200H) or in my box in Center 207. But I encourage you to turn in the paper electronically, either as an e-mail attachment or in the drop box of the Blackboard site for our section. (If you want a specific time for the deadline, you can count it as midnight.)