Transformations: Human and non-Human American Literature

Below I’ve copied the assignment guidelines. In addition, I am forwarding the (minimal) writing I began. It will provide character choices that are required per my assignment. Feel free to modify my writing (including theses) to meet yours. Please email me with further questions. Please note the assignment due date posted on the guidelines 5/7/2012 at 11:59 pm.

Thank you –

Circumstance creates a catalyst for change, and its by way of circumstance that all fundamental change occurs. The history of our world provides evidence that change is inevitable; however, the subject where transformation occurs can differ profoundly. Author, Charles Johnson, provides examples of the impetus found within of, fear, destruction and literature, in his novel, Middle Passage. Johnson explores these radically different venues of metamorphoses through; protagonist, Rutherford Calhoun, whose life of reckless abandon, is enlightened through the process of journaling and revealed in the magic of word. Ngtonyma, one of the Allmuseri tribesmen. The altruistic tribesmen, Allmuseri, whose incarceration and torture bleeds them of all they hold true and incarnates them into all they detest; and, the vessel where this story takes place, the Republic, a rotting, decaying, slave ship, destined for its final journey. Thus, fear, destruction, and literature, offer venues for transformation; we evolve by way of circumstance for is grants us opportunity to take action or perish.

I would like the power spirituality to be woven in if possible

~~ page 75, 56, 77, 105, `124 and `125 are perfect for quotes re ngtyoyma
163 top of page,163-167 181 all of page is great for Calhoun
124 all of page for allmuseri tribe. 43
36, 79,80,81 ship
god 100 141 , 166, 167
JUST A FEW IDEAS

Transformations, Human and Inhuman
iIt is also a novel about transformation, and the transformation is not only about characters but even about the ship itself. The following quotation comes early on in the novel. Cringle explains to Calhoun what will happen to the Republic during its voyage:

All in all she was a typical ship . [ . . . ] She was perpetually flying apart and re-forming during the voyage, falling to pieces beneath us, the great sails ripping to rags in high winds, the rot, cracks, and parasites in old wood so cancerously swift, springing up where least expected, that Captain Falcon’s crew spent most of their time literally rebuilding the Republic as we crawled along the waves. In a word, she was, from stem to stern, a process. She would not be, Cringle warned me, the same vessel that left New Orleans. (35-6)

In this paper, please use this quotation to analyze and compare/contrast both the kinds of transformations that the main characters and groups undergo on the ship and their reactions to these transformations.

To what extent does Cringle’s quotation apply to humans and nations, gods and governments, as well as the ship?

Support your assertions about transformation—human and non-human—with ANALYSIS of quotations from the text.
* Make sure you explore Calhoun’s own transformation, as well as the transformation of the Allmuseri.
*You must also choose at LEAST one other person/group that is transformed,
*and you MUST discuss the Allmuseri god.
(total of 4 people/groups to be discussed).

A COMPLETE draft of the paper must be uploaded by Monday 4/23 at 11:59pm.
Peer Reviews are to be completed by Monday 4/30 at 11:59pm.
The FINAL draft must be uploaded by Monday 5/7 at 11:59pm.
___________________________________________________________

Requirements (use these as a checklist—if you have not fulfilled one of these, you will be lucky to get a C on the paper). I will grade your papers in terms of how well you fulfill these requirements.

1. A clear They Say thesis. TS’s theses 1) answer “So what?” and 2) “Who cares?” They tell us how and why the thesis is important and 3) they tell us something we might not have seen or noticed before.

2. The paper is comparative. You are investigating different ways of understanding transformation. This means that to support your thesis you will need to include clear analysis of what you consider to be key parts of the text and from there, you will need to add clear comparison and contrast between various ways of viewing transformation as expressed by various characters or groups in the novel. Make sure there is sufficient textual support, with sufficient analysis, and make sure you clearly use analysis, as opposed to summary.

3. Your organization and length in a paper like this should be very different from a 5 paragraph paper. Think of your paper in terms of sections, in which you might need several paragraphs to work out a section. When you get rid of a 5 paragraph thesis (“There are 3 issues we need to consider when discussing evil: X, Y, and Z”), you can shed a 5 paragraph structure.

4. Writing is a social act: it engages us as members of a community. The ship itself is a community, but a community divided—think about the process of becoming faced by virtually everyone on board the ship. In your paper, make your position on the process of becoming, on transformation, utterly clear and show its consequences for Calhoun, the Allmuseri, and at least one other group. This issue should be woven
through the paper and be supported by analyzed quotations, and strong opening sentences for your paragraphs.

5. Make sure you define and/or redefine your key terms. The goal of defining and redefining terms is that you bring your reader along to see your point of view, and you are clearly explaining what you mean, often clarifying your ideas by comparing/contrasting them with the ideas of others.

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