This follows the same basic contours of the synthesis essay, in terms of picking a bigger idea or theme in some of Whiteheads work and tracing it out in an interpretive argument. Id want you to focus on different texts than you did in your synthesis essay , perhaps especially The Nickel Boys.(I focused on Sag Harbor and The Underground Railroad. Therefore, please focus on The Nickel Boys and Corazon Whitehead’s novels other than Sag Harbor and The Underground Railroad) Naturally, my thoughts on this project go towards what I take to be some of the major concerns of Whiteheads fiction — e.g. the enduring presence of history, questioning notions of progress, how people find meaning and survive in an often brutal world, etc. But other ideas are fine by me. Make sure your work is all your own. Im not requiring a formal proposal, but that just places the burden on you to run ideas by me if youre not sure about them. Work will be evaluated on how clearly and cogently it engages with Whiteheads writing, and how well it does what its supposed to do (i.e. if its an analytical essay, how well it develops an argument; if its a project, how dynamically it stages an idea). Purpose: Generally, to hone your skills of literary analysis and essay construction; specifically, to arrive at a clearer understanding of Colson Whiteheads fiction by examining a single idea across multiple texts. Prompt: In a synthesis essay, you take multiple texts or sources and bring them together in a way that leads to a clearer understanding of some feature they share or conversation they take part in. For the purposes of this essay, youll do that with regards to two of the Whitehead novels weve read this semester. You are also welcome, but by no means required, to refer to his other writing (essays, articles, tweets, etc.) as you develop your point. (Side note: If you felt so inclined, you could substitute one of his longform essayse.g. Hard Times in the Uncanny Valley or Occasional Dispatches from the Republic of Anhedoniafor a novel). So one way to think about the synthesis prompt is as an equation: X [topic/idea/pattern] in A & B (Gender roles in Intuitionist and Apex; frontier history in Apex and Underground; notions of progress in Intuitionist and Underground; etc.). Another way to think about: Colson Whiteheads idea of X (Whitehead on technology; Whitehead on communication; Whiteheads isolated narrators . . .) Here are the caveats to keep in mind: Although [X] is up to you, it behooves you to make it something reasonably focused. Within a 6 page paper, its probably best to look at something more specific than Love, History, Human Nature, etc. In that respect, some of my examples above are not very good (e.g. communication, etc.) This is NOT a compare and contrast paper. Youre not looking at how Apex is similar/different from Underground with regards to [X], but rather how, if you put them together, a clearer picture of [X] emerges. So if youre talking about similarities, the focus should be on the idea that both share (not on the fact that theyre similar). And if youre talking about differences, do it in terms of how one text modifies, corrects, or elaborates on the other (not in terms of the fact that theyre different). Specifics: Give your paper an interesting and accurate title. Format your paper in the standard ways (12 point font, 1 inch margins, double spaced, etc.). You should have an introduction which lays out the issue youll consider and clearly states your main idea. Then a number of body paragraphs (not 3!) which develop that main idea with subordinate points, evidence, explanation, etc; and a conclusion which broaches the matter of Why It Matters.
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