Midterm Paper

Using your reading, class notes, and journals, compose a 2000-3000 word analysis
addressing the prompt of your choice. Longer quotations should not be included in the
word count.
Understand the work as a unique
Assignment Goals
ethical project
Utilize textual evidence to make an
Assignment Requirements
interpretation of a work
Times New Roman 12 pt. font, 1
Demonstrate ability to conduct a
margins all around
close reading of short segments of
a text
MLA format (work titles should be
Use close readings as support for
italicized, quotations should have
page attributions, etc.)
an argument about the broader
meaning
Clear, arguable thesis statement
Show ability to think and write
Outside researchyou must cite at
creatively about literature
least two-three sources aside from
Deepen understanding of both
the text (including, but not limited
to: historical accounts, literary
historical and contemporary
analyses, interviews with authors,
contexts for the work
contemporary issues, etc.)

Remember that all papers should make a specific argument about the ethical
claim the author makes about war or about the readers consumption of the text.
The focus should be on one possible reading of how to engage with the ethical
dynamics at stake in the work.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Analysis of how the text adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.
Investigation of the relationships between people at home or on the front,
and what the narrators interactions say about our attitudes towards war.
You may also want to consider how the narrator deals with the
psychological effects of returning home.
Argument about the relationship between humans and the natural world,
with particular consideration paid to how the narrator figures the natural
world in relation to war, to humanity, and to the human spirit. How the
natural world is placed in ethical opposition to man and/or war.
How the work negotiates the dynamics between soldiers, their enemies, and
the reader/viewer or between perpetrators, victims, and bystanders.
Maus I & II
Analysis of how the text adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.
Consideration of the complexity of the temporal shifts, with an argument
about what this play with time adds to our understanding of the
representation of the Holocaust.
Analysis of the tension between speaking and silence (or between the
tellable and the hearable) in these volumes.
Why mice?
How the work negotiates the dynamics between soldiers, their enemies, and
the reader/viewer or between perpetrators, victims, and bystanders.
The Thin Red Line
Analysis of how the film adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.
Argument about the relationship between humans and the natural world,
with particular consideration paid to how the narrator figures the natural
world in relation to war, to humanity, and to the human spirit. How the
natural world is placed in ethical opposition to man and/or war.
Analysis of the relationships between people at home or on the front, and
what the narrators interactions say about our attitudes towards war.
What one scene or character can tell us about what it means to own a
story, and what it means to tell a story. What is tellable? What is hearable?
What is recounted in dialogue? What is left out and why?

How the work negotiates the dynamics between soldiers, their enemies, and
the reader/viewer or between perpetrators, victims, and bystanders.

The Things They Carried

Analysis of how one short story adheres to and/or violates particular
conventions of the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and
geographical context of the production and setting of the work.
Analysis of the relationships between people at home or on the front, and
what the narrators interactions say about our attitudes towards war. You
may also want to consider how the narrator deals with the psychological
effects of the death of his fellow soldiers.
What one short story can tell us about what it means to own a story, and
what it means to tell a story. What is tellable? What is hearable? What is
recounted? What is repeated and why?
Argument about the relationship between humans and the natural world,
with particular consideration paid to how the narrator figures the natural
world in relation to war, to humanity, and to the human spirit. How the
natural world is placed in ethical opposition to man and/or war.
Full Metal Jacket
Analysis of how the film adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.
Argument about the relationship between humans and the natural world,
with particular consideration paid to how the focalizing characters figure
the natural world in relation to war, to humanity, and to the human spirit.
How the natural world is placed in ethical opposition to man and/or war.
Analysis of the relationships between people at home or on the front, and
what the narrators interactions say about our attitudes towards war.
What one scene or character can tell us about what it means to own a
story, and what it means to tell a story. What is tellable? What is hearable?
What is recounted in dialogue? What is left out and why?
How the work negotiates the dynamics between soldiers, their enemies, and
the reader/viewer or between perpetrators, victims, and bystanders.
Jarhead
Analysis of how the text adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.
Argument about the relationship between humans and the natural world,
with particular consideration paid to how the narrator figures the natural
world in relation to war, to humanity, and to the human spirit. How the
natural world is placed in ethical opposition to man and/or war.
Inquiry into the meaning of a war that does not look like war.
Analysis of the relationships between people at home or on the front, and
what the narrators interactions say about our attitudes towards war.

What one scene or character can tell us about what it means to own a
story, and what it means to tell a story.

Redeployment
Analysis of how the text adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.
What one short story is saying about our relationships with people (and
animals) at home and abroad, and what the narrators interactions say
about our attitudes towards war. You may also want to consider how the
narrator deals with the psychological effects of returning home.
What one short story can tell us about what it means to own a story, and
what it means to tell a story. What is tellable? What is hearable? What is
recounted in dialogue? What is left out and why?
How one short story comments on the network of support staff who are
generally overlooked when we think of service, particularly in terms of
identity. What is the narrators job, and what is his relationship to that
work? How does it affect how he interacts with others, both soldiers and
civilians?
How on short story highlights concerns about infrastructure and
relationships with Iraqi civilians. Choose one or two plot points to use as the
basis for an argument about how this short story influences our
understanding of the broader implications of war.
Restrepo
Analysis of how the text adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.
Argument about the relationship between humans and the natural world,
with particular consideration paid to how the narrator figures the natural
world in relation to war, to humanity, and to the human spirit. How the
natural world is placed in ethical opposition to man and/or war.
Analysis of the relationships between people at home or on the front, and
what the narrators interactions say about our attitudes towards war.
What one scene or character can tell us about what it means to own a
story, and what it means to tell a story. What is tellable? What is hearable?
What is recounted in dialogue? What is left out and why?
How the work negotiates the dynamics between soldiers, their enemies,
civilians, and the reader/viewer or between perpetrators, victims, and
bystanders.
Analysis of the interplay between decontextualization and context in the
case of Afghanistan.
Poems or Shorter Works
Analysis of how the text adheres to and/or violates particular conventions of
the war genre, with attention paid to the historical and geographical
context of the production and setting of the work.

Comparative analysis of two-three poems that illustrate the changes made

to the form in response to different periods in a single conflict or different
conflicts.
Argument about the relationship between humans and the natural world,
with particular consideration paid to how the narrator figures the natural
world in relation to war, to humanity, and to the human spirit. How the
natural world is placed in ethical opposition to man and/or war.
What one short story, comic, or poem can tell us about what it means to
own a story, and what it means to tell a story. What is tellable? What is
hearable? What is recounted in dialogue? What is left out and why?
How the work negotiates the dynamics between soldiers, their enemies, and
the reader/viewer or between perpetrators, victims, and bystanders.