For your fourth short practice paper, you will compose a short (3-4 page) essay in which you present an argument about Langston Hughes’s short story “The Blues I’m Playing” using Marxist Literary Criticism as a lens.
The process:
The discussion post from this week is intended to start you thinking about a specific element of Hughes’s story you want to focus on. Starting with this post consider how you can expand on the idea you presented to make a claim about how to interpret the story through Marxist Literary Criticism. Consider what sections, quotes, or plot points will support the claim you want to make. I suggest focusing on a specific character, plot point, or element instead of trying to tackle the whole story.
Your paper should include
An introduction where you introduce Hughes’s story in a sentence or two and present your argument. Make sure you are making an argument about how to interpret the story – not simply observing something about the story. You should have a clear argument about the ideologies presented in the story based on your chosen focus.
A set of body paragraphs which extend your claim based on a reading of the story – you can close read one specific section, discuss the plot more broadly, focus on one character or plot point, whichever approach feels most helpful for your argument.
A brief concluding paragraph where you talk about how your argument about the story reflects broader ideas about the themes raised.
The focus of your paper is to make an argument about “The Blues I’m Playing” that uses a Marxist lens. You should not just summarize the story. Identifying plot or character elements that are reflecting Marxist ideas is a great start – you want to go further and make an argument about what this means for our interpretation of the story.
Make sure you are appropriately quoting elements from the story – since the story is online you do not need to worry about page numbers and you do not need a works cited. You do need to be sure you are clear about quotations or paraphrases of Hughes’s words and ideas.
The story is from 1933 and uses terms to refer to African Americans (“Negroes,” “colored”) which were considered appropriate at the time but are no longer appropriate. In writing about this story, please use current appropriate language (African American, Black, person of color). The only time it would be appropriate to use this older out of date language is if you are directly quoting the story.
Your essay should be formatted as follows: 12 point, Times New Roman, double spaced with one inch margins. Your name, the date, the course name, and a title should appear on the first page. You do not need a separate title page.
Presenting someone else’s ideas as your own is plagiarism and will result in an automatic zero on this assignment. If you are nervous about writing or this paper, please make use of the resources linked on the D2L page and reach out to me if you would like to schedule a video conference.
