Consider two characters you’ve encountered from different texts (select from Twelfth Night, Baltimore Waltz, To the Lighthouse, “Good Country People,” “Dog Days”), and make an argument about how the body is similarly conceived/constructed/represented/redefined for these characters. Make sure you have a specific agenda in associating these characters. 6-8 pg

Notes:

• You must formulate a scholarly question for this essay. Please do not hesitate to pass it by me (or Jack) before you begin writing.
• Your essay must not be structured as an alternating paragraph-per-character comparison, but should instead be formed out of ideas that contain your discussion of both characters within each paragraph. (In other words, do not default to high school comparative essays: A, B, A, B….) 
• Make sure you cite an equivalent proportion of lines/passages from each text. Introduce cited material in your language and integrate properly.
• Attempt to think outside the box in making a unique connection between two characters we might not otherwise imagine within the same scholarly discussion; be as creative and risk-taking as possible. What you choose to write about is as important as how you choose to write about it. You can take any theme/idea of interest and run with it.
• Know the stakes of your argument. Know your agenda. Imagine a statement in your intro that goes something like: “reading these two characters together offers a significant insight/perspective on the idea of ____”
• Make sure you provide brief contextual content for each text you’re writing about so that your reader is informed enough to follow your discussion. Where necessary, attend to the differences in genre/form; for example, it means something different to talk about a Shakespeare character in relation to an O’Connor character when discussing, for example, something like the performative nature of identity, so acknowledge the differences that arise when working across genres and time periods and styles, etc.
• Create smooth transitions between paragraphs, sentences, and ideas. Remember to aim for cohesion across your essay; assert your argument along the way, especially as a synthesizing method for connecting all of the pieces of your analysis.
• Challenge yourself in your conclusion. What have you learned by reading these otherwise disparate characters within a shared discussion of some specific idea about the body? (Avoid reader relatability, generalized universalizing statements, relevance to 2019, clichés, etc.) Do not summarize your paper or repeat ideas. The mere uniqueness of putting two characters together should, I hope, offer an idea that hasn’t previously been considered or approached in this way—so what is the impact of your particular analysis, what are the implications of thinking about the body through this lens, and why does it matter? (Why should your reader want to read your essay? The answer to this originates in why you would even want to write it in the first place.) Remain open to discovery, pursue curiosities, and give yourself ample creative freedom to express your ideas in a style that best suits you, especially as this is your final essay. Show me the writing voice you’ve developed over the course of this semester. Write with confidence.
• Proofread. Consult with Jack if that’s helpful at any point in the process.