Group Presentations: Nella Larsen's Passing

At left is a photo of musical comedy legend Carol Channing, who, in her 2002 autobiography (Just Lucky, I Guess), acknowledged that she was racially mixed. This photograph was taken by Carl Van Vechten, who is satirized in Passing as the character "Hugh Wentworth. 

Final Project: Group Presentation (20 points)

You will be responsible for preparing and delivering a presentation focusing on an aspect of Nella Larsen’s Passing, and related to this semester’s theme: Aliens/Outcasts/Outsiders. The major theme should be considered as the central, controlling idea of your piece—again, if you find that other themes of significance are surfacing and converging with your major theme as you develop your project, please note them.

You may also interweave some of the other relevant thematic discussions from our semester (the focus on the alien/outcast/outsider in literature and popular culture) into this group presentation. Relate this text to other texts discussed in class, if you find them relevant.

Sample themes: aesthetics (beauty), alienation, childhood, class distinctions, colorism/color consciousness, community, corporeality, difference, equality, ethics/morality, family, femininity, hypocrisy, identity, individuality, innocence, intellectualism, interracialism, literacy, loneliness, masculinity, monstrousness, morality, poverty, race relations, racism, rebellion, religion, responsibility, segregation, separatism, sexism, sexual exploitation, sexuality, violence. Some of these themes overlap—your thesis should reflect your theme in a clear, well-articulated manner.

You are encouraged to use video, film, photographs, text (including quotes from the text), and other documents to create a PowerPoint presentation of your work (maximum 12 minutes in length).

You must include a slide listing the “Credits,” i.e., the specific contribution made by each group member. In addition, you must create a Works Cited Page as the final slide of your presentation, using MLA-style. Refer to the MLA Style Guide on the course blog for MLA-style compliance. At our final class meeting, the group members will present their projects. I encourage you to be as imaginative as possible with these presentations.

Below is a list of the criteria for your PowerPoint, adapted from a rubric adapted from a former colleague.

Final Project Rubric for PowerPoint Presentation Photo-documentaries and Essay

The following categories on the reverse side of this sheet provide a clear list of the elements that are expected in each group’s project, regardless of its form and purpose. Use these criteria as a tool that will enable you, as the designer, to produce persuasive communication by means of innovation, creativity, and polished reflection. Each of the categories is worth 4 points, for a total of 20 points of the final grade.

GROUP NAME_____________________________________

 Thesis and Purpose: Points___
How clear is your thesis? Is the topic compelling and relevant not only to your own interests but to an issue of larger significance? How well do the images (photos, film, or other visuals) illustrate both the thesis and its related ideas in a cogent manner?

Composition: Points___ Does the project follow a logical flow of thought? Do these ideas transition well and are they well-supported by both visual and interpretive qualities? Is the project free of grammatical errors? Can it be used as a model for other students in the future?

Technical Image and Quality/Audio Recording and Editing: Points___

How well do the images fit into the overall presentation? Are the images high-quality digital files? Do the photographs demonstrate a variety of images and perspectives? Do they seem to illustrate or create a pattern of thought?  How does the overall final project look, including captions, titles, transitions, and image?

Caption Information and Presentation: Points___
Is there a clear integration of the visual and written composition of the final project? How well have you complemented your images with written text? How does the written text (approximately 350 – 500 words total) act to amplify and enhance the quality of the project as a whole? Are original insights supported by relevant research in your written text or is it merely expository?

Individual Contribution: Points___
How well are your slides integrated into your oral delivery? Did you proofread your slides to ensure they are grammatically correct and are MLA-compliant? Have you included quotes from the primary text as well as any other texts? Are they MLA-compliant? Have you rehearsed your delivery (individually as well as with the group) to ensure a smooth presentation?

TOTAL___________

 Group 1                      Group 2                 Group 3                             Group 4
Guichelle                    Joy                         Erick                                 Jeremiah
Anna                           Malik                      Facundo                            Derrick
Cesar                          Mariana                  Bryan                                Demetrius
Nicole                         Terry                     Falonne                             Caiu
                                                                                                        Pablo

 

RESEARCH PAPER #2 - DUE Saturday, April 25

As we read, New Jersey native Stephen Crane's 1898 novella, "The Monster," (first published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine) relates the story of a black servant, Henry Johnson, who rescues the son of his employer, a white doctor, from a terrible fire. Henry is disfigured in the process and is, at first, regarded as a hero by the community. However, due to his disfigurement--he is literally without a face-- his persistent presence in the community is viewed as a disruptive element and he becomes a pariah. 

There are several ways of reading this story: 1) as a racial allegory and/or as a Christian allegory; 2) as an example of the "white man's burden"; 3) as a metaphor for modernity, and so on. The story is quintessentially Crane in its stylistic elements, and he also engages in illustrating some of the racial stereotypes characteristically used by white writers of the turn of the century.

I have posted a link to Adam Smith's "The Impartial Spectator" (from 1759's The Theory of Moral Sentiments) for you to consider alongside "The Monster" as you consider the story for your final papers. Dr. Trescott's insistence on caring for him despite the social ostracism from the white community asks the reader to consider the idea of "sympathy" and whether there are natural limitations on how one may proceed conscientiously and ethically in one's life. Indeed, as we discussed, the concluding scene in the novella offers no easy closure, as it is open-ended, suggesting that the answers to ethical questions such are arrived at with great difficulty and, at times, remain uncertain.


I have posted another link to the novella as well as to the Adam Smith text below for easy searching. 

The Monster, Stephen Crane

"The Impartial Spectator," Adam Smith, from Theory of Moral Sentiments

RESEARCH PAPER #2

For research paper #2 (a combined research/reflection paper), here is the revised due date: Saturday, 4/25
 
Again, this paper can be written as a comparison/contrast with Frankenstein, as a reflection on the status of the "outsider," or as a response to one or more of the articles we read in class. You are free to analyze it using whatever critical approach (Marxist, critical race theory, post-colonial, feminist, psychoanalytic, etc.) you want to. The only guidelines, really, are that you incorporate at least two critical essays in your paper, and that you discuss "The Monster" and one or more of the other pieces we have analyzed in class. 

We will start our discussion of Nella Larsen's Passing on Tuesday, 4/14, and you will begin working on ideas for your final group presentation on Passing. I will send you a couple of past PowerPoint presentations so that you may see what other students have done.

P.S. Here is a blog entry from 2010 with another perspective on "The Monster" and its cultural context: Era of Casual Fridays