World Literature
Mr. Nurenberg
Colonialism in African literature
FINAL ESSAY
READ THESE DIRECTIONS BEFORE YOU PROCEED!
This essay will be due on Friday 10/30 at the end of class. You will have Friday’s class period
in which to work on the paper, but you should not wait until then to begin it!
1. You may use your book, notes, and study guides that you filled in. Just be sure to cite
what you use.
2. If you are using any sources besides these, you need to cite them in full whenever you use
them, clearly indicating, with full publication data (author, title, date, etc) where the
information came from. Failure to do so would constitute plagiarism.
3. Please pick one of the essay choices on the back of this page and write for the length of
the class period. Aim for between 1 and 2 pages (250-500 words). You can go longer if you
wish, but after 4 pages I stop grading spelling and grammar.
4. If you take the essay as a test on Friday, no extra time will be given unless you have a
504 or Ed-plan that allows it. Do the best job you can in the time allotted. You have had
several days in which to prepare.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
http://markuswiener.com/catalog/images/521-Colonialism.jpg
HOW TO WRITE THIS PAPER
We have read a wide variety of texts this semester, written by both Africans and Westerners, regarding
issues of colonialism, privilege, education, revolution and power. Already, many students have made
excellent connections between these texts during discussions.
This paper will ask you to make those connections in writing, and analyze them at length, in greater
detail. I am asking you to pick at least two texts and find both parallels and differences between their
handling of a given theme.
Step one: Ask the right questions
Pick any two texts.
Then, your questions for this paper are threefold. You need to ask, and answer, all three.
1. What do text A and text B have in common, in terms of themes and patterns?
2. How do they differ when dealing with this theme or pattern?
3. Why should we care about those similarities and differences?
Texts from this unit
(Select any two, or more if you’re feeling ambitious):
1. Nervous Conditions
2. “The Gentlemen of the Jungle”
3. Fanon
4. “Shooting an Elephant”
6. “Oliver’s Army” (G block)
7. Skin Deep (video with college
students discussing race) (C block)
8. Master Harold and the Boys
9. McIntosh’s “White Privilege” article
10. Gandhi video
11. South Africa TRC Video
12. Any of the articles or films about America’s selfperception vs. perception in other countries
13. Amandla
You can make reference to Things Fall Apart, but only briefly - focus mainly on the texts we have read since
then.
Step two: Answer your question, with nuance!
Your thesis is where you declare, with nuance, your position. Examples:
Nervous Conditions and Master Harold and the Boys both deal with the timeless
struggle of humans versus wombats; in Nervous Conditions the wombats win, but in
Master Harold humanity prevails.
The soldiers in “Oliver’s Army,” much like the protagonist in “Shooting an
Elephant,” both struggle not to kill furry little animals. The soldiers in the
song succeed because they are in touch with their feelings, while Orwell’s hero
fails because of his own self-loathing.
Amandla and Franz Fanon both speak of revolution: one nonviolent, the other
violent. Each succeeds in its own way, but their outcomes produce very different
kinds of countries: Algeria remains uneasy to this day, while South Africa is far
more stable.
See how these thesis statements are long? And essentially outline the whole paper, in all its nuance and detail?
That’s what you want!
Your thesis should come immediately, in the first paragraph of your paper. Your paper is not a buildup to your
thesis, keeping us in suspense until the end – it is a defense of your thesis, which we should know from the very
beginning.
Step Three: Decide on a structure for your paper
The structure of your paper is up to you. One possible model is as follows:
Paragraph#1: Thesis
Paragraph#2: Evidence supporting text#1 and text#2’s similarities
Paragraph#3: Evidence supporting text#1 and text#2’s differences
Paragraph#4: Tell us why we should care, why it matters.
Alternatively, you could try this model:
Paragraph#1: Thesis
Paragraph#2: Evidence supporting one similarity between text#1 and text#2, but then right
afterwards describe a difference between them.
Paragraph#3: Evidence supporting another similarity between text#1 and text#2, and then right
afterwards describe a difference between them.
Paragraph#4: Evidence supporting yet another similarity between text#1 and text#2, and then
right afterwards describe a difference between them.
Paragraph#5: Tell us why we should care, why it matters.
Step Four: Support your thesis with arguments backed by specific evidence from the text
However you structure your paper, the key to a strong, compelling argument is specific evidence.
Not specific: “Homer Simpson is always doing stupid things.”
specific!)
(Not very
Specific: “Homer Simpson is always doing stupid things, such as eating
sandwiches that are five days old, or running outside in the freezing
cold with no clothes on, or dumping Spider-Pig’s poop into the river and
poisoning everyone.” (Good! Look at all those specific examples!)
I encourage you to use quotations from the text in your essay, but keep the quotations short (one to two
sentences tops) and relevant.
In other words, don’t use quotations just for the sake of using quotations, and don’t quote entire paragraphs just
to “get length.” If you use quotations, please cite them in the proper format, like this:
“This is my quotation. Note how the period is left off before the end of
the quotation marks, and only appears after the parentheses” (Achebe, 10).
Step Five: Conclusion
Your conclusion should not just re-state your thesis.
Your conclusion should not just re-state your thesis.
Your conclusion should not just re-state your thesis.
Instead, it should go a step farther, discuss why the whole issue is important at all, why we should care.
Step Six: Finishing Touches
Nothing stings more than losing points over a seemingly minor issue. So…make sure you have read over and
confirmed all of the following items on this checklist:
[] I have proofread my paper, and maybe even asked someone else to also look it over to see if I
missed anything.
[] I have gone back and made absolutely, positively sure that I cited all sources, including wikipedia,
sparknotes, or anything else that did not come out of my own brain.
[] I have added a works cited page at the end, which, at minimum, cites Things Fall Apart. All sources
are cited with full publication info and not just by name and author (for more info here, visit
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/06/). I will expect that you are familiar with
MLA format.
[] Finally, make sure your paper is typed, double-spaced and stapled for neatness.
If you’re absolutely stumped, here are some potential paper ideas:
Colonialism/privilege hurts, or at least transforms, even those who have all of power/benefits.
Support or oppose this position using specific examples from the at least two texts from the list. Nearly all of
the texts above could help you with this topic.
African resistance to colonialism/apartheid.
Examine “Native” characters living under colonial or apartheid rule. How do they resist oppression? Which
characters/methods are successful, and which are unsuccessful? Why (define “success”)? How does the act of
resisting change the identity of those involved?
Use specific examples from at least two texts from the list to support your points.
Characters/people you might wish to examine could include Nyasha, Tambu, Sam and Willie, Frantz Fannon,
the Burmese in “Shooting an Elephant”, the activists from Amandla, and more.
How are white people hurt by colonialism/privilege? Can they fight or destroy such systems? Do they?
We have seen many white characters/people who benefit from colonialism or apartheid, but who claim to not
like it. Pick several of these characters and examine how (or if) they attempt to disable their privilege, how
successful they are, and why.
Use specific examples from at least two texts from the list to support your points.
Characters/people you might wish to examine could include Doris (Nervous Conditions), Hally, the narrator in
“White Man’s Burden”, the policeman from “Shooting an Elephant”, the white students from Skin Deep, etc.
The promise of education – does it empower or hurt? Or both? Or neither?
For the characters we have examined, does the promise of “education leading to a better life” hold true?
Examine the issue with nuance and complexity.
Use specific examples from at least two texts from the list to support your points.
Characters/people you might wish to examine could include Tambu, Nyasha, Babamukuru, the “native elite” of
Franz Fannon’s essay, Hally, Sam, the students from Skin Deep, etc.
Disconnects
Where do characters or nations believe their values are about one thing, but in their behavior send a very
different message?
Use specific examples from at least two texts from the list to support your points.