Academic Writing

Choose any 2 novels from the LIST BELOW. Answer one of the questions below. Regardless of the question, the essay will provide detailed analysis of how the texts work. You must provide carefully detailed answers with a number of specific references to the texts being considered. The essay will use each of the texts to interrogate the other and not simply write one essay on each novel with a bit of connection at the end. QUESTIONS [login to view URL] Beyond Patriarchy Michael Kaufman posits that one of the attributes of masculinity is the attempt to establish hegemony: the competition for power. Discuss the importance of the competitive male in any two texts. 2. Discuss the representation of rural/urban tensions in any two texts. 3. Communities are in part defined by who is not included. Discuss the tensions between insiders and outsiders in any two texts. 4. In fiction, nature is often associated with the inner feelings of characters. Discuss through specific reference to descriptive passages in any two texts. 5. Discuss the balance of power within romantic relationships in any two texts. 6. “Realism depends on an acceptance of a set of norms of what constitutes reality.” Discuss how realism works as a mode of representation in any two texts. 7 Discuss any two texts as “feminist texts.” This will require that you establish a working definition of feminism. 8. In Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel, Hagar Shipley says, “I am rampant with memory.” Discuss characters in any two texts who seem obsessed with memory. 9. Discuss the importance of language in any two texts. 10. Discuss how the openings of any two texts shape your interpretations of those texts. NOVEL LIST Atwood, Margaret. Surfacing. 1972 Findley, Timothy. The Wars. 1977 Kogawa, Joy. Obasan. 1981 Munro, Alice. Who Do You Think You Are? 1978 Ross, Sinclair. As for Me and My House. 1941. DOCUMENTATION There are many possible forms of documentation. You may use any, provided all publishing information is given in a clear manner. Here is one possibility from the Modern Languages Association: "I can’t believe I’m on this road again…." (Atwood, Surfacing, 3). You have given the author, title of the novel and the page number. You need no reference to the publishing data as it is given in your “Works Cited¬”. At the end of your paper will be a page titled "Works Cited." This will list the Atwood and any other texts to which your paper refers. This would be a possible list: Atwood, Margaret. Surfacing. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972. Findley, Timothy. The Wars. Markham: Penguin, 1978. MacDonald, Ann-Marie. Fall On Your Knees. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 1997. It is technically incorrect to use the reprint date rather than the date of the edition but if you are confused by the dates on a title page always use the last date mentioned.