You goal in this essay is to explain why one particular paragraph in either J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy or Naomi Alderman’s The Power is the most important paragraph in the book.
How to do the assignment:
- Think back on our class discussions and your reading of the novel. Find one paragraph (of any length) that seems to you to be central to the meaning or importance of the narrative as a whole. Your essay should answer the question: why is this the most important paragraph in the narrative?
- Type your chosen paragraph on a separate sheet of paper.
- Make a case for your paragraph by explaining how the paragraph best exemplifies: an important formal or thematic element of the whole narrative; or, a central question or problem posed by the whole narrative; or, a powerful insight into the relation between the whole narrative and its contemporary context.
- Make your case persuasive by connecting your paragraph to examples from the whole narrative. I.e. an important part of the assignment is to show me both how central this paragraph is to the whole narrative and how well you understand the whole narrative. For this purpose, use quotation, paraphrase and summary to provide evidence. No need to include a “Works Cited” page – – simply note “the page number for all of your citations in parentheses thusly” (666).
Some things to keep in mind:
- There is no need for a full introductory paragraph. You only have two pages. If you wish, use one sentence to introduce the main argument or idea of your essay.
- A “conclusion” paragraph is likewise optional. Most “conclusion” paragraphs simply sum up an argument. If you’ve crafted an effective argument in two pages, you probably don’t need to sum things up.
- Proofread thoroughly for typographical, spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. As in the greatest human endeavor every created – – a.k.a. baseball, I will follow a “three strikes and you’re out” rule. After the third error, I will stop reading the essay and evaluate what I’ve read.
- Your written essay should consist of no more than two double-spaced, typed pages in 11 point or larger font with 1 inch margins.
- When you gift me your essay, you will hand in: a single page with your paragraph typed on it plus your two pages of clear, cogent, direct and scintillating prose.
Due: Wed., March 13, 2019