my american literature I midterm paper assignment

[SHATOUSHKA]

QUESTIONS:

1) what is evil and how should we deal with it? different writers we have looked at would answer these questions in different ways. choose 3 writers or works and discuss their views. how might they define evil? or do they even talk in terms of good and evil? how should we address evil according to the work, and what does the view of evil sugget about the culture the work comes from?


2) what is life about? does it have a purpose for us? if so, what is that purpose and how has it been determined? choose 3 works and discuss them in light of this issue. what does the writer say or imply about the purpose of life? how do we know that purpose and what should we do to live up to it?

3) both the american indians and the puritans look for symbols to show them the meaning of life and evidence of the sacred or divine, but they do it in different ways. choose 3 works and show how symbolism functions: what are the important symbols and what do they represent? what does the use of symbols suggest about the cultures that the work comes from?

4) benjamin franklin sets out to achieve moral perfection by defining the virtues he wants to nurture in his life. other writers aren't as direct, but they too tend to define virtues and suggest ways of living up (or failing to live up) to them. choose 3 works and show how the writers define and present virtues or virtuous behavior. what is the source of their definition or the principle behind it, and how do the virtues reflect the views of the writers cultures?


so basically pick one and write a 3-4 page paper answering it.


let's see.... we have:

1) good and evil
2) purpose of life
3) symbolism
4) ethic and virtue


HOW THE FUCK AM I GOING TO WRITE ON THESE
SUBJECTS, CONTAINING 3 FUCKING WRITERS AND
QUOTED TEXT IN A TOTAL OF 4 FUCKING PAGES?!?!?


THIS IS FUCKING COLLEGE, PEOPLE.... WHERE
ARE THE FUCKING 10 PAGE PAPERS????


every fucking paper i turn in is AT LEAST
5 pages.... AT VERY LEAST...

sometimes i think i get marked against because
i send in double the assignment (on average).

but CMON!!!! wtf could write all that in 4 pages????


*waits on wes or someone to reply*

[TastinGood]

I have a feeling that many others in the class are looking at the same assignment and proclaiming...

"4 WHOLE MOTHERFUCKING PAGES?????? I hope he'll accept 3."

[SHATOUSHKA]

i have only 3 major assignments in that class...
not including the lame fucking busy work of a
daily journal...

on the last paper, i walked in class with a
fucking heafty 10 page paper.... and i remember
some girl leaning over to me saying.

"oh man... i hope i do good on this paper, i
barely made 3 and a half pages! what about you?"


i couldn't answer [img]confused.gif[/img]


sometimes i wonder if i'm really apart of it all.
as if i'm expelling the effort when i clearly
don't have to. i question the level of my given
education when there is hardly anything being
asked of me.

in addition, i'm insulted when i receive less
than perfect scores.

on my last paper... i attempted to argue why
i felt that X writer was faking her belief in
god... since her doubt was clearly expressed in
her writings.... the fucking professor basically
told me (on my paper handed back) that i should
transcend conventional views when its CLEAR she
was puritan.

that pissed me off.

i'd go into it here.... but i feel it isn't worth
my time. if you are interested... put ANNE BRADSTREET
into a search engine and read some of her shit.
then we can chat about what i felt.

if not, no loss.


bah fuck it....

i'm obviously just intellectually pretentious. [img]graemlins/thumbs_down.gif[/img]

[SHATOUSHKA]

btw... i don't appreciate being asked to refrain
from a profound discussion and to return to the herd.

fuck that guy....

[GravyTrain]

you are definitely the type of person that everyone else in the class hates. i don't mind doing a 4 page paper, or a 5 page paper, but i never understood why i had to write a big long research paper on something, when i could care less about it. and never will i use the skill of being able to make a 5-point essay or write a research paper with references and an organized bibliography (hope that is the right word)

in other words, you are a nerd.

[SHATOUSHKA]

but its an area that i CAN appreciate... which
is the difference. the classes i am referring to
are in accordance to my major -- literature.
so it should be no surprise to ANYONE in that
class that a major, lengthy paper assignment would
happen.... and yet, it never does.

i can understand taking a gen-ed course or
something indirectly affiliated with school and
complaining about the lame shit they make you
do... as i despise gen-ed.
but what i don't understand, is that i've done
bigger, harder assignments in gen-ed than in
ANYTHING related to my major.

this is the point.

[SHATOUSHKA]

secondly....

whether you use your lit. degree for teaching
or further research, you should become quite
familiar with written papers... in doing them
and in reading them.


i find it a bit absurd and COMPLETELY contradicting
for any lit. major to complain about reading/writing
lengthy papers when that is the whole of the course
in general....

[ek3]

Alison...I would love to help you...but unfortunately all my experience comes in the field of getting out of work...not figuring out a way to do more...