Write a 4-5 pages (double-spaced, in 12-pt Times New Roman font) response to ONE of the following questions:
What do Yu Hua and Primo Levi tell us about the relationship between the perpetrators and the victims of traumatic injustices? Between the two books, what are the similarities and differences in the victim-perpetrator relationships?
What do Yu Hua and Primo Levi tell us about the survivals of human beings in wars and revolutions of the 20th century? What are the significant messages from their works regarding human survivals? Why do these stories of survivals matter in understanding world history since 1815?
What do Yu Hua and Primo Levi tell about the relationship between the state and the individuals in these challenging times? What states played important roles in the two historical contexts? How do the authors portray these states and their relationships to the individual characters? What historical messages about the state-society relations do we gather from their depictions?
Guideline for Essays
Your papers will be graded for depth, clarity, and style. The successful paper contains an original thesis. It argues this thesis in an effective manner, supporting all parts of the argument with ample textual evidence. The prose is clear, direct, and eloquent, and is unmarred by grammatical, syntactical, or typographical errors. The arguments are not only unified and coherent, but also complex and nuanced. The paper persuades the reader that the argument being made is of fundamental importance to an understanding of the text or texts under discussion.
Read and re-read your essay for content as well as form — is it persuasive? Is it interesting? If you are writing a comparative paper, have you shown why this particular comparison is illuminating to both texts?
Your paper should have a title. The title should not simply summarize the topic, but should give the reader a reason to want to read the paper.
Structure the paper clearly into three parts: an introduction, a body and conclusion.
The thesis of your essay should be stated clearly in the introduction. The thesis is not a reiteration of an assigned topic, but a specific, original position on the topic, which has been arrived at through analysis of the material.
The thesis should be advanced, rather than restated throughout the paper — each time you return to the thesis, you should be deepening the central argument. A void repetition without development.
Avoid sweeping generalizations, such as “history tells us …” or “man has always …” Also, avoid using vague terminology, such as “society” or “human nature” without qualifying explanations about how a given author is using these terms.
Avoid summarizing or rehashing the class discussions without adding anything new – these discussions should serve as a starting point for your own argument
Use specific examples from the text to support your argument, and offer citations with appropriate references for your examples.
If you are borrowing information from any source, for these papers, put page numbers in parenthesis right after the sentence. For example: (Levi, 32) or (Yu, 55)
Don’t ignore evidence that contradicts your thesis, but acknowledge or refute it
At the same time, do not rely too heavily on quoted material at the expense of analysis. Do not offer lengthy summaries of plot or philosophical argument, but only draw on those specific details that are directly relevant to your own argument.
Proofread your paper carefully. If possible, have a friend proofread your paper as well. Do not rely exclusively on Spell Check, Autocorrect, or other computer programs (especially computer thesauri, which tend to be inaccurate).
