Due at the beginning of class on April 12, 2000
Two copies of a typed, completed draft due on April 10, 2000
Length: 4-5 pages

For this paper assignment, write about Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman or Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. You may also write about both books, supporting an argument which synthesized evidence from both texts.

For the first paper assignment this semester, you closely read a particular passage of a book. For the second assignment, you were able to choose between topics I suggested or come up with your own topic; we talked about possible theses, or main arguments, for your paper in class. For this assignment I will suggest some topics but leave it to you to draw your own conclusions, to formulate your own thesis. You are, of course, welcome to select a topic not included here. I encourage you to talk with me about your paper at any stage in the writing process, whether you are brainstorming ideas, deciding on a topic, writing a thesis, or drafting or revising your prose.

• How does identity get constructed? What is the significance of "identity" to one or both of these novels, or some of the characters in the novels?
• What is the significance of who gets to speak? Why is speaking or expressing oneself important?
• Who gets to record history or histories, and why does that matter? You may want to think about this issue in terms of identity or the power of speech. You may also want to think about history in terms of individual histories as well as group histories.
• Who is the narrator? Why does narration or the mediation of the narrator matter?
• What do one or both of these novels have to say about race in the United States? How is race featured as an issue? How do the novelists portray race relations in this country? What is their judgement about race relations in the United States? Are they hopeful? Disillusioned? Cynical? And how are such judgements expressed in their novels?
• What do one or both of these novels have to saw about gender in the United States? Are their gender ideals in these novels? What is the status of what Ellison calls "the Woman Question" in one or both of these books?

Remember, you need to write an argument for this assignment, rather than simply writing about a topic. Keep in mind the goal of extending classroom discussions, rather than repeating them. And pay particular attention to using textual evidence and analysis of that evidence (your interpretations of the text) to explain or support your claims and conclusions about the text(s) under study. As we have discussed in class, the idea here is not to be "right" according to some sort of answer key, but to draw conclusions or make interpretations about a novel which are plausible and reasonable, which help readers of your paper make sense of Invisible Man and/or The Last Gentleman.

If you have questions or want to talk about your paper, please feel free to email me or talk with me during office hours or by appointment.

A.T.'00