Option 1
Choose a person who has been publicly shamed, shunned, or canceled. In an organized essay, placing 3-4 texts that are on the syllabus (you are also permitted to use one that is NOT on the syllabus, though this is not a requirement) in conversation, argue whether this person’s cancellation (or “cancellation”) is morally justifiable in a liberal society. Argue why or why not by analyzing the ideas and arguments in the texts.
Option 2
In “Shunned,” Meredith Hall describes her experience being canceled, though nobody used this word at the time. She was ostracized from her community and family because the fact of her pregnancy was evidence that she broke the norms and values of her society. It is a personal essay, in many ways, about a victim of moral grandstanding*. “This is not cancel culture,” someone in her community might have said. “It’s accountability culture. Follow our moral codes and you won’t be shunned.”
In an organized essay, discuss this story of cancelation in conversation with two or three other relevant texts on the syllabus. Your essay must have a unified thesis and clear supporting arguments.
*look up the definition of this phrase and integrate the concept into your paper
FOR BOTH OPTIONS:
DUE: 11:59 PM ON 5/3: NO EXTENSIONS OR LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED
LENGTH: 5-6 pages YOU MUST SATISFY THE MINIMUM PAGE LENGTH TO PASS THE PAPER (You must use conventional double spacing)
YOU MUST INCLUDE ANALYSIS OF DIRECT QUOTES TO PASS THE PAPER
YOU MUST HAVE A CLEAR THESIS AND CLEAR SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS TO PASS THE PAPER
I AM LOOKING FOR:
A COHERENT, SUSTAINED THESIS THAT TAKES A CLEAR STANCE
CLEAR TOPIC SENTENCES THAT MAKE CLAIMS AND THAT SYNTHESIZE IDEAS FROM MORE THAN ONE TEXT
A CLEAR RELATIONSHIP/DISTINCTION BETWEEN YOUR OWN IDEAS AND THE IDEAS IN THE TEXTS
CLOSE READING, INCLUDING TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC QUOTES, AT LEAST TWO PER PARAGRAPH/ARGUMENT
SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS THAT ARE DISTINCT FROM EACH OTHER, BUT THAT CLEARLY CONNECT TO AND SUPPORT THE THESIS
FULLY DEVELOPED PARAGRAPHS THAT ARE COHESIVE AND THAT CONNECT
ORIGINALITY AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE ARGUMENTATION
CORRECT MLA CITATIONS (AUTHOR’S NAME AND PAGE NUMBER IN PARENTHESES)
AN ORIGINAL AND CREATIVE TITLE THAT REFLECTS YOUR THESIS
ALL TEXTS OUTSIDE THE SYLLABUS (YOU MAY USE ONLY ONE) MUST BE CLEARED BY ME BEFORE THE DUE DATE
These are all the sources that are on the
syllabus that can be used.
Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder: “Cancel Culture: It’s Real and On the Rise, on the Left and on the Right” https://banished.substack.com/p/cancel-culture?r=3vwvr&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=emailLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.
Reading: Sarah Hagi: “Cancel Culture is Not Real…” https://time.com/5735403/cancel-culture-is-not-real/Links to an external site.
Reading: Various Authors: Harper’s Letter: “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate”
https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/Links to an external site.Links to an external site.
“When Censorship Becomes Necessary” https://www.ted.com/talks/when_censorship_becomes_necessaryLinks to an external site.
Reading: Various Authors: Pen Letter re: Charlie Hebdo: https://pen.org/pen-receives-letter-from-members-about-charlie-hebdo-award/Links to an external site.Links to an external site.
Reading: Interview with Jacob Mchangama: https://www.bristolideas.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Jacob-Mchangama-large-print-transcript.pdfLinks to an external site.Open this document with ReadSpeaker docReader Links to an external site.
Reading: Jonathan Haidt: “Why The Past Ten Years of American Life Have been Uniquely Stupid” https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/Links to an external site.
J.M Coetzee: “Taking Offense” https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Coetzee_TakingOffense.pdfLinks to an external site.Open this document with ReadSpeaker docReader Links to an external site.
Reading: Emily Yoffe: “A Taxonomy of Fear” https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-taxonomy-of-fearLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.
Reading: Roxane Gay: “Why I’ve Decided to Take My Podcast Off Spotify”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/opinion/culture/joe-rogan-spotify-roxane-gay.htmlLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.
Bryan W. Van Norden: “The Ignorant Do Not Have a Right to an Audience”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/opinion/free-speech-just-access.htmlLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.
Peter Savodnik: “The Ouster of Penn President Won’t Fix The Problem”
https://www.thefp.com/p/ouster-of-penn-president-wont-fix-the-problemLinks to an external site.
Reading 1: Hannah Black letter to Whitney Museum:
https://www.artnews.com/artnews/news/the-painting-must-go-hannah-black-pens-open-letter-to-the-whitney-about-controversial-biennial-work-7992/Links to an external site.
Reading 1: Hannah Black letter to Whitney Museum:
https://www.artnews.com/artnews/news/the-painting-must-go-hannah-black-pens-open-letter-to-the-whitney-about-controversial-biennial-work-7992/Links to an external site.
Reading 2: Aruna D’Souza: “Who Speaks Freely?: Art, Race, and Protest”
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/05/22/who-speaks-freely-art-race-and-protest/
Zadie Smith: “Getting in and Out: Who Owns Black Pain?” https://harpers.org/archive/2017/07/getting-in-and-out/Links to an external site.
Reading: Meredith Hall: “Shunned” https://creativenonfiction.org/writing/shunned/Links to an external site.
Reading: Meredith Hall: “Shunned” https://creativenonfiction.org/writing/shunned/Links to an external site.
Reading: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Letter from Birmingham Jail” https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.htmlLinks to an external site.
This is the writing criteria below please try to write an A+ paper:
Grade of A: An essay that earns an A demonstrates a high degree of competence and meets the following criteria:
□ Presents an argument that responds to the writing assignment thoroughly and insightfully
□ Demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the assigned texts
□ Is very well focused, organized, and developed at the essay level, integrating assigned texts and/or research
□ Is very well framed and developed at the paragraph level, including effective assertions, analysis, and textual evidence
□ Demonstrates strong facility with language, using effective vocabulary, syntax, and sentence variety
□ Demonstrates strong control of the grammar, rules of usage, and mechanics of standard English
Grade of B: An essay that earns a B is written in a clearly competent manner and meets the following criteria:
□ Presents an argument that responds to all of the elements of the writing assignment effectively and thoughtfully
□ Demonstrates a solid understanding of the readings
□ Is effectively focused, organized, and developed at the essay level, integrating assigned texts and/or research
□ Is effectively framed and developed at the paragraph level, including appropriate assertions, analysis, and textual evidence
□ Demonstrates good facility with language, using appropriate vocabulary, syntax, and sentence variety
□ Shows good control of the grammar, rules of usage, and mechanics of standard English, but may have some errors
Grade of C: An essay that earns a C demonstrates adequate competence but is limited in one or more of the following ways:
□ Presents an argument that responds to the writing assignment adequately, but may be somewhat limited
□ Demonstrates a competent, though sometimes superficial, understanding of the readings
□ Is adequately focused at the essay level, though the paragraphs could be more effectively organized or explicitly connected and the assigned texts and/or research could be better integrated
□ Is thinly developed at the paragraph level, inconsistent in its inclusion of assertions, analysis, or textual evidence.
□ Demonstrates satisfactory facility with language, but may have limited control of syntax and minimal sentence variety
□ Demonstrates adequate, though sometimes inconsistent control of grammar, usage, and mechanics
Grade of D: An essay that earns a D approaches competence, but has one or more of the following flaws:
□ Presents an argument that is unclear or seriously limited in its response to the writing assignment, or does not present any argument
□ Demonstrates an inadequate reading, or a misreading of the texts
□ Is unfocused, disorganized, or underdeveloped at the essay level
□ Is inadequately developed at the paragraph level, lacking assertions, analysis, and/or textual evidence
□ Demonstrates errors in the use of language or syntax, which may interfere with meaning
□ Demonstrates errors in grammar, usage, or mechanics, which may interfere with meaning
Grade of F: An essay that earns an F lacks competence, since it has one or more of the following flaws:
□ Fails in its response of the writing assignment
□ Is incomplete/severely underdeveloped
□ Contains severe grammatical or syntactical errors that persistently obscure meaning
