****Instructions from prof:
Inter-textual relationship\u2014the way that a character from one text reappears as a similar character in another text, or the way that a scene in one book is echoed in another. You will be exploring, in other words, the ways that cultural developments in America at certain points in our history produce similar patterns or characters in various texts. focus on two similar characters or two related scenes, one from one text and one from another. I would like you to try to identify the cultural forces that produced this particular pair of characters or scenes. Discuss the similarities between the characters or scenes and note the differences. Work toward explaining how the two authors employ the characters or scenes to develop their main ideas. Don\u2019t allow yourself to be satisfied by tracing simply the obvious similarities; look also for the ways that the two authors may use a similar character or similar scene for quite distinct purposes. By the end of your essay, you will want to have demonstrated how even a relatively minor character or scene, when viewed in juxtaposition with a related character or scene in another text, is essential for clarifying the main thrust of the text.
Choose your pair of scenes or characters from any two of the texts we have examined so far this semester. Think of a character and his counterpart, and why, and what that relationship tells us about the culture, about the two texts, about the purposes of the two authors. Or think of a scene\u2014the slave auction in Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin, for example\u2014and ask yourself where the analogous scene is in Douglass\u2019s text: how are the scenes different, and to what purposes are they used? Or think about a character from Benito Cereno\u2014Benito himself, or Delano, or Babo, or Atufal\u2013and seek out his counterpart in Stowe\u2019s novel, or in Douglass\u2019s narrative, or, less obviously but still possibly, in Thoreau\u2019s THE Maine Woods Maybe you will want to focus on two scenes of escape, or two slave deaths, or two moments of slave revolt. Think of Edna\u2019s (spoiler alert!) death\/liberation and Mary Conant\u2019s death\/liberation (may be stretching it a bit there.) How about Parkman as protagonist and Douglass as protagonist?
As you decide on the pair of characters or scenes, think through where your comparison will lead you. Look for the pairing that will yield some surprising and illuminating insights instead of just predictable ones. Go beyond the obvious pairings\u2014what about the women in Benito Cereno, for example? Where are their counterparts in other texts we\u2019ve read? Be courageous: think of even stranger pairings.
****List of texts for the coarse:
\u2022 Toqueville and the \u201cThree Races\u201d
\u2022 HOBOMOK
\u2022 THE OREGON TRAIL
\u2022 Thoreau\u2019s \u201cIndians\u201d
\u2022 Thoreau and Melville
\u2022 \u201cBenito Cereno\u201d
\u2022 Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin
\u2022 Frederick Douglass Narrative
****My choice was to compare main characters of Uncle Tom & Frederick Douglass since both speak more about the slaves experiences and feelings. Both characters had strong moral backgrounds, books were written for a different audience than the other books \u2013 for whites who didn\u2019t support slavery and for the blacks who were opposed to slavery and could relate to the scenes.I would be open to other suggestions from my assigned writer.
*****I\u2019m and an Undergrad and the essay doesn\u2019t need to be elaborate or wordy as my prior writings have not been, they have been written quickly and to the point.
****Can send copies of previous coarse work if needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
****Instructions from prof: Inter-textual relationship\u2014the way that a character from one text reappears as a similar character in another text, or the way that a scene in one book is echoed in another. You will be exploring, in other words, Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}