Masses' Blind Obedience Towards Irrational Tradition

Prompt
1. Select one (1) text from our course so far other than Goodbye, Columbus. Using this text as a jumping off point, (and more specifically: a theme, idea, object, motif, scene, or character from this text), choose a topic which you have come to through your readings, our class discussions, and/or your own areas of interest. This can be literally anything you have extrapolated from the class, but it must be a narrow and specific enough topic that you write about it without using speculation or large amounts of summary.
- There are some articles that talk about beliefs. for example; The lottery by Shirley Jackson, they follow a tradition, which is stoning a person every year , they believe if they no one dies then crops wont grow.
- In goodbye columbus, there are a couple themes, such as race, ethnicity, religion and culture.
- Levittown - they talk about race and houses.
2. Compose an essay which presents and defends a specific argument about the topic you’ve chosen, using your research to explain the why and how of what we’re shown in the text. An effective and complete thesis statement is required for this assignment.
3. Find one or two scholarly sources from outside of our course readings, and use them in your essay to defend your central argument. These outside sources cannot include anything from our syllabus. However, you may include material from our syllabus as other, separate sources if you wish.
Please use TWO sources. (One is required, the other one is of your choice).
Primary Text: choose ONE from the following:
- “The Swimmer” by John Cheever
-“Why Don’t You Dance?” by Raymond Carver
-“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
-“Becky” and “Esther” by Jean Toomer
-Levittown, the prototypical American suburb
(from The Guardian’s “A History of Cities in 50 Buildings”) by Colin Marshall
Secondary Text(s): A minimum of one, maximum of two, outside reliable secondary sources not including our course readings. We will cover what counts as a secondary source count in class.
Acceptable Secondary Sources for This Assignment
➢Nationally syndicated newspapers and popular magazines that cover news or scholarly topics, either online or in print.
➢ Scholarly journal articles, found either in print or online (through databases).
➢ Books, or book chapters, regarding your topic