This critical paper covers short stories from Bharati Mukherjee’s The Middle Man

This critical paper covers short stories from Bharati Mukherjee’s The Middle Man as well as “The Tenant”; “A Wife’s Story”; and “Jasmine.” The paper addresses this research question: do Mukherjee’s short stories show us that the experience of displacement, as dramatized by her women characters in this story, is positive and beneficial or difficult and possibly negative? This research question is inspired by two things. First, you all did a wonderful job exploring the contradictions of Olaudah Equiano’s displacement. Yes, he acclimated himself to enslavement, mastered the skills of capitalism, and even found a deep connection to the Christian religion. But everything good happened to him through enslavement. Did this make his journey from Africa a postive one? Second, we discussed the “immigrant” myth of the United States: always positive, always a step toward upward mobility, always beneficial for women escaping traditional gender and marital customs. And yet Mukherjee writes about Indian women who have their feet in both worlds, who aren’t sure where they stand, who are even being exploited and thinking its freedom (Jasmine!). Your paper will allow you to weigh the pros and cons, the costs and benefits, and finally to arrive at an evaluation of the author’s vision for immigrant women. You can choose to analyze all three stories but only two are required; one must be “Jasmine.” Please follow this outline: I. Introduction Explain why you are writing this paper; what you are trying to explore and analyze; what stories you are writing about; what you conclude from your analysis II. Plot summary A Again, a very short paragraph just to keep you from going on and on and forgetting to analyze. III. Analysis A Gear your analysis of the story you choose around the research question and show us what you think about the fate and condition of the woman character. What is happening to her? What conflict is she facing? What are her choices? Include at least one quotation and take as many paragraphs as you need, remembering to focus paragraphs around interesting quotations. IV. Argument A What are your findings and conclusions from you analysis? You can write broadly here, basing your conclusions on what you believe about women’s rights and unique situations in new countries, what you learned or know about immigrant women from this story. V. Plot summary B Again, a very short paragraph just to keep you from going on and on and forgetting to analyze. VI. Analysis B Gear your analysis of the story you choose around the research question and show us what you think about the fate and condition of the woman character. What is happening to her? What conflict is she facing? What are her choices? Include at least one quotation and take as many paragraphs as you need, remembering to focus paragraphs around interesting quotations. VII. Argument B What are your findings and conclusions from you analysis? You can write broadly here, basing your conclusions on what you believe about women’s rights and unique situations in new countries, what you learned or know about immigrant women from this story. VIII. Conclusion Make sure you answer the research question, and add ideas that you didn’t get a chance to present because they weren’t closely connected to the stories