Papers T Oct 22

Please analyze the role, nature, transmission or

interaction of any one of the following keywords in at least two of these texts: Northanger Abbey, Men in the Sun, The Dupes, Dien Cai Dau, Arabian Nights Entertainments, The Thief of Bagdad.

Gender, Money, Nature, Family

Remember to develop a thesis that goes beyond the
obvious, based on a very specific comparative element (x-factor) between the two works you are analyzing.

X-Factor with 2 texts

Try and make your x-factor as specifically related as
possible

Not: Both Northanger Abbey and Men in the Sun

portray women as inferior to men.

But: some specific comparative point (can be anything) Comparison of the endings, beginnings, one mother
figure from each text, the way in which food is described, a very specific analysis of two scenes of hospitality, etc.

Quotations
Remember to explain what your quote is doing, look at
its words very carefully and explain how you are reading it

Example King Menelaus then says after you eat you

will tell me why you are here, and if you are of noble birth as you appear to be (12). Letting them eat with such a task as to explain their presence at his wedding festival, and with the backhanded compliment that they appear to be noble, seems to carry with it the threat of something. If he was just being nice, just let them eat and thats it.

Not
King Menelaus then says after you eat you will tell me
why you are here, and if you are of noble birth as you appear to be (12). Therefore he is being a bit rude actually and not being hospitable.

Paragraphs
Each paragraph should be its own contained unit, each
paragraph should argue your thesis, each paragraph should have evidence and explain that evidence, each paragraph should have a transitional sentence that connects the previous paragraph to it and one that connects the next one to it.

Each paragraph should only have information that does

the above short, to the point, only your argument say anything extraneous that is true

Do not summarize the text ever in your paper, do not

Bad transition, bad paragraph

The son Telemachus is looking for his father Odysseus,
the hero of the Trojan War and of the book The Odyssey. He says where is my father (12) showing that he is looking for his father. Therefore the Odyssey is about looking for ones father. (new paragraph) When Odysseus reaches his homeland he stops to ask his swineherd questions, and goes into a disguise. His disguise was put on by Athena.

Good/good
as you appear to be (12). Menelaus seems to be
testing the boys, and indeed when Telemachus tells him why he is there, Menelaus says well, now I dont have to kill him (14), showing that the threat of violence was at hand even under such nice seeming circumstances.

It might seem like a stretch to call the

Menelaus/Telemachus interaction tense, but consider what happens when Odysseus tests his swineherd. (then put that evidence, tie it to thesis, etc.)

paper
Start with big topic (nature), narrow it down to one
scene (x-factor 1) find a very similar scene in text 2 (x-factor 2) examine examine examine = thesis comes out.

Reading Meaning
Why didnt you knock on the sides of the tank? Why didnt
you say anything? Why?

The desert suddenly began to send back the echo: Why didnt you knock on the sides of the tank? Why didnt
you bang the sides of the tank? Why? Why? Why? (74).
as important? Is this something you would say if this happened to you? Why? Why not?

What does this ending mean? What if any details strike you

Whats the significance of the empty water tanker?

Details = meaning (read 47)

But Abul Khaizuran who was driving his huge lorry
behind them all, skillfully continued advancing, without stopping for a second. When he caught up with Haj Ridas car, whose wheels were three-quarters sunk in mud, he stopped his lorry (47).

Why are these details in this story? What do they say

about this character? Why is that important?

Analyze Beginnings
Abu Qais rested on the damp ground, and the earth
began to throb under him with tired heartbeats, which trembled through the grains of sand and penetrated the cells of his body (21).

Its the sound of your own heart. You can hear it when
you lay your chest close to the ground (21).

Cool x-factor? Beginning vs. End

Abu Qais rested on the damp ground, and the earth
began to throb under him with tired heartbeats, which trembled through the grains of sand and penetrated the cells of his body (21).

Its the sound of your own heart. You can hear it when
you lay your chest close to the ground (21).

The desert suddenly began to send back the echo: Why didnt you knock on the sides of the tank? Why
didnt you bang the sides of the tank? Why? Why? Why? (74).