Due Monday (tomorrow), November 25th: The Tempest, Act II

AND

Due Wednesday, December 4th: Ceremony / There There Paper

AP Literature (Barraza)

Fall 2019-2020

Ceremony / There There

Final Essay Questions (Choose One): Due Wednesday, December 4th.

Basic Directions: Strong, defensible thesis that is clear and well-constructed; 3-5 pages double-spaced and adhering to MLA guidelines. Essay must be balanced: voice; textual evidence; and strong analytical commentary. Your line of reasoning should be intentional and clear to the reader. Stay away from circular reasoning and take analytical risks that stem from your close reading of the text.

Essay Topics to Consider for: There There

1. “And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny or any supernatural agency.” Pauline Hopkins, Contending Forces

Consider the cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings that help to shape the psychological or moral traits found in There There’s characters. Then, write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how surroundings affect a particular character (or characters) and how that relationship between surrounding(s) and character(s) illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

2. Discuss the development of the “Urban Indian” identity and ownership of that label. How does it relate to the push for assimilation by the United States government? How do the characters in There There navigate this modern form of identity alongside their ancestral roots?
3. Consider the following statement: “We stayed because the city sounds like a war, and you can’t leave a war once you’ve been, you can only keep it at bay” (9). In what ways does the historical precedent for violent removal of Native populations filter into the modern era? How does violence—both internal and external—appear throughout the narrative?
4. Early in the novel, Orange states, “We’ve been defined by everyone else and continue to be slandered despite easy-to-look-up-on-the-internet facts about the realities of our histories and current state as a people” (7). Discuss this statement in relation to how Native populations have been defined in popular culture. How do the characters in There There resist the simplification and flattening of their cultural identity? Relate the idea of preserving cultural identity to Dene Oxendene’s storytelling mission.
5. Tony Loneman’s perspective both opens and closes There There. Why do you think Orange made this choice for the narrative? What does Loneman’s perspective reveal about the “Urban Indian” identity? About the landscape of Oakland?
6. Opal’s mother tells her that she needs to honor her people “by living right, by telling our stories. [That] the world was made of stories, nothing else, and stories about stories” (58). How does this emphasis on storytelling function throughout There There? Consider the relationship between storytelling and power. How does storytelling allow for diverse narratives to emerge? What is the relationship between storytelling and historical memory?
7. Edwin Black asserts, “The problem with Indigenous art in general is that it’s stuck in the past” (77). How does the tension between modernity and tradition emerge throughout the narrative? Which characters seek to find a balance between honoring the past and looking toward the future? When is the attempt to do so successful?
8. How is the city of Oakland characterized in the novel? How does the city’s gentrification affect the novel’s characters? Their attitudes toward home and stability?
9. How is femininity depicted in There There? What roles do the female characters assume in their community? Within their families?
10. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a particular character (or set of characters) in There There struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.

Essay Topics to Consider for Ceremony:

1. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in Ceremony struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work
2. Many writers use a country setting to establish values within a work of literature. For example, the country may be a place of virtue and peace or one of primitivism and ignorance. Discuss how the setting in Ceremony plays a significant role. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the country setting functions in the work as a whole.
3. “And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny or any supernatural agency.” Pauline Hopkins, Contending Forces

Consider the cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings that help to shape the psychological or moral traits found in Ceremony’s characters. Then, write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how surroundings affect a particular  character (or characters) and how that relationship between surrounding(s) and character(s) illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

4. The eighteenth-century British novelist Laurence Sterne wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.”

Choose a character from Ceremony (not necessarily Tayo) whose mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within this character illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

5. Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures—national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question. Choose a character responds to such a cultural collision. Then write a well-organized essay in which you describe the character’s response and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.