Write a paper on focusing on Cherie Emmaline The Marrow Thieves. Choose one of the two quotes below from the novel for your Passage Significance #2 submission. The due date above is firm, which means no late submissions will be accepted except in the most extraneous circumstances and with official documentation.
a.) Isaac didn’t have memories in his family of the original schools, the ones that pulled themselves up like wooden monsters coming to attention across the land back in the 1800s – monsters who stayed there, ingesting our children like sweet berries, one after the other, for over a hundred years. Isaac didn’t have grandparents who’d told residential school stories like campfire tales to scare you into acting right, stories about men and women who promised themselves to God only and then took whatever they wanted from the children, especially at night. (106-07)
OR
b.) The memories I carried from the days I’d had with my parents were kept in cradleboards in my mind, situated in complete safety, even the bad ones. In them, there is always this feeling, an understanding more than an emotion, of protection. It didn’t matter what has happening in the world, my job was to be Francis. That was all. Just remain myself. And now? Well, now I had a different family to take care of. My job was to hunt, and scout, and build camp, and break camp, to protect the others. I winced even thinking of it. My failure. I’d failed at protecting, and now, as a result, I failed at remaining myself. (179-80)
Remember: your focus is to analyze one of the two passages from Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves and advance a theme (i.e., theme+) about the passage that you can then extend to act as a theme (i.e., theme+) for the entire novel. Your primary analytical focus must be on the passage before you extend outwards to the larger novel.
Formatting
· Word length: a minimum of 750 words per analysis (copying the passage will not count towards the minimum word count)
· Set the alignment in your assignment for left-hand justification (a.k.a. align text left)
· Word processed, double-spaced, and composed in proper sentences and paragraph format that exhibit degree-level critical thinking and organization/writing
· Set your margins to 1 inch (2.5 centimetres) for top, bottom, left, and right
· Title page: must include the name of the assignment, your name, your student number, submission date, and the word count
As has been repeated several times already, one of the goals of this assignment is to force you to conduct a narrowly focused analysis on a specific passage, a skill that is extremely useful in the “real” world where diving into the details of a subject is often much more valuable than a superficial overview of a subject. In other words, I want you to scrutinize and analyze the specifics of the passage and build outwards to address the larger issues—i.e., move from the microcosm (passage) and how the theme (i.e., the theme+) of the passage is a small-scale version of the theme for the entire work.
1. Your primary focus is on the passage (the microcosm) for this analysis; therefore, this means you need to focus on the details of the passage and its content, such as the symbolism, the use of language in the passage, the importance of the passage in the broader plot, etc. You can certainly discuss other areas of the novels, but if you stray from a focus on the passage then you better make sure your arguments (see below) are explicitly connected to the passage. In sum, your focus is on this passage (microcosm) and you are advancing an argument regarding how the passage’s theme connects to a broader theme of the story, so make sure you are spending sufficient attention on the importance of the passage before you start analyzing other parts of the story.
2. The assignment is explicitly asking you provide an analysis of how the passage connects to what you critically perceive as a theme (i.e., theme+) of the whole novel; thus, you need to make sure you understand what is meant by theme as it is addressed in the Learning Module content (review the “Moving from Theme to Theme+” Learning Module) before you tackle this assignment.
3. This assignment uses the exact same techniques as writing an essay; in other words, you must have a thesis (an argument); you must prove that thesis using sound critical thinking and argumentation; you must use the passage explicitly (e.g., quotes!) to prove your point(s); you must organize your material in a logical fashion all the while adhering to sound paragraph structure and organization; and, you must cite the novel using quotation marks, in-text citations, and a Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page.
4. Don’t confuse assumptions for arguments, and never try to build your argumentation upon what you assume is the reader’s response to the material. In other words, “The film forces the reader to consider…” is a poor approach because you have no way of proving a film (or novel, or comic book) forces the reader to do anything. Similarly, you don’t want to write “[t]he reader can feel the character’s love for his wife” is heading in the wrong direction because you have no idea if a reader can feel anything, never mind whether this feeling is shared among all readers. Never try to build an argument upon an assumption you are making about the reader because making assumptions is not the same as advancing critical argumentation.
5. I do not want you doing any research for this assignment; I want your argumentation as opposed to your ability to repeat what others have written. I can’t stress this enough … I want your argumentation!!!! Don’t do research!!!
