Honors 202 006: Discovering Literature--The Appeal of Pastoral                                                 Fall 2005

Tompkins G123.  M, W, 1:30-2:45
Section 006
Dr. Morillo

Final Paper Assignment

Due Date: Monday, Dec. 12. To be turned in at my office, Tompkins 270, by 4pm
You do not have a final exam, so your final paper is instead due at that scheduled time.

Whether you have selected Philip Roth's American Pastoral, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, Alice Walker's "Strong Horse Tea," or another work of your choice already cleared with me, your job is to show me how much you now know about pastoral in the way you can apply ideas about pastoral independently to a work you have not yet been taught in this course. You are encouraged to draw upon and develop your own ideas based on your own sense of what pastoral is. Filter your choice of what ideas to incude based on what is most relevant to the thesis you aim to present and defend. Your most concrete evidence will come from your selected primary text, but you are also encouraged to consider whether the various theories of pastoral canvassed in Gifford, as well as Gifford's own unique ideas about pastoral vs. post-pastoral, helps illuminate how you understand and appreciate the presence of pastoral in what you are analyzing. Should any one of those theories seem particularly applicable use Gifford's bibliography to guide you to further full sources (for example, Leo Marx).

Whatever you find in terms of primary or secondary resources, your job is to then construct an argument about how to read the presence of pastoral in your chosen text or work.  It is completely up to you how to structure this argument. Make it as clear and engaging as you can, and recall my writing advice on the structure of drafts vs revisions.

If you quote directly or paraphrase any secondary source you must cite it and document it in a bibliography of Works Cited.

Length: 8-10 pages.
worth 25% of your grade