Description
Discussion Posting
This week’s discussion posting is an annotation (2 paragraphs) of one secondary source from your research for Paper #3 on Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker (250 words).
In the 1st paragraph, summarize and assess your source. In the 2nd paragraph, reflect on how this source fits into the overall scope of your paper. How has this source helped you to rethink or revise your paper’s argument, or at the very least, how has it changed your thinking on the direction of your paper?
- Make sure to refer to the 3 readings from Purdue Online Writing Lab for help and guidance.
- Your annotation must be written in complete sentences and paragraph form.
- Don’t forget to include the bibliographic information in MLA format.
ASSIGNMENT 3
Paper #3: Literary Research Paper
Instructions
Your final written assignment for this course will be an argumentative paper (with literary research) on Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker. Choose 1 of the 2 paper prompts below, and write a paper (4–5 pages) in response to it.
- Please note: Each prompt contains several questions to help you brainstorm, think through, and work out your ideas. It is not necessary (nor recommended) that you address all of them in your paper but only those relevant to your argument.
Topic Prompt #1
Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker begins and ends with the story of Ka’s father. The stories in the middle of Danticat’s book relate to the Dew Breaker character either directly or indirectly. Choose two of the following characters (and their respective stories) to focus on—Eric, Michel, Anne, Dany, Nadine, Beatrice, or Freda—and discuss their relationship to the former tonton macoute. How would you characterize their relationship? How are the characters’ lives intertwined with the Dew Breaker’s or a dew breaker-type figure in Haiti or the U.S.? What images, themes, and/or metaphors, are to be found in both and how is their purpose and significance to be interpreted in each? What effect does the Dew Breaker or what he might represent or symbolize (for example, the political violence of the dictatorship) have on the characters?
Topic Prompt #2
The complexity of Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker lies in its simultaneous depiction of both the horrors of the dictatorship and the possibilities for change and redemption. In your paper, consider the political context of the Duvalier era in Haiti and how it impacts the reading of the Dew Breaker and his character’s choices and actions. Is Danticat’s book suggesting that individuals can redeem themselves after committing horrific acts of violence? What is the book’s message regarding the potential for forgiveness or healing? You might want to focus on (but are not limited to) one of the following topics in your analysis: the father figure; the father–daughter relationship; the Dew Breaker’s life with Anne; his final act of violence against the preacher; his motivations for joining and/or leaving the militia; the open-ended quality of the book.
Your essay needs to include the following elements:
- an introduction with a clear and specific thesis statement
- literary analysis and references to literary terms
- body paragraphs with strong topic sentences (please refrain from using quotes as your topic sentences)
- evidence and examples from your primary source (Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker)
- references from two secondary sources such as articles from WLAC’s library research databases
- a conclusion
- an original title and a list of works cited (your works cited page should not count as part of the 4–5 page paper requirement)
Keep in mind:
- Your paper needs to be submitted in Microsoft Word (doc, docx) and formatted in MLA (typed, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point font, Times New Roman).
- In your paper, you must include references from at least two secondary sources in your research on Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker.
