WRITING ASSIGNMENTS 

Part 1. Answer the following questions for formal writing assignment 1 and submit your work in person via printed hardcopy on Thursday, March 16. If anything is confusing, send me an email and we will find time to discuss it before the due date. 

What story have you chosen and why?
What are the three instances of color in the story that you've chosen?
Why do you believe these three colors are important? (That is, based on class discussion, analysis, and your own research, how are those colors related to the writer's major themes or topics?)
Why have you chosen to focus on the specific color that you have chosen?

​Part 2. Submit the completed essay which is based on the responses from the questions you answered on Thursday, March 23. Follow the instructions below. If anything is confusing, send me an email and we will find time to discuss it before the assignment is due. 

TOPIC

You will develop an essay on the topic of "color" (literally and/or figuratively) in relation to Morrison's "Recitatif", or Rodriguez's "Aria". The purpose of the assignment is to develop a process that allows you to link ideas creatively by following a series of prompts. The completed writing assignment is due on March 23, 2023. Again, the assignment has two parts: the answers to the assigned questions (due 3/16), and the essay based on the prompts (due 3/23).

STRUCTURE

Content

The title for your essay will be either: "The Color [list color here] in Richard Rodriguez's "Aria" from Hunger of Memory (1982)" or "The Color [list the color here] in Toni Morrison's "Recitatif" (1983)"

In your essay you will:

1. Identify three instances of the appearance of "color", literally or figuratively, in the text you have chosen. You will list these three instances of color in the introduction to your easy, in the first paragraph of your essay.

2. After doing so, you will analyze one of the three instances of color that you identified in your opening paragraph in order to explain why you believe the use of the color you've chosen is significant in the text you've chosen.

Form

1. All submissions on March 23 must be brought to class as a hardcopy document (no email submissions), 12-point Times Font, double-spaced, normal margins (one inch on top and on the sides), and between 400-500 words, and MLA Format (no cover page). (Note: one page = ~250 words, not counting heading or titles). 

STEPS FOR DEVELOPING YOUR  ESSAY

STEP 1 (DUE 3/16)

1. Read the "content" and "form" directions above. Identify, What is the explicit purpose of the assignment?

2. Select the author and accompanying story you will focus on and answer the following questions:

What story have you chosen and why?
What are the three instances of color in the story that you've chosen?
Why do you believe these three colors are important? (That is, based on class discussion, analysis, and your own research, how are those colors related to the writer's major themes or topics?)
Why have you chosen to focus on the specific color that you have chosen?

STEP 2 (DUE 3/23)

First introductory paragraph to the essay:

Use the your answers from the prompts above to develop your first paragraph and, potentially, to develop parts of the body of your essay.

Body of the essay:

Why do you believe the color that you've chosen is more important than the others you've listed? You are free to riff here (i.e., because the author uses it only once and must therefore provide a clue to story's meaning, because it's related to the author's intent, because I like it, etc.)

Conclusion:

Here you should summarize how and why you've made the interpretations that you have. While you aren't proving anything (as you would in a scientific paper) you are making possible inferences based on your analysis of a text.