social distancing American Literature Assignment | Online Homework Help

The phrase ‘social distancing,’ which shows up in the film Contagion (2011), has dominated American reality over the past several months, leading to extraordinary modifications in our individual and collective behavior. But here’s a curious thing: when we look back through the works on our syllabus this term, it turns out that social distancing, in one form or another, has been with us for much longer that we might have realized–at least since Huck and Jim lit out for the raft in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Removing ourselves from specific ‘ill’ individuals and social groups, and from society as a whole, is a central American endeavor, in fact.” Write an essay in which you make a case for the truth of this proposition, using whichever of our course texts (including the film) help you do that most convincingly. Feel free to hedge or qualify that defense, if you think that important distinctions must be made between our own contemporary moment and earlier historical moments evoked in our course texts. **The other books that we read** Mark Twain “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Kate Chopin “The Awakening” Edith Wharton “Roman Fever” Jack London “To Build A Fire” Langston Hughes “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Charles Chesnutt “The Goophered Grapevine” Paul Laurence Dunbar “When Malindy Sings”, “We Wear the Mask”, “Sympathy” MOVIE THAT WE WATCHED “Contagiontake-home final exam (Spring 2020)
Dr. Adam Gussow
Please select one of the following two prompts and write an essay on it. At the top of your essay,
please note the number of the prompt you’re writing on. The recommended length is 1000-1500
words–the equivalent of four to six double-spaced pages with normal margins. You may write more if
you wish; you would be ill-advised to write less. This is an open-book exam, which means that you
may use any of the materials that were listed on the syllabus and/or have been a part of the course this
term: readings, video lectures, PowerPoints, etc., plus any notes you may have taken during my inperson
and video lectures.
You may not use other materials or sources of information, including (and particularly) websites that
were not a part of our common curriculum. Use of such materials, websites, etc., will be considered
academic dishonesty, will be reported as such to the Academic Discipline Committee, and will result in
a final course grade of F. As with any final exam, all your work should be your own. Any evidence
that you have borrowed from, shared with, or otherwise collaborated with one or more of your
classmates will be considered academic dishonesty and will also result in a final course grade of F.
Whichever prompt you choose, please be sure to support your claims with specific details from the
readings, lectures, etc.
When you have completed your exam, please upload it to Blackboard via the assignment marked “takehome
final – upload your exam here.” Please upload it as a Word .doc or docx. The exam window lasts
from 8 AM on Monday, May 3 through 11:59 AM on Friday, May 8th. You may upload your
completed exam at any time during that window. The exam window closes promptly at 12 noon on
May 8th. You will not be able to upload after that.
Good luck and have a great summer!
Prompt 1:
“If one assesses the assigned readings and film this term, beginning with Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn and ending with Contagion, solely from the perspective of how the women in them fare, then they
seem to offer us a long but uneven rising arc, one that shows American women slowly coming into
their full power as deep, complex, fully mobile agents of their own destiny.”
Do you agree? If so, make your case. If you disagree or have significant reservations, make
that case instead.
Prompt 2:
“The phrase ‘social distancing,’ which shows up in the film Contagion (2011), has dominated American
reality over the past several months, leading to extraordinary modifications in our individual and
collective behavior. But here’s a curious thing: when we look back through the works on our syllabus
this term, it turns out that social distancing, in one form or another, has been with us for much longer
that we might have realized–at least since Huck and Jim lit out for the raft in Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. Removing ourselves from specific ‘ill’ individuals and social groups, and from
society as a whole, is a central American endeavor, in fact.”
Write an essay in which you make a case for the truth of this proposition, using whichever of
our course texts (including the film) help you do that most convincingly. Feel free to hedge or qualify
that defense, if you think that important distinctions must be made between our own contemporary
moment and earlier historical moments evoked in our course texts.