University of Massachusetts Boston Social Pressures in the Story Discussion
Question Description
Length: At least 2.5 pages
Grading: This paper is worth 15% of your final grade for this course.
Format: *Double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point (Times New Roman) font in MLA
format.
*Title centered over text
*Works Cited page (does not count towards paper page count)
Skills: Analyzing fictional writing.
Developing an argument and using other authors to support your argument.
Analyzing a specific social issue (or social issues) and their relationship to individuals sense of identity.
Organizing a short essay.
Over the past few weeks we have been discussing issues of identity in American life. Specifically, we have been analyzing how social problems revolving around race and class (racial and economic inequality) impact an individuals sense of identity. How we think about ourselves, how we construct our identities, etc. are all, in many cases, heavily influenced by our surrounding environment. The people we interact with, the problems we face, how others treat us, etc. all influence who we become as individuals. We are essentially discussing here two related spheres of human life: our private lives (the individual sphere) and society (the social sphere). Your task is to analyze the relation between these two spheres.
For this paper, you will:
- Choose one short story from below. Analyze one moment in the story where there are social pressures influencing a characters (or characters) sense of identity. In your analysis, explore the nature of how these outside forces are impacting how a character sees him or herself. Are there any race and class issues that are helping shape who this character is as an individual? How does the character respond to these issues? Are there inner conflicts in this character? Why do you think that is?
- Choose a different short story and analyze one moment in this story as you did above. Then place this story in conversation with the one above by comparing and contrasting both moments. How are both moments similar? How are they different? What do these moments reveal to us about how individuals are influenced by larger social factors that are mostly outside of their control?
- Lastly, explore your own beliefs on how individual identities are constructed. Do you feel that a persons race and social class influence who they become as individuals? Why or why not? What about family? How does a persons family
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