Page of 2 ZOOM Essay 2 Prompts/English G100/Spring 2024 Select one prompt and w

Page
of 2
ZOOM
Essay 2 Prompts/English G100/Spring 2024
Select one prompt and write a claim-based essay in response to it. Make sure you
have understood the prompt, spent adequate time on prewriting activities, and
written a detailed outline before you begin writing.
A
In chapter 3 of A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf says that a woman born with
a gift of poetry in the sixteenth century was an unhappy woman, a woman at
strife against herself” (para. 10). What were the characteristics of such a strife
then and what were its implications for the woman? To what extent does Woolf’s
characterization apply to “a woman born with a gift of poetry” in the 21st century?
B
Analyze “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro from a gender studies perspective. You
may ask one or more of the following questions to generate ideas for your
analysis:
a) How does the work demonstrate the operations of patriarchy socially,
politically, economically, or psychologically?
b) How does the work play with traditional gender categories, revealing the
biases and limitations of traditional definitions of gender?
c) How does the protagonist either resist or internalize patriarchal
oppression?
C
Franz Fanon makes a curious reference to “a multitude of sermonizers,
counselors, and ‘confusion mongers’” in paragraph 8 of “On Violence.” He
limits these questionable figures to capitalist societies. Examine our present
cultural, political, religious, and general circumstances. Who and what are the
modern equivalents of sermonizers, counselors, and “confusion mongers” in
our popular culture? Where do you find them, and what do they propound?
What is their message? What kinds of confusion do they seem to spread?
D
The most obvious opposition to Martin Luther King Jr.’s views on nonviolence
and respect for the law is Franz Fanon in his “On Violence.” Examine their
essays to see whether or not you can find common ground between them. For
example, how would Fanon’s dichotomies of the colonized and the colonizer
inform you about the forces at work In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from
Birmingham Jail?” Imagine Fanon and King discussing matters of politics,
government, religion, or thought. What might they have agreed on, and where
would they have diverged?
Length: 1500 words minimum