Victorian Literature Essay Paper Assignment

Professor McNeil
English 320

Due: beginning of class,
May 12, 1999

Spring Semester 1999 Colonial Themes and Victorian Literature Essay Paper Assignment

Assignment: Write an essay paper (4-6 pages, about 1200-1800 words) in which you discuss a text or texts touching on the themes of colonialism that we have seen in the class

The paper must be typed, double-spaced, and on one side of the page. Leave no more than a 1 1/2-inch margin on both sides of your page, number your pages, and fasten them together (staple or paper clips; staple is best).

I would welcome the chance to talk with any of you about your paper topics any time between now and the final due date, and would encourage you to do so.

Guidelines for writing the paper
All essays in general require a topic and a thesis. In this assignment (and most English paper assignments) you are essentially writing an "argumentative essay." In other words you are making some specific claim (your thesis) about a subject and then "proving" that claim with "evidence" and supporting details in the body of your essay.

Topics and theses are related but NOT the same thing: topics are much more general than theses.

Topic Thesis

Colonial attitudes after the Indian Mutiny The Moonstone reveals a changed attitude
on the part of British society after the Mutiny: tolerance, respect, and understanding of Indian culture would neutralize Indian resistance
to British rule.

Cultural tolerance in "The Two Drovers" Though Scott is sympathetic toward the special cultural values of Highland society, he still suggests that when civilized ways clash with primitive ways, primitive ways must give way.

British opinions on native languages in Macaulay's "Minute on Indian Education" Though Macaulay's argument reflects the standard colonial assumption that native language and culture is inferior to British language and culture, he somehow sees himself as a noble crusader bringing forth the light of advanced knowledge to the "dark" places of the East.

The diamond in The Moonstone The diamond in The Moonstone is actually an anti-matter proton converter left on the planet by alien beings. The Indians are not Indians at all but aliens in disguise who have come to retrieve the converter. The "ink trick" is actually a method of communication. The young English boy is an android.

Some possible topics

White "savages" versus dark "savages" in "The Two Drovers" and The Heart of Darkness
Knowledge as power in The Moonstone
Nationalism and resistance to colonial rule in Yeats's political poems
The "Celt" versus the "Oriental" in Arnold and Scott
Bertha as "anti-Jane" in Jane Eyre
Gender oppression versus race oppression in Jane Eyre
Colonialism and the rights of women in Jane Eyre
The "savage" within us in The Heart of Darkness and Cawnpore
Greed or benevolence? the motives of colonialism in The Moonstone and Macaulay's Minute
Racism and the limits of science in Darwin's work
Class prejudice versus race prejudice in The Moonstone and The Sign of Four
Colonial images of the African versus that of the Indian in The Moonstone and The Heart of Darkness
Colonialism and the disruption of the domestic English home in The Moonstone and Jane Eyre
Corruption versus enlightenment: the colonial mindset in The Heart of Darkness and Macaulay's Minute
British masculinity versus native masculinity in Cawnpore
Male fantasies of freedom in "Locksely Hall"

Helpful hints in writing the paper

Read the poem(s) or passage(s) you intend to use very carefully before you begin to write your paper.
If you choose a longer work (such as The Moonstone or Jane Eyre) you will probably need to focus your answer on part(s) of the text. If you choose a very short poem, you might possibly write on more than one--for example, two or three poems by Yeats. But be careful that you treat each poem thoroughly.

State your thesis right in the introduction of your paper. It’s best to get to your point in the first or second paragraph.
Support your thesis with specific details of the poem (or whatever) you are using. It’s best to be as specific as you can about your work's actual phrasing, imagery, word choice, plot details, characterization, etc.

Make sure that you document all quotations and references to other people’s work. Short quotations can be included in the body of your text in double-quotation marks with a citation in parentheses: "I went with him, and looked at the man on the bed. GODFREY ABLEWHITE!" (Collins 502).
After your first reference, it's ok just to refer to pages of the novel (or the line numbers of the poem): "The chapters best adapted to female perusal are 'Satan in the Hair Brush'; 'Satan Behind the Looking Glass'; 'Satan Under the Tea Table' . . ." (268).
Long quotations of three lines or more of writing should be a) indented 10 spaces b) written out as verse (if poetry) c) single-spaced d) not in quotation marks e) with ending punctuation before documentation:

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation . . . . [I]t is narrow-minded . . . to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing the piano and embroidering bags. (Brontë 111) You are required to do outside research on this paper. I will provide a bibliography of useful or interesting scholarly works related to issues of colonialism that will hopefully help to get you started on your search for information. (Many times you can also find a useful bibliography of secondary material in the back of a given edition) It might be best, though, first to reflect and brainstorm on the topics and works that might interest you before embarking on your research at the library.
When you do refer to an outside source in your paper, give its full title, author, and publication details in a Works Cited list at the end of your paper (use MLA style guidelines). Don’t use footnotes in the paper itself.
For internet links to useful sites on Victorian literature and research see the last page of my Victorian Syllabus website.

Lastly, please give your paper a title, and please proofread your paper carefully before turning it in.

Topic	Thesis
Colonial attitudes after the Indian Mutiny	The Moonstone reveals a changed attitude on the part of British society after the Mutiny: tolerance, respect, and understanding of Indian culture would neutralize Indian resistance to British rule.
Cultural tolerance in "The Two Drovers"	Though Scott is sympathetic toward the special cultural values of Highland society, he still suggests that when civilized ways clash with primitive ways, primitive ways must give way.
British opinions on native languages in Macaulay's "Minute on Indian Education"	Though Macaulay's argument reflects the standard colonial assumption that native language and culture is inferior to British language and culture, he somehow sees himself as a noble crusader bringing forth the light of advanced knowledge to the "dark" places of the East.
The diamond in The Moonstone	The diamond in The Moonstone is actually an anti-matter proton converter left on the planet by alien beings. The Indians are not Indians at all but aliens in disguise who have come to retrieve the converter. The "ink trick" is actually a method of communication. The young English boy is an android.