Midterm Essay Assignment

ENGL 2450.02: Nature, Ecology, and Literature

Fall 2016
Key Dates
Mon., 10/3: Rough Drafts (full) due by class time; bring computer with electronic version to class
for in-class workshop
Fri., 10/7: Feedback returned by class time
Mon., 10/10: Final Drafts Due. Send Word Doc to ablumber@slu.edu.
General Assignment
In a 1500-word argumentative essay, respond to one of the prompts below. Draw from class
lectures, discussions, and your close reading assignments, and move beyond them, coming to
your own unique reading of the text(s) at hand. If you have a topic in mind that is not covered in
the prompts below, you may formulate your own, but please speak with me to have the topic
approved before Friday, September 30.
Requirements
o 1500 words (not less than 1450, or more than 1550), not including the Works Cited.
o This paper is argumentative. It will present a thesisa specific way of reading the text
with which others might disagree. The paper will then work to support this thesis with
textual evidence and analysis, i.e., close reading.
o To support your argument, you must incorporate at least two academic secondary sources,
such as books or scholarly articles. You may access these at Pius or through the electronic
databases to which the library subscribes. These may include the secondary articles we
read for class (Cronon, Williams, or Henson). Read these sources carefully, and use them
to develop and support your own argument.
o This paper should be formatted, to the best of your ability, according to MLA Citation
Style, with parenthetical citations. We will discuss this briefly in class. See Purdue OWL
MLA Formatting Guide online for guidance.
o This formatting includes a creative title. Please take the time to come up with a
title, rather than using Midterm Paper.
o This also includes a Works Cited page, which includes your primary text of
interest, and all secondary works, cited in MLA format.
Essay Prompts
*Note, these are fairly broad prompts. This assignment expects you to find a specific, unique
approach to whichever prompt you choose.
1.) In her first-person essay, Black Women and the Wilderness (1999), Evelyn White explores
the ways in which racial, sexual, political, and cultural factors shaped her experiences with
nature. Make an argument about how White shifts our understanding of nature. Make sure to
address what you think White means when she uses the word nature. Create your own unique,
argumentative reading of this essay, and support it using close readings of Whites work and at

ENGL 2450.02 Midterm Assignment

least two scholarly sources for support (these could include Cronons The Trouble with the
Wilderness and Williams Nature).
2.) In Hemingways The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1936), readers sometimes
gain entrance into the animals perspective of events, particularly the lions. If not going directly
into the animals thoughts, the narrative repeatedly turns to animals to say something significant
about the men in the story. For example, after the debacle with the lion, the narrator states,
Macomber did not know how the lion had felt, whereas Wilson knew something about it.
Re-read the story, paying close attention to how Hemingway uses descriptions of, or references
to, the animals to explore qualities of the male characters. In an essay, make an argument about
what these descriptions and comparisons say about Macomber and Wilson, particularly as such
descriptions relate to masculinity, courage, and/or cowardice.
3.) Write an essay answering the following questions with your own unique argument: Does
Hemingways story The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber uphold certain conventional
understandings of masculinity and femininity? What are those understandings? Or, does the story
undermine, or critique these conventions?
4.) Write an essay exploring the relationship between femininity and nature in Tess of the
DUrbervilles.
3.) Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles is deeply invested in representations of the natural world, as
well as in concepts of nature in that terms various meanings. How do representations of the
natural world in this novel contribute to the characterization of Tess, including her emotions,
motives, and/or desires?
5.) Select one significant natural image or landscape in Tessfor example, the Var Vale of
Talbothays Dairy, or the recurrent descriptions of natural lightand explain what meaning that
particular image or landscape contributes to the novel.
Helpful Tips and Reminders
**See the Rubric (on website) for Guidance
Introduction Paragraph
Avoid broad, general openings (e.g., Human beings have always had a close relationship
with nature). Begin with the text itself, remembering to provide the name of the author
and the text. Short story and titles use quotation marks (The Short Happy Life of
Francis Macomber) and novels are italicized (Tess of the DUrbervilles).
Your specific, unique thesis should come at the end of the introduction paragraph.
Keep the intro paragraph down to around page.
Body Paragraphs
This is where your argument is developed. Use Close Readings of your text to support
the argument youre making.

ENGL 2450.02 Midterm Assignment

Remember organization: 1 main idea per paragraph; use topic sentences; try to conclude
each paragraph by returning back to your thesis, showing your reader how the analysis
you just did supports your argument.
Use secondary sources to support your argument within these paragraphs. Introduce the
scholar and his/her work, clarify their argument, and explain how it pertains to your
own. See your work in conversation with theirs. Dont wait until the end of the paper
and then give your secondary sources their own paragraph.
o Make sure you know what kind of source youre dealing with. Is it a monograph?
Is it a chapter from an edited collection? Is is an article from a scholarly journal?

Conclusion Paragraph
The conclusion should briefly summarize the argument youve made
But should then go beyond summary, to address the so what? question. How does your
reading give us a new way to approach this text? What can your reader do now with your
argument? If youve made an argument about one character, symbol, or image, how does
that specific argument help us read the text as a whole?