Prospectus Write a paragraph in which you clearly explain the argument you will be presenting in this assignment. Be sure to include your thesis statement and the main points (think topic sentences, or subordinate claims) that you will use to support your

Prompt

Our readings from this unit engage with the topic of economic well-being, either directly or indirectly. This leads us to reconsider what we mean when we say something is “valuable.” Choose one primary text – either Sherman Alexie’s “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona,” or John Updike’s “A&P.” You will then select two secondary sources from your choices listed below (or you can use one below and locate another on your own). Your argument must clearly respond to the following question:How does the author of the primary text critique our society’s view of what is valuable, and do secondary sources support, refute, or complicate that critique? You must couch your 4-page response in terms of the methods (both Fictional and Rhetorical) used. Support your argument with textual evidence and analysis. Every quote must by analyzed in terms of Fictional Methods or Rhetorical Strategies. Please follow MLA format.

Secondary Sources

Two secondary sources will be incorporated into your response. Choose one or two from the following list: Gary Shteyngart’s “Sixty-Nine Cents,” George Orwell’s “Shooting An Elephant,” or David Foster Wallace’s “Kenyon College Commencement Speech.” If you would like to find one secondary source of your own using the Dana Library – either a book or a scholarly article – you may do so, as long as it is relevant, current, authentic, and credible. However, at least one secondary source must be chosen from our course packet (see list above).  To make this as clear as possible, here is a list of sources that are NOT acceptable: 

ï Dot coms (.com), dot orgs (.org), dot nets (.nets) 

ï Blogs of any kind 

ï Movie reviews 

ï Reviews of anything that is not your primary source 

ï Films or documentaries 

ï Music or audio of any kind

ï Social media excerpts 

ï Fiction! 

ï Textbooks or written materials from other classes 

 Sample Prospectus – Essay #4

I propose a research paper on the topic of codependency in Aimee Bender’s story, “Tiger Mending.” In this piece, an accident-prone speaker jumps at the chance to quit her job at Burger King to travel with her calm, nurturing sister to Malaysia, where the sister accepts a strange new job. A group of seamstresses are engaged in stitching the wounds of the injured tigers that wander out of the jungle every day. The narrator’s sister joins the seamstresses but is unable to concentrate. The speaker volunteers to track the tigers, and learns out that they hurt themselves by “yawning.” When she returns, she informs her sister of her discovery and immediately departs the country, leaving her sister to continue her new job. The sisters, who are foil characters, clearly demonstrate aspects of codependency, an unfortunate relationship dynamic typified by physical or psychological addiction and an unhealthy reliance of one person upon the other. My working thesis is as follows: The codependent relationship in “Tiger Mending” illuminates Bender’s critical perspective on gender roles within the family unit, though my secondary sources allow for a hopeful reading of the final scene. Several points contribute to this argument. The first uses the characters’ interactions in the airplane to establish that the codependent narrator is unreliable and presumptuous, the type of person who fails to fit neatly into the traditional gender role of the “nice sister.” My second point relies on the codependent sister’s hesitation when she first learns of the wounded tigers, as this shows an ironic imperfection in the character of the “perfect sister.” This paragraph includes secondary source #1, which offers a useful look at the psychological literature on high standards for children and the damaging effects of those standards. And lastly, the final scene of the story shows Bender’s critical evaluation of unrealistic gender-based expectations, though secondary source #2 complicates this reading.

My first secondary source, Challenging Codependency: Feminist Critiques, was edited by Marguerite Babcock and Christine McKay and published by the University of Toronto Press in 1995. This source argues… My other secondary source, “Gender Stereotypes in the Family Context,” by several authors including Joyce Endendijk, Marleen Groeneveld, and Sheila Berkel, was published in a peer-reviewed journal called Sex Roles in May, 2013, in Volume 68, Issue 9/10. This source argues… Both were located using the Dana Library’s article search.