LIT 3040: Sports in Literature, Final Examination
The final exam will consist of ONE ESSAY QUESTION to be chosen from the following list. Begin your answer with a general statement that answers the question presented (this is your claim/thesis). Support this statement with examples from the text(s) under discussion and analysis of each example (Support your assertions with evidence from each text and explain each example’s relevance to your claim/thesis). Be sure to cite quoted lines and complete a works cited page. Write in complete sentences shaping your response in essay form. Please give your essay a title. All answers should be typed and double-spaced, a min. of 4 FULL pages up to 6 pages, likely you will want to be closer to 5). Your answers should be presented in formal essay form with an introduction, body, and conclusion. What you are presenting is formal literary criticism, so all the rules that typical apply to that type of writing apply here as well (no first person, no contraction, no personal pronouns, no plot summary, etc.). Essentially, this essay is the same type of critical analysis essay that you have written all term, and the same rules apply.
CHOOSE ONE:
1.
The way sports heroes are portrayed in a society is an important indication of the prevailing dominant values in that culture. These heroic figures are symbolic representations of the dominant social myths and values of a society or subculture and are meant to remind us of what is important. Using FOUR representative texts that we have examined this term compare and contrast the cultural values reflected in them. What does sport in these works reveal about American attitudes toward age, race, ethnicity, social class, and/or gender? One of the texts that you use MUST be August Wilson’s Fences and one MUST be a poem from your textbook. You may use ONE film we watched this term if you like (Invincible, Raging Bull, The Blind Side, or Million Dollar Baby), but you must support your ideas with specific evidence/examples from those texts and include quotes. In other words, you may need to view them once again. One text must be a short story or novel.
The way sports heroes are portrayed in a society is an important indication of the prevailing dominant values in that culture. These heroic figures are symbolic representations of the dominant social myths and values of a society or subculture and are meant to remind us of what is important. Using FOUR representative texts that we have examined this term compare and contrast the cultural values reflected in them. What does sport in these works reveal about American attitudes toward age, race, ethnicity, social class, and/or gender? One of the texts that you use MUST be August Wilson’s Fences and one MUST be a poem from your textbook. You may use ONE film we watched this term if you like (Invincible, Raging Bull, The Blind Side, or Million Dollar Baby), but you must support your ideas with specific evidence/examples from those texts and include quotes. In other words, you may need to view them once again. One text must be a short story or novel.2.Although the story of the hero’s journey first manifested itself in ancient myths and legends, it is still around us today and is the basis for almost all of the books and plays we read and the movies we watch. This journey provides a reader/viewer with a means for understanding and benefiting from these fictional adventures. Even if the characters aren’t real, the journeys they take and challenges they face are reflections of the real journeys and challenges we all face in life. Are all of the athletes we have read about this term heroic models of virtue that demonstrate what can happen if one dictates themselves to a goal or are they merely failed heroes and poor role models? Using FOUR of the texts that we have read this term, examine this question and explain what can be learned from both the heroic figures and the failed heroes. One of the texts that you use MUST be August Wilson’s Fences and one MUST be a poem from your textbook. You may use ONE film we watched this term if you like (Invincible, Raging Bull, The Blind Side, or Million Dollar Baby), but you must support your ideas with evidence/examples from those texts and include quotes. In other words, you may need to view them once again. One text must be a short story or novel.
Although the story of the hero’s journey first manifested itself in ancient myths and legends, it is still around us today and is the basis for almost all of the books and plays we read and the movies we watch. This journey provides a reader/viewer with a means for understanding and benefiting from these fictional adventures. Even if the characters aren’t real, the journeys they take and challenges they face are reflections of the real journeys and challenges we all face in life. Are all of the athletes we have read about this term heroic models of virtue that demonstrate what can happen if one dictates themselves to a goal or are they merely failed heroes and poor role models? Using FOUR of the texts that we have read this term, examine this question and explain what can be learned from both the heroic figures and the failed heroes. One of the texts that you use MUST be August Wilson’s Fences and one MUST be a poem from your textbook. You may use ONE film we watched this term if you like (Invincible, Raging Bull, The Blind Side, or Million Dollar Baby), but you must support your ideas with evidence/examples from those texts and include quotes. In other words, you may need to view them once again. One text must be a short story or novel.NOTE: THE IDEAS FOUND IN THIS PAPER MUST BE YOUR OWN. YOU MAY NOT USE OUTSIDE SOURCES!
What is Literary Criticism and How Do I Write a Paper of This Nature?
At its very basic definition, literary criticism is a written evaluation of a work of literature that attempts to enlighten a reader about the underlying meaning of the text, whether it is a play, poem, short story, or novel.
Purpose
In this type of paper a writer is forming an academic argument. As the writer you are arguing that your interpretation of the text is a valid - not the only interpretation - in an attempt to aid the reader in “seeing” the text in a new light or from a different perspective that perhaps may be different from their own.
Audience
Your audience is made up of academics, scholars, literary critics, professors, and students (who are academics, scholars, and literary critics). You should assume that they have read the text and are familiar with its contents. Because of this you would never merely retell the story because your audience is already familiar with it. This would also conflict with the purpose of this type of paper. You are to discuss underlying meaning, not retell the events of the story.
Because your audience is a scholarly one, your paper must be presented in a formal manner. You should use high diction and avoid first person, personal pronouns, and contractions.
Development
In developing your ideas, you should concern yourself with three important steps. First you must make a writerly assertion about the content of your text. For instance, when considering Alice Walker’s short story, “Everyday Use”, one might assert that Dee’s plans to display her mother’s quilts on her wall illustrate a disconnectedness from her heritage, which is ironic when one conisiders that Dee views this as an act of embracing her culture. As your second step, to “prove” this assertion as a valid one, a writer would then need to provide evidence from the text to support that assertion. A writer could then quote Mama’s lines from the story explaining that she had attempted to give Dee these same quilts when she left for college, but Dee found them to be “old faishioned” and “out of style.” Keep in mind, however, that you cannot stop here. Providing a quote and then moving on to another idea is not acceptable. As your last step, you must explain how the quote from the text illustrates the assertion that you are attempting to make. For instance, one could explain that because Dee has recently embraced the Black Power Movement’s idea of returning to one’s African roots she is merely interested in these quilts because it is the fashionable and sylish thing to do among her peers.
NOTE: When relating events in the story use words such as, "Malamud develops the major characters in the story..." Notice the use of the active verb "develops." Try to stick with using active verbs as you analyze the story. This is also known as “the literary present tense.” You should also note that sometimes a narrator can be directly involved in a story. Sometimes the narrator is not named and is not directly involved in the story's development.
Questions for Discovering Ideas:
•What ideas do you discover in the work? How do you discover them (through action, character depiction, scenes, language?)
•To what do the ideas pertain? To the individuals themselves? To individuals and society? To religion? To social, political, or economic justice?
•Are the ideas limited to members of any groups represented by the characters (age, race, nationality, or personal status)? Or are the ideas applicable to general conditions of life? Explain.
•Which characters in their own right represent or embody ideas? How do their actions and speeches bring these ideas out?
•What ideas seem particularly important in the work? Why? Is it asserted directly, indirectly, dramatically, ironically? Does any one method predominate? Why/
•How pervasive in the work is the idea (throughout or intermittent)? To what degree is it associated with a major character or action? How does the structure of the work affect or shape your understanding of the idea?
•What value or values are embodied in the idea? Of what importance are the values to the work’s meaning?
How compelling is the idea? How could the work be appreciated without reference to any idea at all?
Format
•Your essay should have a title. It should also be typed, double-spaced, with one inch margins all around, Times New Roman Font, & 12 pt. Refer to your handbook: Rules For Writers for other questions about format. Your essay should be a minimum of 4 FULL pages and no more than 6 . The ideas in your paper must be your own. You may not use outside sources for this paper.
Your grade for this assignment will be determined as follows:
Total Possible Points: 80/
Final Draft, evaluated on the following criteria:
Focus (26 points): Does essay have a clear purpose? Overall claim stated in intro and restated in conclusion? Focus on a single idea or aspect of the literature? Is it clear how examples in body are related to the overall claim? Does the writer explain the broader implications of this claim to the text as a whole? Are the subclaims clearly related to the claim? When read together, do the intro and conclusion form one idea?
Development (26 points): Does writer support interpretation with evidence from text? Avoid giving a plot summary? Does writer explain for the reader how the evidence supports interpretation (and as a result the claim)? Does writer quote accurately from the source, including citing specific page numbers?
Organization (26 points): Do first few sentences arouse the reader’s interest and focus their attention on the subject? Are readers expectations set and clearly met? Do paragraphs have clear focus, unity and coherence? Effective transitions? Does the writer guide the reader from beginning to end?
Style (11 points): Is language clear direct and readable? Are sentences clear, concise, and easily read by intended audience? Is word choice appropriate for audience? Do sentences reveal and sustain appropriate voice and tone? Does writer use the literary present tense to describe events in the story?
Mechanics (11 points): Are there obvious errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar? Are there patterns of error?
NO REFLECTION (-10 POINTS)
Grading scale:
A 72-80
B 64-71
C 56-63
D 48-55
F 0-47
