Project Brainstorm W13
From a piece of fiction (short story, section of novel, or a play) choose a female character on whom to focus, and create a project that discusses some of the following questions:
- What is the author’s attitude towards her? (how can you tell?)
- What is your attitude towards her?
- How do (at least 2) other characters view her?
- How does she view herself?
I like this topic for my reading Tales of the City because there is many female characters to choose from and they all come from different walks of life. Since they all interact with each other, it’s easy to see how they feel about each other. The males in the story also interact with them, so I can use a male point of view too. There’s a lot of internal reflection, so the opinion about them selves is not difficult to find. The hardest part on this topic is making all these points relate and showing their significance.
Choose a reading selection. Then choose one of the following questions, and write an argument in response to it:
- How does the work reflect the period in which it was written?
- What does the work reveal about the cultural behavior contemporary to it?
- How are class differences presented in the work? Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives?
This topic is very doable for Tales of the City because it’s in the height of San Franciscan wildness and freedom, so it has a lot of historical significance and cultural reflections compared to today. There’s also several different characters coming from radically different classes in life, from the mega wealthy to the paying rent with odd jobs. I think I can write about each segment individually strongly, but picking just one is a little difficult to write about for the project length.
Choose a reading selection. Explore the relationship between elements of the selection. For example: how does setting influence character development?
In the novel, there’s a new to the city character who goes through a lot of changes and self reflection, and it’s mostly thanks to where she lives, both where in and the city of San Francisco as a whole. It would be a little tedious, since it would be a project going through the entire story, no matter how I change it up. The story bounces around with characters, so it’ll be a digging project for sure.
Hey Michelle, I really liked your first prompt because it seemed like you had more ideas about what to write. The second would be fun, but I think would require a level of digging for historical facts. And the last prompt would be interesting as well, however, it does seem like a ton of work. I think you are right in saying it would require digging. It sounds like a lot of research, which is fun, but can be time consuming. And at this point in the semester, it's all about opportunity cost. But I say, do what makes you happy!
ReplyDeleteIf you choose the first prompt, I think it may be easier to just choose one dynamic female and focus on her by answering the prompt questions, and then placing quotes to support your answers (ie: about how other people see her, how she views herself, etc.) Can't wait to see which one you choose!
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI think the stories ties well with whichever prompt you chose. I would definitely think it through and see which one you feel more comfortable with, so that you can really get into it and just make your writing flow. I personally feel that with your first prompt you had more ideas and connected with more. I also feel that you will do better in writing about women feeling and their views because you are a woman yourself and that comes relatively easy for us to connect with women's feelings and emotions. I honestly like to work smarter and not harder and if you have to dig deep to find out all this information like the history then it will make it not as enjoyable for you. Great information, yo will do great!
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you have some great ideas of writing prompts here. From the sounds of it, you may have a challenge capturing everything you’d like to only because of how your book was written. An option for this is to focus on a few subjects, maybe there were a few that had more of a focus or more background, instead of focusing on all the subjects. I’m interested to see what direction you go with this. My two cents, if you choose to focus on a female character and how others perceive her, I like your idea of adding a man’s point of view. This will help you cover all angles and to have a more thorough paper. In addition your writing prompt of how the work reflects the period it was written in, I like that you pointed out that you have a few characters to choose from, wealthy and living paycheck to paycheck. Overall, you have some good ideas here!
Best,
Corine
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThese are all great ideas. All three of these projects sound like there will be a lot of digging around to find the information that you need. I agree with Laura, I think you have a stronger connection and already a game plan for the first prompt. Being that there are plenty of women in the story, you shouldn't have an issue. Im looking forward to reading your project!
-Patrick