Writing Assignment # 1
INTRO TO NONFICTION: MEMOIR AND PLACE
For this assignment, consider the following passage from "Pilgrim," the first chapter of Natasha Trethewey's memoir, Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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I know that a preferred narrative is one of the common bond between people in a time of crisis. This is often the way collective, cultural memory works, full of omissions, partial rememberings, and purposeful forgetting. People on both sides of a story look better in a version that leaves out certain things. It is another way that rebuilding is also about remembering—that is, not just rebuilding the physical structures and economy of the coast but also rebuilding, revising, the memory of Katrina and its aftermath.
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Here, Trethewey introduces the major themes of the book that you identified during class discussions--Revision, Remembrance, and Rebuilding—and the ways in which they speak to each other.
Choose TWO of the following three prompts and write a response to each. Find further instructions below the prompts.
Choose TWO of the following three prompts and write a response to each. Find further instructions below the prompts.
PROMPT 1
Revision
In the years following Hurricane Katrina's landfall, Trethewey notices that many residents of Gulfport, Mississippi, tell a happier version of their hurricane experience. She's interested in the ways some survivors have revised their stories, how the narratives they tell others might differ from what actually happened.
You should begin by briefly touching on the "preferred narratives" Trethewey noticed in the community of Gulfport, Mississippi, but I want you to spend most of your time here exploring the role of preferred narratives in the interpersonal relationships depicted in the book. "People on both sides of a story look better in a version that leaves out certain things," Trethewey writes. Think about Trethewey's interactions with other characters, be they kinfolk or strangers, and how each party might be revising their own story. Has anything been omitted? Any "partial rememberings"? How does the revised version of the story benefit the storyteller, and how is the other party affected? Write about just one interpersonal relationship and do so in as much detail as the word count allows. Provide specific examples from the text to illustrate your points.
Revision
In the years following Hurricane Katrina's landfall, Trethewey notices that many residents of Gulfport, Mississippi, tell a happier version of their hurricane experience. She's interested in the ways some survivors have revised their stories, how the narratives they tell others might differ from what actually happened.
You should begin by briefly touching on the "preferred narratives" Trethewey noticed in the community of Gulfport, Mississippi, but I want you to spend most of your time here exploring the role of preferred narratives in the interpersonal relationships depicted in the book. "People on both sides of a story look better in a version that leaves out certain things," Trethewey writes. Think about Trethewey's interactions with other characters, be they kinfolk or strangers, and how each party might be revising their own story. Has anything been omitted? Any "partial rememberings"? How does the revised version of the story benefit the storyteller, and how is the other party affected? Write about just one interpersonal relationship and do so in as much detail as the word count allows. Provide specific examples from the text to illustrate your points.
PROMPT 2
Remembrance
We talked about monuments quite a bit these last few weeks—the many types of monuments Trethewey describes, what they symbolize, and what function they serve in the community. Most exciting was our discussion of the way some structures erected along the Mississippi Gulf Coast stand as unintentional monuments, structures that stand in remembrance of things not so nice, things that Katrina survivors (or even the nation) might like to forget.
Think of two such "unintentional monuments" Trethewey describes in the text. In two paragraphs of equal length, identify how each monument functions on the coast literally as well as how they function as unintentional monuments. What are they in remembrance of? Who (or what) erected them? Show how Trethewey's writing helps us think of these objects, structures, etc. as symbols of remembrance? Provide specific examples from the text.
(Here's an example you cannot use in your paper: the USS Hurricane Camille is literally a shipwrecked tugboat carried to shore by Hurricane Camille decades ago, but it also functions as a monument to Camille and the delayed efforts to clean up and rebuild. Later, when it is converted into a hurricane-themed souvenir shop, we could say it becomes a monument to the longstanding tradition of opportunistic commercialism along the coast.)
Remembrance
We talked about monuments quite a bit these last few weeks—the many types of monuments Trethewey describes, what they symbolize, and what function they serve in the community. Most exciting was our discussion of the way some structures erected along the Mississippi Gulf Coast stand as unintentional monuments, structures that stand in remembrance of things not so nice, things that Katrina survivors (or even the nation) might like to forget.
Think of two such "unintentional monuments" Trethewey describes in the text. In two paragraphs of equal length, identify how each monument functions on the coast literally as well as how they function as unintentional monuments. What are they in remembrance of? Who (or what) erected them? Show how Trethewey's writing helps us think of these objects, structures, etc. as symbols of remembrance? Provide specific examples from the text.
(Here's an example you cannot use in your paper: the USS Hurricane Camille is literally a shipwrecked tugboat carried to shore by Hurricane Camille decades ago, but it also functions as a monument to Camille and the delayed efforts to clean up and rebuild. Later, when it is converted into a hurricane-themed souvenir shop, we could say it becomes a monument to the longstanding tradition of opportunistic commercialism along the coast.)
PROMPT 3
Rebuilding
Joe and Uncle Son are both builders.
Or, more specifically: Uncle Son is a builder, and Joe is a re-builder.
Think about the periods in which Uncle Son and Joe did their building. In what condition was the coast when Uncle Son was starting his business and acquiring property? Think of the structures he built and maintained then. How were they indications of what was going on in Gulfport at the time? How do Uncle Son's building efforts speak to what is happening in his personal life? How does Trethewey's writing invite readers to think of these acts and these structures in such a way? Provide specific examples.
In another paragraph of equal length, examine Joe's acts of rebuilding. Joe rebuilds not only the properties he inherited from Uncle Son but also other hurricane-damaged properties along the coast. Ask the same questions we just asked about Uncle Son: In what condition is the coast when Joe is building? How do his actions speak to what's happening in his personal life, and how does Trethewey's writing help us think of these actions in a larger way, beyond the literal sense? Provide specific examples.
Rebuilding
Joe and Uncle Son are both builders.
Or, more specifically: Uncle Son is a builder, and Joe is a re-builder.
Think about the periods in which Uncle Son and Joe did their building. In what condition was the coast when Uncle Son was starting his business and acquiring property? Think of the structures he built and maintained then. How were they indications of what was going on in Gulfport at the time? How do Uncle Son's building efforts speak to what is happening in his personal life? How does Trethewey's writing invite readers to think of these acts and these structures in such a way? Provide specific examples.
In another paragraph of equal length, examine Joe's acts of rebuilding. Joe rebuilds not only the properties he inherited from Uncle Son but also other hurricane-damaged properties along the coast. Ask the same questions we just asked about Uncle Son: In what condition is the coast when Joe is building? How do his actions speak to what's happening in his personal life, and how does Trethewey's writing help us think of these actions in a larger way, beyond the literal sense? Provide specific examples.
• Each of your two responses should be approximately 1.5 pages in length (approximately 400 words apiece), though you will submit both responses in one document (see example below). It's okay if you write a little more than that, but it is less okay to write less than the suggested word count.
• Set your margins to one inch, all around (top, bottom, left, and right).
• Double-space throughout.
• Indent each new paragraph.
• Place your heading in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Include your name, my last name, our course number, and the date.
• Insert your last name and the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page (except for first page).
• Use in-text citations (MLA Style).
• If you are in Section 005 (TR 8:00), email me your assignment in .doc format before 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 24.
• If you are in Section 006 (TR 12:30), email me your assignment in .doc format before 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24.
• Please see the example pages below for tips on formatting your document.
• Set your margins to one inch, all around (top, bottom, left, and right).
• Double-space throughout.
• Indent each new paragraph.
• Place your heading in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Include your name, my last name, our course number, and the date.
• Insert your last name and the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page (except for first page).
• Use in-text citations (MLA Style).
• If you are in Section 005 (TR 8:00), email me your assignment in .doc format before 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 24.
• If you are in Section 006 (TR 12:30), email me your assignment in .doc format before 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24.
• Please see the example pages below for tips on formatting your document.
