Department of English

Final presentations (25 minutes per panel: 15 minutes presentation [5 minutes per speaker if you have 3 speakers on your panel] + 10 minutes question and answer session) take place on Monday, November 26 and Wednesday, November 28, 2018. Students form six panels of three members and decide to work on one of the topics below to present in class, with each member focusing on one aspect of a topic or on one text. You may study and research any aspect of any work(s) in the course packet that interests you including those suggested by the topics given below. These are general topics that need to be narrowed and refined into a specific argument. Discuss among your panel members what aspect of the topic each person wants to focus and speak on, share your research and close reading discoveries, critique each other’s work in progress, and together present to classmates your combined effort what close reading reveals about a text or texts. Sign up to meet with me to discuss your ideas in more detail in a time slot given in the schedule below.

Consultation Schedule Sign-Up Results

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

1:00–1:15 p.m.    
1:15–1:30 p.m.    
1:30–1:45 p.m.    
1:45–2:00 p.m.    
2:00–2:15 p.m.    
2:15–2:30 p.m.    
2:30–2:45 p.m.    
2:45–3:00 p.m.    
3:00–3:15 p.m.    
3:15–3:30 p.m.    
3:30–3:45 p.m.    
3:45–4:00 p.m.: Kulatida, Chollada, and Kanyarat  

Thursday, November 22, 2018

1:30–1:45 p.m.: Chanakarn, Panida, Phannika, and Rinrada
1:45–2:00 p.m.    
2:00–2:15 p.m.    
2:15–2:30 p.m.    
2:30–2:45 p.m.    
2:45–3:00 p.m.    
3:00–3:15 p.m.    
3:15–3:30 p.m.    
3:30–3:45 p.m.    
3:45–4:00 p.m.: Pemika, Sukrita, and Nattaya


Below are reading response 3/final presentation topics.
1.    Rufus’s Love
Investigate Rufus and his loves. Who or what does he love? How does he express that love? Consider how the love he feels toward people or things as well as how he shows it change over time. Why? Looking at the results of each speaker’s study, what picture emerges of Rufus’s love? What is a good description for it? For instance, is it scary, powerful, weak, inconstant, paradoxical, sick, or true?
Focus 1: Rufus and Dana: Pemika
Focus 2: Rufus and Alice: Nattaya
Focus 3: Rufus and Others (ex. his father, mother, children, Nigel, plantation): Sukrita

2.    Becoming a Slave: Pichaya, Piengfa, Pimchutha, and Chayuda
Closely examine how one becomes a slave in Kindred. Dana is an obvious focus, but Alice is also born free. What is a slave and how does a person become one? What facets are there to being a slave besides its legal status? Dana, for example, is never a legal slave, yet she feels that she has become a slave or slave-like. What qualities mark a slave? Investigate the story’s portrayal of how one changes: what characteristics one acquires, what new power and powerlessness one gains, what space one occupies, etc. when one takes on this particular identity.
Focus 1: Body
Focus 2: Speech
Focus 3: Mind

3.    Slavery Failures and Successes
What is slavery? In what way might it be said to be successful or to fail? Study representations and descriptions of slavery and its effects in Kindred. What is gained and what is lost in the system and process of slavery? Which aspects of it works and which does not? For example, what restrictions (ex. rules, laws) does it impose on its participants and how often are they violated? Why, at what cost, and to whom?
Focus 1: Trade
Focus 2: Plantation: Field and House
Focus 3: Escape and Emancipation

4.    Variations on Repetition: Chanakarn, Panida, Phannika, and Rinrada
Repetition is a deceptive technique. On the face of it, repetition is sameness, similarity. In actual use, a repeated word, phrase, or structure is hardly ever monotonous or static. Scrutinize the use of repetition in poetic works where this feature is distinctive. Follow the recurring element(s). Explain how it varies with each occurrence and how it affects other aspects of the poem. Evaluating the focus results together, what can repetition do? What is a suitable way to characterize its function in the poems?
Focus 1: “The Walk”
Focus 2: “Aftermath”
Focus 3: “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”

5.    Variations on Perspective
How is perspective established in a literary work? How are different perspectives created? How does perspective change? How do characters, dialogue, diction, or syntax form perspective? How is perspective related to point of view, voice, tone, time, scope, scale, development, and idea? Inspect this framing device or lens at play in different works and explain how it shapes the works. How does it comment on the theme? What argument does it propose? Taking into consideration all the findings of your close reading, what do you find compelling about perspective? Why does it matter from what view a story or situation is told?
Focus 1: “Musee des Beaux Arts” and “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”
Focus 2: “Everyday Use”
Focus 3: “Train”

6.    The Power of Image(ry): Nopparuj, Thai and Peeraya
Inspect images and imagery in poems with evocative diction. What are the denotations and connotations of these suggestive words? How do they affect the meaning of each other and other elements in the context of the poems? What do they reveal or reflect about the entities or ideas represented? In what way are their associative or dissociative effects usual or unusual? What tone is created? How do they direct the poems’ movement? Where do the poems begin and where do they end? Pooling your observations on the different focuses, what do you discover about the function and power of imagery?
Focus 1: “Go, Lovely Rose”
Focus 2: “The Three Ravens”
Focus 3: “Operating Room”

Respondent 1: Chanakarn Wanichodom

Respondent 3: Sasikan Siangjun

3.  “Title,” Pichaya Chirawatana
4.  “Title,” Chayuda Lattayaporn

Respondent 3: Nattaya Boonyaphaisalkul
Respondent 4: Rinrada Suebsoh

3.  “Title,” Student Name

4.  “Title,” Student Name

Respondent 3: Student Name
Respondent 4: Student Name

Writing Handouts and Demos Thesis Statements (What Is a Thesis Statement?; How Do I Get a Thesis?; How Do I Know If My Thesis Is Strong?; Examples) Writing for Specific Fields: Literature (Fiction) Thesis How to Write a Thesis Statement Guide to Writing Thesis Statements Thesis Statement Guidelines (plus information on form, introductions, and conclusions) Writing a Thesis Statement for a Literature Paper The Thesis Statement Thesis Statements: How to Write Them Analysis How to Write a Critical Literary Essay David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen, "What Is Analysis and How Does It Work?," Writing Analytically (2003)? What Is Analysis? What Is Analysis? A Guide to Analyzing Literature Analysis Literary Analysis Tips in a Glossary of Literary Terms Analyzing and Interpreting Literature Cited Material vs. Analysis Essential Questions for Each Specific Critical Perspective ("When viewing a text through a specific critical lens, use these questions to guide your analysis.") Style and Citation "Some Matters of Form" by Yale University (writing guidelines; pdf file) Writing Prose (handbook on college writing, Yale University; pdf file) Sources and Citation at Dartmouth College (pdf file) Common Proofreading Symbols MLA Page Format Presentation 11 Commandments for PowerPoint Presentation Graphics: Do's and Don'ts