EAC 150: Take Home Research Paper
Summer, 2018
Write a 1000-1250 word research paper on ONE of the following topics. Recommended
readings are indicated in brackets, more can be found in the Index of Themes found in your
text:
1. Themes of sexual politics/gender in a relevant reading. (No Name Woman, The
Company Of Wolves, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, Streetcorner
Man, Legless Joe versus Black Robe, Sonny’s Blues). Many of these works have
characters or situations that seem transgressive to the societies around them; how
does this affect the work in question?
2. Discuss portrayals of addiction/mental health issues in a relevant work (Legless Joe
versus Black Robe, No Name Woman, Sonny’s Blues, The Immaculate Conception
Photo Gallery, Homeless in Paradise) – how are these issues presented in the work?
How does the author make use of our understandings of these issues to enhance the
story?
3. Discuss the use of magic realism in any relevant reading (Legless Joe versus Black
Robe, The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World, In The Skin Of A Lion,
Streetcorner Man, The Company of Wolves, The Crow Procedure). In each of these
works, the authors have used hyper/super/un-natural elements and inserted them
into the mundane, everyday world – what reasons do you think the authors had for
incorporating them?
4. Aspects of marginalization in relevant readings. (No Name Woman, A Modest
Proposal, Pretty Like A White Boy, De Profundis, Streetcorner Man, Legless Joe, The
Company of Wolves, Sonny’s Blues); how is this marginalization presented by the
writer, and how is it affected by the social structures these stories are
contextualizing?
5. Comparison of the use of storytelling and related elements in a relevant work (The
Company of Wolves, Streetcorner Man, No Name Woman, What Writing Is, Pretty
Like a White Boy, Me Talk Pretty One Day). Discuss the importance of spoken word
narrative (or the impression of it) in these stories.
6. The theme of reality versus illusion is one of the common threads tying many the
works covered in this course (ANY OF THE COURSE WORKS). Discuss how the writers
handle these themes in any relevant work.
NOTE: Ultimately, you are free to choose your own topic for the research essay in EAC 150, but
the above questions are provided as a guide.
I will allow other topics provided that they are cleared with me first. This can include works
we have not read in class, but that are present in the text, or other supplemental writings that
you have read. I consider it of particular importance that you choose a topic for your research
essay that interests you. I am very open to ideas surrounding primary sources.
This assignment will not only assess your writing, but your ability to research your work.
Additional Instructions:
1. Review the notes provided on WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER. They are available in
announcements, and under the Research Tutorial.
2. In your paper you must make use of at least three to six secondary sources. Review the
article provided on GOOD SECONDARY SOURCES in Course Documents. Remember that
your secondary sources must refer back to the primary work you are researching in
some way.
3. You must use MLA formatting. I cannot stress this enough. You are required to use
MLA formatting, which includes provding a Works Cited page. This should be easy as it’s
just your annotated bibliography with the annotations stripped out.
4. I hope that this is already clear, but be sure to build your essay around a central thesis,
or statement of what you are trying to prove in your paper – and state that thesis in
your opening paragraph. Then proceed to demonstrate and prove that thesis with at
least three separate arguments, each supported by specific examples from the stories
and secondary sources you have chosen to work with, and – most important – your
remarks on these examples.
5. Don’t rehash an essay you’ve already written. Don’t try to punch up your paper on
settings in No Name Woman and Sonny’s Blues. Stretch beyond it. Please base your
work on at least one story you have not yet written about this semester.
6. Avoid long quotes. Quotes over 25 words will be regarded as suspect.
7. Take advantage of the resources offered to you. Make use of the Learning Centre and
other resources. (Find out more at https://inside.senecacollege.ca/learningcentres/)
8. Finally, if you have questions, please to email me at Jeremy.brown@senecacollege.ca
Due Dates:
• An annotated bibliography, along with a thesis statement and topic, is to be submitted
by July 24th, 2018. This is to be submitted as a hard-copy in class and must be
typewritten in MLA format.
• The final draft of your paper is due on August 7th, 2018. This is to be submitted BOTH as
a soft-copy through SAFE ASSIGN in Blackboard and in-class, and must be typewritten in
MLA format.
Sample Answer for Topic #3 and Annotated Bibliography
Use of Magic Realism
Magic realism is a literary style especially in art whereby it includes the use of magical elements in a real world setting. People have believed in magic since time immemorial to take them to a fantasy that is out of this world. Persons who have come from war or have been face by a calamity such as drought have been known to use magic realism to enable a healing process to initiate as it makes them able to deal with the misfortune much better by giving them a positive mood. In magic realism, unnatural things occur which are too absurd to believe in. Thus, it is used in literary works to bring together real and magical world.
In the book, The Most Handsomest Drowned Man, magic realism is used to depict alternative belief systems .A man, Esteban, is washed ashore on a beach of an ocean in a village. The men who carried him to the village noticed that he had much weight than any other man they had ever seen or been familiar with but they thought that it was because he had stayed for long in the ocean and perhaps the ocean water had seeped into his bones thus making him have such significant weight. When the put him down on the floor, they also observed that he was bigger than any other person they had known, since he didn’t fit in the house but they thought that dead men continued growing and therefore justified his big size( Garcia 1) . Magical realism is seen in this situation as it is obvious that once a person dies their growth stops since there is no more intakes of nutrients and body organs dies ceasing to function.
It is also used to give life to immaterial things. In the village, the land was desolate making mothers to dread that their young ones were going to be carried away by the wind. This shows magic realism as wind does not have the power to carry off children or transport them to some other place. The wind is given the power to be able to take off with kids who can never happen in a natural setting. Thus, the people in the village had to throw their dead off the cliff I to the ocean in order to keep off spirits who could do them harm.
Magic realism has been used to depict beliefs that cannot be proved in science. In the story, as the women washed the drowned man, they came to see that he was the most handsome, tallest and longest man they had ever known and not any clothes that their men had could fit him .As they set on to make him some, it occurred to them that the wind had never seemed so calm and the ocean had never looked so agitated. Therefore, they came to a conclusion that it was because of the presence of the dead man who was the cause of the tides change in the ocean (Garcia 2). This cannot be proven scientifically as to whether it was because of the dead man that the weather was changing.
In the story, magic realism has been used to bring convergence o cultures in different communities. Women sent to gather flowers in neighboring villages for Esteban’s burial came with others who could not believe the things said about Esteban and them too went for more flowers and came with other people (Garcia 4). The crowd became so large due to the high number of people. Everybody then wanted to be associated with the dead man such that they chose parents for him and everyone ended up becoming relatives of the dead man (Garcia 4). Magical realism therefore brought togetherness as people from different villages became one.
In the story, The Crow Procedure, magic realism is used to make things that cannot happen in the real world possible widening the notion of reality. Mr. Dapple, a patient in Kweskatisowin Hospital in Iiyiyuushii is on a medical procedure to undergo surgery whereby he was to be given the wings of a crow (Marche). The surgery was performed by Chief Resident Riel and Professor Enoch Samaritan. Dapple is given the most expensive anesthesia and slips into a complete fantasy. He dreams about being a crow flying over a forest. Both Riel and Samaritan are aware of the dream that Dapple has chosen even though he is unconscious. This rarely happens in real life as it is impossible to predict dreams (Marche) .It is also irrational to conduct such a medical procedure whereby there is transplant of crow’s wing. After the successful operation, Dapple is able to fly as Samaritan teaches him how to do it. Magical realism therefore makes the impossible possible in a real life setting.
In the Crow Procedure, magical realism is also used to show how magic can be incorporated in science for better functions. The all scan machine in which Dapple is put has a tube wrap him in place during the corvine transplant (Marche). Professor Samaritan adds g-drones on Dapple’s backside in order for it to be droned. The metamorphosis took some few minutes to be complete. As such, a procedure like that is unimaginable in real life as there cannot be proven scientifically of such a transplant or the use of g- drones in a medical process (Marche). Thus, magical realisms incorporate magic in science showing a wider scope in medical procedures.
The authors had several reasons for incorporating magic realism in the stories. In the Most Handsomest drowned man in the world, magic realism is used to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. For example, Esteban is seen by the villagers as exceptional as they say that they had never seen a man like that who is the tallest, largest and most handsome they had ever come across. Another reason is that it allows the authors to change the rules a little. Esteban is seen by the villagers as someone who affects the wind, and the ocean which during his presences changed from normalcy. As such, the author bends the rule whereby the wind and ocean act in accordance to the presence of a dead man. Therefore, magical realism is important as it bridges the gap between reality and the magical world.
In the crow procedure, the author uses magical realism as it is fun to write about. Unimaginable things that cannot happen in real life like having real wings that can fly is just out of usual and gives the reader a vivid imagination of what such a world would look like. Another reason is that it challenges the accepted perspective as it offers an alternative to the rational. Dapple is able to fly which would have been impossible if he was in a real-life setting with no magic. Thus, magic realism goes a long way to make dreams come true.
In summation, magical realism offer alternative belief systems give life to non- living things and make possible the impossible. It can also be used to show that science and magic can converge to better the science world. Reasons for use of magic realism include making things extraordinary than normal, giving supernatural powers and gives a substitute to rational things. Authors also use it because it is fun to write about. Therefore, magical realism has gone a long way to make fiction work more entertaining.
References
Marche, Stephen. The Crow Procedure. the walrus, 2015.
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World.” A famous tale in the magic realism genre. MyObject, OpenWorld (1984).
Annotated bibliography
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World.” A famous tale in the magic realism genre. MyObject, OpenWorld (1984).
Gabriel Garcia Marquez a Colombian author was born in 6 march 1922 was also a screen writer. He is considered an important author in the 20th century and has been awarded notable prizes like the Nobel Prize in literature and the Neustadt international prize for literature. Garcia is especially known for making popular a style in literature, magic realism, which is the use of magical elements and event in the real world. The audience for magic realism may be a group of people who may have undergone disaster or war in their lives. As such, use of magical realism takes them out of reality thereby giving them time to heal the wounds they have, both internally and externally. This is by the use of symbols making people accept their bad situations they are in initiating a recovery process.
Marche, Stephen. The Crow Procedure. The Walrus, 2015.
Stephen Marche is an author of novels, essays and also commentates on culture. He is a great author who has written several books published by different companies. Currently, he is writing short stories as a full time job. In his work, The Crow Procedure, Mr. Dapple is scheduled, in Kweskatisowin Hospital to be given the wings of a crow to be done by a young surgeon Chief Resident Riel. Mr. Dapple had instructed to be given the most expensive anesthesia so that he would fantasize as the surgery was being conducted. There is the use of magic realism in this novel as Dapple undergoes surgery on his backside and is fixed with real crow wings. He thereby gets the ability to fly which would not have been possible in a real life setting.
