Third World Lit: Paper 1 Topics Selections
Papers due: Tuesday, March 5th by 4:00 pm to Blackboard. Emailed papers will not be accepted.
Papers must be saved as .doc or .docx file!!!! (Blackboard won’t recognize them without the
proper extension and I will take off points. This means you need to use Microsoft word.)
Length: 5-6 FULL pages, double-spaced in 12 pt Times or Times New Roman font
Topic 1: In “Concerning Violence” Frantz Fanon discusses the reasons for and the ways in
which the colonized or “natives” should overthrow their colonizers. Describe the ways that Gillo
Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers uses various cinematic devices to visually represent Fanon’s
ideas. (In other words, do not simply discuss the plot of the film. Focus on Pontecorvo’s
aesthetic decisions and how he chose to film the movie. This may require a working knowledge
of film terms like “close up,” “shot/reverse shot,” “high angle,” etc.) Why is it significant that
film echoes Fanon’s writing to the extent that it does?
Topic 2: In Ousmane Sembène’s Xala and Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger, the postcolony is
depicted as a place in which the elites (or “national bourgeoisie” as Fanon would say) live very
different lifestyles and have very different physical experiences than the masses (or Fanon’s
lumpenproletariat). Write a compare and contrast essay discussing the ways in which Sembène
and Adiga represent the different lived experiences of the rich and the poor. What type of
literary devises and strategies do they use and to what effect? What is the larger significance of
what the authors are trying to do with these representations of class?
Topic 3: Balram in The White Tiger and Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire are both heroes that come
from the Indian lower class and find a way out of poverty. However, they do so entirely on their
own and are not a part of any political struggle. Compare and contrast Balram’s and Jamal’s
journeys through and out of poverty and comment on the ways that the film and the novel
portray class struggle. What do you think is the message that each text sends in the end and what
are the aesthetic devices used to communicate it?
Topic 4: Select two of the stories in Chimamanda Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck and
discuss how they complicate the notion of the “authentic.” In other words, think about how the
stories respond to expectations about a place (whether it’s Nigeria or America) or the people that
come from that place. Pay attention to how Adichie uses literary devices and structuring
elements rather than focusing only on plot. (Note: Though we will not have discussed it before
the paper is due, you might also wish to consider Adichie’s story “Imitation.”)
Topic 5: Ousmane Sembène’s Xala and Chimamanda Adichie’s “Jumping Monkey Hill” are
written almost 40 years apart but both centralize and politicize gender relations. Compare and
contrast the female characters in Xala to those in “Jumping Monkey Hill” and discuss how each
author links gender to larger political questions. What is significant about the similarities and
differences between Sembène and Adichie’s stories?
Topic 6: Choose your own topic that analyzes at least two texts we have discussed in class. (A
text can be a film, an essay, a novel or a short story – which means that you can pick two of
Adichie’s stories as your two texts.) You need to run the topic by me for approval. Email is fine.
Further instructions – READ BEFORE STARTING TO WRITE!
These topics are meant to be prompts to help guide your thesis statement. In each case, you are
expected to write a focused paper that answers your selected question by making a specific
argument and by using quotations and examples from the literary texts or films that you analyze.
In other words, the topics are intentionally broad: your paper should not be. Your thesis must be
original! Your thesis should NOT be a paraphrase of the prompt as I have formulated it above. It
needs to be much more specific and narrowly focused, and it needs to indicate that you have read
the text you are discussing and thought carefully about it. Your thesis needs to be supported by
specific examples from the text and needs to include quotes and passage that you spend time
analyzing in detail. (See the “close reading” assignment for guidelines on what this mean.)
Furthermore, as you will note, each prompt asks you to reflect upon the larger implications of
your topic. Note: I am not asking you to comment about anything grandiose or universal. Please
do not tell me that X’s work is a statement about human nature, or all mankind, or history or war
or struggle in general. While many of the texts do indeed speak to universal themes, I am asking
you to think and discuss more specifically and in the context of the class itself. You should be
able to tell me why what you are arguing matters without having to slip into an easy claim about
all of humanity that you might have been able to make before taking this class and reading these
texts. It’s quite likely that you might not figure this part out until the paper is already written as
the writing process itself often helps to shed light on these more in-depth questions. Thus, it is
perfectly fine to wait until your conclusion to address the “larger significance” questions, though
you should at least be hinting at it throughout your paper.
Papers are to be at least five full pages and no more than six full pages. Please double space, use
Times or Times New Roman 12 pt font. You are expected to use MLA style documentation and
to include a Works Cited (which does NOT count towards your allotted page numbers). Papers
are to be submitted via blackboard as .doc or .docx files and NOT over email. I will take points
off if a paper is not submitted properly and I need to ask you to re-submit it.
Useful Websites:
On MLA style: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
On integrating quotes: http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/quotes.htm
Writing Checklist:
1.) Do you have a first paragraph that sets up your thesis and presents the reader with a sense
of the problems you will be discussing?
2.) Do you have a clearly articulated thesis (usually at the end of the first paragraph) that
states a claim about the text or text you are discussing? Have you made sure that this
claim does not simply repeat the essay prompt and that it does more than simply describe
the symbolism in the text?
3.) Do you have strong transitions from one paragraph to the next?
4.) Do you have clear topic sentences that set up the intention of each paragraph? (Have you
made sure to avoid topic sentence that discuss plot or summarize the text?)
5.) Are all quotes incorporated into larger sentences? Double check that you never, ever
have a quote that stands alone as its own sentence and that you always properly introduce
a quote.
6.) Do you include quotes that you spend time analyzing in detail?
7.) Have you included page numbers for each quote?
8.) Have you reviewed MLA style citations and made sure that all of your citations are
consistent with MLA style?
9.) Have you included a Works Cited?
10. Have you avoided large claims about all of humankind, human nature in general, and the
very beginning of history?
11.) Have you clearly articulated the significance of your claims?
12.) Do you have a conclusion that re-articulates the significance of your claims
and that does not simply repeat things that you have already said?
13.) Have you spell-checked AND proofread your essay?
How I grade:
A papers have almost all of the following elements: Clear and well developed original thesis
statement, significance stated, largely free of grammatical mistakes, logical transitions between
paragraphs, well placed and analyzed quotes.
B papers have many of the following elements: Clear and well developed thesis statement,
significance stated, largely free of grammatical mistakes, logical transitions between paragraphs,
well placed and analyzed quotes. B papers are often those with somewhat oversimplified thesis
statements and with some issues in analyzing quotes or providing support. B papers might have
some grammatical mistakes and awkward phrasing, but are still relatively error free.
C papers do not have a developed or clear thesis statement, fail to make convincing arguments,
or have significant amount of grammatical mistakes and awkward phrasing.
D papers have major structural flaws.
F paper fail to meet the basic requirements of the assignment.