Engl 1302

Write an essay in one of the following rhetorical modes:

• Process analysis

                       OR

• Comparison and contrast

Process analysis:  From reading your paper, your audience should be able to learn how you made your quilt and a few rudiments of quilt making.  If you're going to write an informative process analysis, focus more on the narrative element of your experience with this project than step-by-step directions.  Share what was going on in your life or what you were thinking/feeling as you stitched squares together, for example.  If you're going to write a directive process analysis, focus more on providing a step-by-step guide on how you made your quilt.  Note that in this rhetorical mode, process analysis, whether or not to incorporate the quilters of Gee's Bend in your paper is up to you.

Comparison and contrast: Compare and/or contrast your experience as a quilt maker with one (or more) of the women from Gee's Bend.  Choose an aspect of a Gee's Bend quilter's life, personality, or outlook as a maker, and compare/contrast it with your experience.   You can write either a classic or a keyhole comparison-contrast essay. 

Use these questions to spark ideas for your thesis.  They apply to both rhetorical modes:

• What was your overall experience as a maker?
• Did making your quilt during this time of social distancing and self-quarantine impact you emotionally?
• Did making your quilt help you deal with anxiety?  Or did it add to your anxiety?
• What surprised you about the process?
• If you got assistance, how did collaboration help you?
• What did making your quilt teach you about sustainability?
• What did making your quilt teach you about your own creativity?
• What did making your quilt teach you about your family or community?
• What are you going to do with your quilt?
• Is your quilt an art piece?  Or will it be for everyday use?
• Did making your quilt help you relate at all to the women of Gee’s Bend?
• Many of the Gee's Bend quilts were made during hard times.  Can you draw connections between the circumstances under which they were made and the circumstances under which you made your quilt? 

Essay requirements:

• 1500 - 2000 words
• At least three sources
• Sources do not have to be scholarly, and one can be an interview with a classmate, family member, or professional maker or artist
• MLA bibliographic style still applies
• 1 image (of your quilt or you or someone working on your quilt)
• Can be written from a first-person (I/we) point-of-view
• typed double-spaced
• font size no larger than 12 points
• 1-inch margins
• Head your paper!  (Or you will lose points)

Watch and read these related materials:

• The Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend (Links to an external site.) documentary
• New York Times article (Links to an external site.):  "In order to understand the brutality of American capitalism, you have to start on the plantation."  (This article is also available as a PDF document under Files.)
• Gee's Bend Quiltmakers (Links to an external site.)
• Quilts of Gee's Bend slideshow (Links to an external site.)
• "The Master Quilters of Gee’s Bend" (Links to an external site.)
• "The Alabama Women Who Made Their Quilts a Part of Modern Art" (Links to an external site.)
• "Can You Copyright a Quilt?" (Links to an external site.)
• Reading Module 1 -- Types of Rhetorical Modes:  "Comparison and Contrast" and "Process Analysis"
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