Cultural Diversity

Question 1

Write a short essay (1000 words) that defends a thesis you developed through a close critical reading/analysis of a literary work listed on the syllabus. This essay still relies on textual support from the primary text, but includes at least 2 secondary sources that support/sustain the student’s argument. Do not confuse “critical analysis” with “plot summary”; the goal is to develop, sustain, and advance a thesis based on a critique of the primary text where your thesis is also supported by at least two secondary sources. A list of possible topics is below:

1. Compare and contrast the imagery and metaphors in 3-4 different poems used to represent childhood, death, friendship, betrayal, or other theme that might interest you.
2. Write a comparison/contrast essay on any two or more poems by a single poet. Look for two poems that share a characteristic thematic concern. Here are some examples:

• Mortality in the work of John Keats
• Nature in the poems of William Wordsworth
• How Emily Dickinson’t lyric poems resemble hymns

Question 2

Respond to one of the following prompts in two to three paragraphs.

Citing textual evidence from “On the Pulse of Morning” and “One Today:”

• describe some of the challenges facing the American people during the late 20th and early 21st centuries
  
  or
  
• explain the effects of cultural diversity among the American people during the late 20th and early 21st centuries