Three- to Five pages

MLA Style

For this essay, I will ask you find a way to bring your choice of several of the different texts we’ve read this quarter under the control of a single, complex thesis, an idea that has taken shape in your head after reading these different fictional and non-fictional accounts.  This process, called “synthesis,” is unlike (actually the opposite of) analysis, which is the pulling apart of the text to make sense of the complex whole.  Synthesis, in this case, involves weaving together diverse threads from within separate (unrelated) texts to make something new.  Here's your chance to show how deeply you can think about these issues by developing your own idea gathered from diverse sources.

You should derive your thesis from our course texts (see below), each of which addresses the theme of relating in the present to a troubling history.  What pattern emerges for you across these different texts?  To understand this, you must discover meaningful patterns or ideas within the texts using analysis; then, you must investigate if these patterns exist in other texts and how they function there; and, finally, after exploring their similarities and differences, come to a conclusion about what, if taken altogether these patterns mean, in light of our overall course theme.

This will not be about what the authors seem to intend; it will be about what you conclude having read all of the different texts.  Also, you will NOT be merely classifying and dividing these texts. Instead, you will look across the texts for patterns in symbolism, formal qualities in the narration, characterization, thematic development, tonal qualities, etc., asking yourself, “what picture emerges for me?”  Look for what connects these texts beneath the superficial level.

What, in other words, have you learned about, for example, history, the Holocaust, the telling of history, denial, truth, facts, memory, or any other related subject through your reading of these fictional texts?  Pull your (probably scattered) thoughts together and into a thesis, which you will then explain/support/argue for with specific points about the texts we've read in the course.

You must address at least three of the following texts in your essay:

How German Is It

AND

(at least two of the following)

Maus I (and II)

Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog)

The Reader

Rhapsody in August

Feel free to make reference to Zinn, Weisel, lecture, or your classmates as well.