English 109H Final Exam Essay Summer 2013 Percentage of Final Grade: 10% This final asks you

to make an argumentvery similar to our first essay assignment on Planet Walker; however, the prompts for the final are broad as they ask you to develop arguments across texts and to connect materials throughout the course as a whole. Below are four directives based on the course contentPlanet Walker, D2L articles, class discussions and videos, your own essays and research. Basically, anything you have done or read for this class is on the table. Write a critically perceptive essay in response to ONE of these prompts. Your aim is produce an insightful and engaging interpretive essay (at max five pages, double-spaced), which develops a particular thesis in relation to at least two works, in any genre, from the course. Think of these questions as suggestions for the development of an original thesis. How you choose to focus, frame, and/or contextualize your essay will to a great degree determine its effectiveness. ***
1. While the destination is desirable, the journey and being the present each

moment is the meditation my walking has become. . . . In walking there is a constant sense of place (Francis 104). Walking is a central theme across several of our texts whether on the rural roads of the Arco dessert, the city streets of New York, or the cobblestones of nineteenth century Paris. How do we experience, or even create, a place through movement, specifically walking? What lessons does walking teach us? Who is the pedestrian and what is his or her character like? How is walking different from driving and other mechanical modes of transportation? A good starting place for this essay may be to return to your papers on Planet Walker or the short assignment on De Certeau and Benjamin. We read several creative nonfiction pieces throughout this course. Each author was really trying to describe an important aspect of their identity through place and/or objects. As Jim Corder writes, I am provincial. And I am undisturbed about being provincial. Each of us lives in a province. (49-50). For this essay, you should consider describing the province of each writer that you choose. You may want to think about how authors used their recollections to create their identities for readers. For this prompt, you should choose at least TWO narrators to analyze (Barnes, Benjamin, Corder, Francis). You may consider approaching this essay as a compare / contrast of authors.
2.

Using Jane Bennetts Vibrant Matter as a lens textthis would involve an engagement with her work and an explanation of her theory of the materialI want you to apply her idea of anthropomorphism and its use to any of the writings or videos that we read or watched this semester (at least two). The idea of anthropomorphism can be applied to places as well for this essay, not only things, as is Bennetts particular scope in her argument. How does our orientation toward the material change when we consider things or places as vital? How does reading an author through this vital materialist lens change our understanding of his or her work? You should pay special attention to the imagery that the writers in your analysis use in their works.
3.

In this class, we spent a significant time working to develop as writers, especially through processes of invention and peer review. This option asks you to reflect on your work in this course; specifically, how have you invented yourself as a writer? What has been your inventive journey in this writing course? Has a theme in your writing emerged? How has it grown and/or been transformed? Does something remain inscrutable and/or unresolved? What are some of the aspects of your writing you feel still need improvement? Cite at least two of your written texts from the course the three main essays and/or the short response assignmentsto provide examples of your claims regarding the writings you have accomplished.
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