Assignment: A literary analysis typically comes about as the result of an inquiry into a literary text. We have questions about the text, and since we want to know more about the textto be able to make sense of it in some waywe do our best to answer those questions. For this assignment, Ive provided some focusing questions for you choose from. Pick one of these questions (or rather, sets of questions), and try to answer that question, using both your own insights from analyzing the text, and secondary research as you develop your answer. Thats your assignment, now here are the questions:
Questions: ( pick one in three question to do essay)
Zone One is filled with spectral presences, most notably those of the various kinds of infected or zombies. But there is also the past to deal witha past we learn about through the life of our protagonist, Mark Spitz. In what ways is his own story, told over the course of the novel in flashbacks, related to the story of those zombie presences he encounters in the present? In other words, how is Marks story like the story of the zombie? How, if at all, might we distinguish it?
Colson Whitehead has a lot of fun with the acronym disease, PASD, using it to describe the basic condition of the human beings left alive after the plague. Given the way that the disease is depicted in the novel, what would you say is its attitude toward the role and function of medicine in its dystopian world?
The contemporary French philosopher Yuval Nova Harari expresses a deep concern about the role of the tech industry in our lives. Nova argues that over time this industry has given rise to dataism or a kind of blind faith in the power of data to determine our lives. It strikes me that Whitehead expresses some of the same concern in Zone One. What is the role and function of data in Zone One? Why is it trusted, and what does it promise to deliver? What do you think the novels attitude is toward data? What is it trying to tell us about data, if anything at all?
Step 1. Shape your thesis in response to one of the prompting question, seeking for the most unique and thought provoking way to do so. Remember that your thesis will be in a sense your answer to the questions youve chosen, but it will also be the starting point to a deeper exploration of that answer, which will emerge as you write.
Step 2. Conduct research. In the case of this assignment, that research will largely follow one of three tracks: focused literary analysis, a broader discussion of the novels allegorical dimensions with respect to medicine, or a broader discussion of the novels allegorical dimensions with respect to the use of data. For the purposes of this class, that will primarily be materials that you search for on the HCC library website and in the library itself. Well work on research strategies in class, but remember to read everything you find with an open mind. Youre reading to overhear everything people have to say in a conversation youll soon be joining. Underline important points and keep a list of those sources you think youll be able to use in writing your essay.
Step 3. Once youve read whats out there about your topic, you should go back to your working thesis and revise it to be more reflective of the knowledge youve gained through research. Remember that you are joining a conversation, so you want to make sure your argument is unique, but also acknowledges the work thats out there. It may be informed by the things youve read, but it should be something that would surprise even the author of your favorite secondary source. As you write, your thesis may still change or grow to reflect the ideas within your paper. Conversely, you should also look to tailor your writing within the paper to your thesis. A good paper is always in the process of either articulating the thesis or supporting it.
Step 4. As you write in support of your thesis, employ the following basic steps of analysis:
–Look for patterns in the novel related to your chosen topic. These may be patterns in the way that the novel is assembled, in the way that certain topics are approached, in the way that the narrator frames the story, or in the way that the characters behave or think.
–Try to make sense of these patterns. Ask yourself what they mean and why they occur. They may seem intentional as if the author wants the viewer to understand or derive a specific meaning from their occurrence. On the other hand, they may seem to have happened accidentallyeven still their very existence is worthy of interpretive commentary.
