Final Project -- Modern Literature: Privilege and Society

Modern & Contemporary Literature: Privilege and Society

Final Project

To demonstrate your engagement with our reading, discussion, and topics of study thus far, please respond to two of the following three prompts and questions on a separate sheet of paper. This exam is worth 300 pts. of your total grade.

1) Using at least 4 direct quotes from the book, describe and analyze various characters’ responses to the heat wave, fire, flood, and mudslide. What do their reactions, behaviors, and words tell us about their worldviews, status, and privilege?

2) Using one of the passages excerpted on the attached page, reflect on the use of gates and walls in Arroyo Blanco in a ‘close reading analysis’ (~3-5 paragraphs—think golden lines and part-to-whole).

3) Create an artistic/creative representation of one more of the following themes as they are portrayed in The Tortilla Curtain:

            - imprisonment        - the dominance of Nature            - male privilege/misogyny

            - safety & security    - commodity fetishism & reification        - fear of the unknown

            - racism & ethnic prejudice            - healthy families & relationships          - mortality

You will be graded based on the content of your responses, particularly in your abilities to demonstrate understanding of the text, to interpret & analyze the material, and to synthesize the concepts of presented in this course (e.g., privilege, Marxism, Maslow’s hierarchy, etc.).