Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
English 2281
Spring 2014
Requirements:
Retype the chosen selection and attach it at the end of your paper (not part of the 3-4 pages)
Make references to at least three specific details that appear in the selection
Have a developed introduction with organizing thesis that makes your main idea clear
Have a title that alludes to your main idea
Have a logical organization and a clear topic sentence for each paragraph
Have a conclusion that summarizes the significance of your main points
Have polished prose with few or no grammatical and spelling answers
Have an identifying Header
Double space, have 1 margins, and use Times New Roman 12pt, or equivalent, font
(first page)
Brutus Buckeye
English 2281 (Wilder)
Close Reading Paper
February 11, 2014
Flipping the Truth in Ida B. Wellss Mob Rule in New Orleans
In 1892 Ida B. Wells published the pamphlet Mob Rule in New Orleans about
*note: I have bolded and underlined text in the selection above to make it clear what a specific
reference might entail. You do not need to do this. You also dont have to explain each reference,
as I do below. But these are the sorts of explanations that should be part of your paper.
Specific References should start with words on the page. You should be able to literally put your
finger on them. But they might involve multiple words, and you should describe and organize
them with the vocabulary of literary analysis that we have discussed in class
Reference #1 (bold & underline above): Diction, repeated verbs. They are all in the gerund (-ing) form,
which implies ongoing action. They all imply criminal activity. The verb phrases are all part of a single
sentence that describes the actions of the (white) mob in an introductory clause; the main subject of the
sentence is the police and the legally constituted authorities. The syntax of the sentence links the mob
and the police with ongoing criminal activity.
Reference #2 (bold above): Imagery, man/brute. The black brute was a common racial stereotype that
was used to justify lynching and other violent suppression of African Americans. The black brute
stereotype was part of the dehumanization of African Americans that echoed the effects of slavery. The
common imagery is inverted here. The whites are brutes and the blacks are men.
Reference #3 (underline above): Structure, quoted newspapers, journalistic style. The selection above ends
right before a news item from the Times-Democrat that Wells quotes from at length. She quotes from
multiple white newspapers throughout her pamphlet. Her accounts of events in New Orleans repeatedly use
the same diction, descriptions, and tone that white newspapers use to describe African Americans when she
describes the police and the white mob.
These are the most basic details of what I mean by a specific reference. In your paper, you will
need to go further to answer the So What? question. Why do these details matter? How do they
relate to or reveal Wellss purpose? How do they relate to the experience of African Americans
in the time that this text was published? You will need to quote words directly from the text
(such as those marked in the paragraph selection above) and then connect them with descriptive
comments (such as those listed out for each of the three references below the paragraph selection
above) and then connect them to the interpretative questions (such as those that appear earlier in
this paragraph). Doing all of these together is what I mean by showing the steps of your
thinking or using evidence to support your claims.