Native Son Midterm Outline
I.
II.
Question #1: DEFINITION
a. Claim about the definition: Oppression ___________________ [exists in various forms
throughout human history] [is a term that is ___________] [looks different according to
who does it to whom]
b. Context of Source #1 (Max’s Speech, APOTUS, for example, or POO or COF): Richard
Wright, writing as Boris Max, a communist attorney who defends murderer Bigger
Thomas in Native Son, exclaims in a courtroom scene
OR.. In Richard
Wright’s book Native Son, attorney Boris Max, defending murderer Bigger Thomas,
denounces white society by saying
c. Evidence - Source #1 Quote that Bigger was made by society. Oppression created a man full
of sham and anger (Schmoop.com). [ find a quote that defines oppression according to
your point of view or ARGUMENT in this essay!
d. Analysis Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (DEFINITION) [The idea that a society can
oppress an individual is at the heart of the argument FOR a more just and equitable
society. In Bigger Thomas’s case, the oppression took the form of ________________]
e. Transition to Source #2 Quote In order to get a true sense of the term, Mr. Perez, in our
Society and Politics in Literature class, introduced us to A People’s History of the United
States author Howard Zinn’s argument about one possible reason for Europeans’
enslavement of West Africans.
f. Context of Source #2 (Dictionary, for example, or POO, or COF) In chapter two, Drawing the
Color Line, Zinn explains
g. Evidence – Source #2 Quotes “Sometimes it is noted that, even before 1600, when the slave
trade had just begun, before Africans were stamped by it—literally and symbolically—the
color black was distasteful. In England, before 1600, it meant, according to the Oxford
English Dictionary: "Deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul. Having dark or deadly
purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death, deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister.
Foul, iniquitous, atrocious, horribly wicked. Indicating disgrace, censure, liability to
punishment, etc." And Elizabethan poetry often used the color white in connection with
beauty”(page number needed).
h. Analysis – Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (DEFINITION) [In fact, our “SoPol” class
looked up the word Black in the dictionary and we found _____________________]. It is
tragically to see, then, that this mentality, transferred to colonist slave holders, made it
palatable to oppress Africans and their descendants throughout the history of the United
States and even today. [you can talk about Trayvon Martin… you can actually quote the
dictionary definition!!!!!!!!]
i. Transition to QUESTION #2 [Boris Max
Question #2: Origins and Perpetuation
a. Claim about the Origin and Perpetuation
b. Context of Source #1 (Max’s Speech, APOTUS, for example, or POO or COF, Murder, )
c. Evidence - Source #1 Quote
d. Analysis Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (ORIGINS and PERPETUATION)
e. Transition to Source #2 Quote
f. Context of Source #2 (APHOTUS, for example, or POO, or COF, Murder, Privilege, B&W)
III.
IV.
g. Evidence – Source #2 Quotes
h. Analysis – Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (Origins and Perpetuation)
i. Transition to QUESTION #3
Question #3: Historical and Modern Effects of Oppression
a. Claim about the Historical and Modern Effects
b. Context of Source #1 (Max’s Speech, B&W, APOTUS, for example, or POO or COF, Murder,
Privilege)
c. Evidence - Source #1 Quote
d. Analysis Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (EFFECTS)
e. Transition to Source #2 Quote
f. Context of Source #2 (APHOTUS, for example, or POO, or COF, Murder, Privilege, B&W,
Obama, Martin)
g. Evidence – Source #2 Quotes
h. Analysis – Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (Historical and Modern Effects)
i. Transition to QUESTION #4
Question #4: Problem Solve – how can we end oppression?
a. Claim about the Historical and Modern Effects
b. Context of Source #1 (Max’s Speech, B&W, APOTUS, for example, or POO or COF, Murder,
Pitts)
c. Evidence - Source #1 Quote
d. Analysis Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (Problem Solve)
e. Transition to Source #2 Quote
f. Context of Source #2 (APHOTUS, for example, or POO, or COF, Murder, Privilege, B&W,
Obama, Martin)
g. Evidence – Source #2 Quotes
h. Analysis – Link Sources #2 quote to your claim (Problem Solve)