Write analytically about Trevor Noah’s book Born a Crime and also about your own experiences. Outside research (discussion of outside sources that provide context for the book) is required.
Option 1:
How does law intersect with the self? Law is the place where we as individuals meet society’s hard-and-fast rules. These meetings can be peaceful or fraught. These laws can be supportive or afflicting. These laws be challenged. So, how does law intersect with the self?
Your paper will have two main sections.*
One, you will write about how laws affect or define Noah’s experiences growing up in apartheid-era South Africa. You will use specific, cited, examples from Born a Crime to test and explore your observations and ideas about its contents. You can also choose to write about how Noah’s mother navigated life under the laws of apartheid.
Two, you will write about how a particular law impacts you or people you are allied with. Choose a specific law and a specific person or group of people on which to focus your writing. Possibilities include immigration laws, affirmative action laws, LGBTQIA rights laws, voting rights laws, etc.
*In addition to the two main sections of your paper, you will also spend at least one paragraph comparing and contrasting your own views and experiences with Noah’s.
Option 2:
Write about language and identity. Code-switching. Language as protection. Language as provocation. Language as magic trick. In what ways does language define who you are?
Trevor Noah writes about being a language “chameleon” (56). What does he mean by this? What are some examples of his switching between languages? Why does he do it? You might also choose to explore the same questions about his mother. You will use specific, cited, examples from Born a Crime to test and explore your observations and ideas about its contents.
What are your own experiences with language? What language(s) do you speak, and how does language help to define your identity? Even if you are monolingual, you have material you can write about here. For example, do you code-switch (i.e., use different language identities in different contexts)? Why and how?
Again, your paper will have two main sections.* In one, you will focus on Noah’s book—the experiences he depicts and the conclusions he draws; in the other, you will write about your own language experiences–or those of a person (or people) you know first-hand.
*In addition to the two main sections of your paper, you will also spend at least one paragraph comparing and contrasting your own views and experiences with Noah’s.
Requirements:
Your essay must have a thesis statement, a central claim around which it is organized. This assertion, your thesis, is the point your paper explores and aims to prove. Your thesis statement should be the last sentence in your first paragraph.
You must make at least five (5) specific references to Born a Crime, at least three of which must be quotations. (The other two can be summary or paraphrase.)
You must also use at least two additional, researched, cited sources in the construction of your paper.
You must use MLA formatting, including in-text source citations and a Works Cited page.
Your work, including your rough draft, must be typed and double-spaced.
Your paper must be at least 1,500 words, at least 8 paragraphs, typed and double-spaced.
Components:
Rough draft (full-length, at least 1,500 words, must be typed and double-spaced): see Calendar or Modules view for due date
Peer Review: see Calendar or Modules view for due date
Final draft (at least 1,500 words, at least 8 paragraphs, typed and double-spaced): see Calendar or Modules view for due date
200 points total, 20% of course grade: 35 for rough draft and 15 for peer review, 150 for the final draft
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