Instructions: For this paper, explore Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony, or revisit a previous text we read from the term. Support your ideas with evidence, examples, and quotes. Be detailed. Use precise language.
Your paper should have a clear structure and few if any grammatical errors (discipline) but it should also explore new ideas and potentialities (creativity). .
Guidelines: 1000 – 1,500 words (about a 4 to 6 page paper) double-spaced in MLA format… you will lose credit if your paper is under the length requirement.
You must use at least three direct quotes from course readings. Blend all quotes into your writing grammatically (see Modules for help). Always cite the page number.
You may structure your discussion however you see fit, but please:
– Assume the reader has not read the material, so I recommend one or two sentences of summary somewhere in the first page of the paper (including author and title).
– Start each paragraph with YOUR idea. Avoid starting paragraphs with summary.
Topics:
For this paper, please choose one of the following prompts. You can revisit ideas you already explored in a discussion post or in a previous paper, but be sure to expand upon these ideas and provide a fresh perspective.
Your paper must include at least 3 quotes from any of the reading from this term. Your essay must include at least one of the assigned readings, but certainly feel free to bring in outside voices and researcher.
1. How might Tayo from Silko’s novel Ceremony react to reading Sebastian Junger’s book Tribe? How might Tayo’s view of war differ from Junger’s? Junger is a wealthy journalist from suburban Boston who witnesses war; Tayo is a Pueblo veteran who fights in war and witnesses his cousin die. How might Tayo and Junger look at Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder differently?
2. “White women never looked at me until I put on that uniform, and then by God I was a U.S. Marine and they came crowding around.” (37)
What does it mean to be an American? Do you think the definition of an American is different in 2020 then it was in the 1940’s? Discuss the intersections of culture (white American, Pueblo, Mexican, Japanese), culture, masculinity, and patriotism that are important to you in Ceremony and in your life.
3. “They see no life/ When they look/ they see only objects.” (125)
According to Pueblo legend, the European colonialism was the result of witchcraft: “Stolen rivers and mountain/ the stolen land will eat their hearts/ and jerk their mouths from the Mother./ The people will starve./ They will bring terrible diseases/ the people have never known./ Entire tribes will die out/ covered with festered sores/ shitting blood/ vomiting blood.”
How does this perspective on colonialism differ from how Steven Pinker might view western expansion in Enlightenment Now? Do you think views on American Indian rights and land reclamation has changed from the 1940’s to now, and if so, how and why?
4. How has the difficult year of 2020 influenced your hyper and deep attention? Consider a novel, a movie, or a tv series that you enjoyed this year, or more. Connect ideas from Katherine Hayles’ essay “Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes” to your life now.
5. What is your “tribe,” to borrow the idea from Junger’s book Tribe? Has your group of friends of family changed during 2020 (or perhaps before) due to the pandemic or political differences?
6. Where is the Enlightenment in 2020? What would Kant recognize or not recognize about the philosophical movement now? What might he think of: the evolution of women’s rights; other cultures (like the rise of Japan and China); disinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories; pandemic response; or other topics of value to you?
