Dreams, Obstacles, Overcoming: Second Essay Assignment
For the second essay, please write a four (or more) page essay on the topic suggestion given below. Please provide a good title and page numbers. Be sure to organize your essay around a thesis or point of view. Remember your paragraph structure. Remember to not assume that the reader of your essay has read the readings and explain and develop fully. You must quote from at least four of the readings in your essay. The essay is due July 5.
We have read a wide variety of texts in this unit of the class, organized into groups: meaningful lives, the American dream, and obstacles (race, class, immigration and ethnicity, gender, religion). But of course, all three are intertwined, distinct perhaps but inseparable.
I want to allow you as much space as possible to explore yourself and your own situation, but within the context of the readings. The essay is both an academic essay and a personal essay. You should use the readings to help understand and reflect on yourself.
Topic Suggestion
Please write a four (or more) page essay on the American dream, on the obstacles people encounter to achieving their dream, and how they overcome them, on values and their importance. You should discuss the American dream and what it means, both to others (in the readings) and to you. You pick the readings and obstacles or values you wish to discuss. Of course, your personal experiences and opinions are most welcome. But your essay must incorporate the readings.
Remember, you must quote from at least four of the readings in your essay. The essay is due July 7. There will be no extensions allowed, so start right away.
I am leaving as much space as I can for you to explore and develop your own thinking, but you must use the readings as the touchstone for your thinking and your own experiences. You may , for instance, compare what some of the writers say to your own thoughts and experiences, to “lessons” you have drawn from your own experience, to values you cherish. If you have any questions, or feel you need any advice or assistance, just ask.
Here are some thoughts on the assignment.
· Meaning: Thoreau and Mairs (and really all of our writers) raise important questions about values, about meaning in life, about what really matters. Adams claims the American dream is as much about values as it is about material wealth.
· The American Dream: Crevecoeur asks what is an American. Adams and Jischke speak of the American dream. Wiesel presents his dream.
· Race: Many of the readings discuss racism (and race), from a variety of perspectives. Each provides a related but often different perspective on racism, on its effects, and on how to deal with it without being consumed by it.
· Class: Class is a factor in many of the readings. How do our writers experience class; how does it limit them; what resentments arise; how do they deal with the obstacles class puts in their way?
· Immigration and Ethnicity: Several of the readings speak of immigration, ethnicity, and assimilation. But assimilation also arises in the discussion of racism, of class, of gender.
· Gender: Many of the readings speak about gender, from many perspectives. What obstacles does gender put in their way? For example, how might violence be gendered, if it is?
· Religion: Tolentino, Mairs, and Baldwin discuss religion, their difficulties with it, and its importance to them. Each writer is engaged in a search for meaning, and religion is part of that search. Religion may be a help instead of an obstacle, but in either case it is something that is monumental and must be confronted, whether one chooses to believe or not.
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