Arguing about Literature with 2021 MLA Update

Preface for Instructors 
Contents by Genre
 
PART ONE: A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature

1. What is Argument? 
       Paul Goldberger, Disconnected Urbanism
       Understanding Rhetoric
The Elements of Argument
Sample Argument for Analysis
              David W. Barno, A New Moral Compact
              Writing a Response to an Argument
       Strategies for Analyzing an Argument So You Can Write a Response to It
 An Argument for Analysis
       Regina Rini, Should We Rename Institutions that Honor Dead Racists?

2.   Writing Effective Arguments
Strategies for Developing an Effective Style of Argument
Structuring Your Argument; Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay
Student Response to an Argument
               Justin Korzack, How to Slow Down the Rush to War
Arguments for Analysis
Lee Siegel, Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans
New  *Afshan Jafar, Not a Fan of Fat Shaming? Stop Thin Praising

3. How Do You Argue about Literature?
What Is Literature?
Why Study Literature in a College Writing Course?
A Story for Analysi
               Jamaica Kincaid, Girl (story)
Strategies for Making Arguments about Literature
Sample Student Argument about Literature
               Ann Schumwalt, The Mother’s Mixed Messages in “Girl”
Looking at Literature as Argument
               John Milton, When I Consider How My Light Is Spent (poem)
               Robert Frost, Mending Wall (poem)
 Literature and Current Issues
         Rivka Galchen, Usl at the Stadium (story)
 *Cole Stryker, The Problem with Public Shaming
 *Laila Lalami, The Social Shaming of Racists is Working

4.   The Reading Process
Strategies for Close Reading
A Poem for Analysis
              Sharon Olds, “Summer Solstice, New York City” (poem)
Applying the Strategies
Reading Closely by Annotating
 *Emily Skillings, Girls Online (poem)
Further Strategies for Close Reading
             Use Topics of Literary Studies to Get Ideas
             Lynda Hull, Night Waitress (poem)

5.  The Writing Process
 *Rachel Kadish, Letters Arrive from the Dead (story)
Strategies for Exploring
Strategies for Planning
Strategies for Composing
First Draft of a Student Paper
Strategies for Revising
               A Checklist for Revising
Revised Draft of a Student Paper
Strategies for Writing a Comparative Paper
               Don Paterson, Two Trees (poem)
               Luisa A. Igloria, Regarding History (poem)
               List Similarities and Differences
               Consider “Weighting” Your Comparison
A Student Comparative Paper
               Jeremy Cooper, ”Don Paterson’s Criticism of Nature’s Owners”

6.  Writing about Literary Genres
Writing about Stories
               Eudora Welty, A Visit of Charity (story)
The Elements of Short Fiction 
               Plot and Structure/Point of View / Characters /Setting /Imagery/ Language/ Theme
Final Draft of a Student Paper
               Tanya Vincent, The Real Meaning of Charity in “A Visit of Charity”
Writing about Poems 
               Mary Oliver, Singapore  (poem)
               Yusef Komunyakaa, Blackberries (poem)
                Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Mill (poem)
The Elements of Poetry
               Speaker and Tone / Diction and Syntax / Figures of Speech / Sound/ Rhythm and Meter /Theme
Final Draft of a Student Paper
               Michaela Fiorucci, “Negotiating Boundaries”
Writing about Plays
                August Strindberg, The Stronger (play)
The Elements of Drama 
                Plot and Structure/ Characters/ Stage Directions and Setting /Imagery /Language/ Theme
Final Draft of a Student Paper
               Trish Carlisle, “Which Is the Stronger Actress in August Strindberg’s Play?”
 
7. Writing Researched Arguments
      Begin Your Research by Giving It Direction
Search for Sources in the Library and Online
Evaluate the Sources  
        Record Your Sources’ Key Details
Strategies for Integrating Sources
New Avoid Plagiarism
Strategies for Documenting Sources (MLA Format) 
                MLA In-Text Citation  
                MLA Works Cited  
Three Annotated Student Researched Arguments
An Argument that Uses a Literary Work to Examine Social Issues
               Sarah Michaels, “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Guide to Social Factors in Postpartum Depression
An Argument that Deals with Existing Interpretations of a Literary Work
               Katie Johnson, The Meaning of the Husband’s Fainting in “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
An Argument that Places a Literary Work in Historical and Cultural Context
               Brittany Thomas, The Relative Absence of the Human Touch in “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
 Contexts for Research:  Confinement,  Mental Illness and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
 Cultural Contexts
               Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
               S. Weir Mitchell, From The Evolution of the Rest Treatment
               John Harvey Kellogg, From The Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease

ALL NEW 8. Evaluating Internet Resources in a Post-Truth Age

Evaluating Written Arguments You Find on the Internet
Wendy Brenner, Prayer for Gluten (poem)
Varda He, Restaurants should be more aware of celiac, gluten-free diet limits
Critically Analyzing Web Sites’ Truth Claims

Understanding Strategies in Visual Arguments on the Internet
*Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est (poem)
*British WWI recruitment poster
*Linda Hogan, Song for the Turtles in the Gulf (poem)
*Environmental ads
*WH Auden, Refugee Blues (poem)
*Cartoon: “No room, you’ll sink us!”
 *Alberto Ríos, The Border: A Double Sonnet (poem)
 *Map: U.S.-Mexico border
*Katie Bickham, The Ferryman (poem)
*Graph: Mass Shootings in 2018
Identifying Biases You Might Bring to Your Internet Research

PART TWO: Literature and Arguments

9. Families
Mothers and Children: Stories 
          Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing 
          Amy Tan, Two Kinds
 *Cristina Henriquez, Everything is Far From Here

Siblings in Conflict: Stories
         Tobias Wolff, The Rich Brother
         James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues
 
Decisions about Parenthood:  Stories
      *David Foster Wallace, Good People
 *Ben Marcus, Cold Little Bird

Reconciling with Fathers:  Poems
          Lucille Clifton, forgiving my father
          Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays
          Theodore Roethke, My Papa's Waltz  
          Li-Young Lee, My Father, in Heaven, Is Reading Out Loud

Grandmothers and Legacies: Poems
         Nikki Giovanni, Legacies
         Linda Hogan, Heritage
         Alberto Ríos, Mi Abuelo 
         Judith Ortiz Cofer, Claims
         Richard Blanco, Queer Theory: According to My Grandmother

Literature and Current Issues: Environmental Responsibilities in Families
 *Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Dear Matafele Peinem (poem)
Arguments on the Issue
 *Lauren Markham, Warming World Creates Desperate People
 *Leah Schade, Climate Change Impacts Health, Families
 *Brent Stephens, Climate of Complete Certainty

Arguments about a Poem: “Daddy”
            Sylvia Plath, Daddy
            Arguments about the Poem
                   Mary Lynn Broe, From Protean Poetic: The Poetry of Sylvia Plath
                   Lynda K. Bundtzen, From Plath's Incarnations
                   Steven Gould Axelrod, From Sylvia Plath: The Wound and the Cure of Words
                   Tim Kendall, from Sylvia Plath:  A Critical Study

Contexts for Research: Human Obligations, Robot Consciousness, and “Liar”
 *Isaac Asimov, Liar (story)
Contexts for Research
 *Oren Etzioni, How to Regulate Artificial Intelligence
 *Fei-Fei Li, How to Make AI That’s Good for People
 *Maureen Dowd, Silicon Valley Sharknado
A. M. Turing, From “Computing Machinery and Intelligence

10.  Love
Romantic Dreams:  Stories
        James Joyce, Araby 
        John Updike, A & P
        Leslie Marmon Silko, Yellow Woman 

Is This Love?   Stories
        William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily
         Raymond Carver, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

True Love: Poems
        William Shakespeare, Let me not to the marriage of true minds
        John Keats, Bright Star
   Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How Do I Love Thee?
         e. e. cummings, somewhere i have never travelled

Melancholy Loves: Poems
Edna St. Vincent Millay, What My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why
         W.H. Auden, Funeral Blues
Pablo Neruda, The Song of Despair
   Robin Becker, Morning Poem

Impossible Love: Stories
 *Karen Russell, The Bog Woman
 *Aimee Bender, The Devourings

Literature and Current Issues: What Constitutes Consent?
  *Kristen Roupenian, Cat Person
Arguments on the Issue
 *Andrew Russell, The Ecstasy of Consent
 *Katelyn Ewen, When Yes Really Means Yes
 *Suzannah Weiss, #MeToo Has Made Me See Anyone as Capable of Sexual Abuse—Including Me

Literature and Current Issues: How Divided Are Our Cultures?
 *Thomas Lux, The People of Other Village (poem)
Arguments on the Issue
 *Michiko Kakutani, Filters, Silos, and Tribes
 *Amy Chua, How America’s Identity Politics Went from Inclusion to Division
 *Elizabeth Kolbert, Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds

Arguments about a Play: Othello
    William Shakespeare, Othello
    Arguments about the Play:
            A.C. Bradley, The Noble Othello
           Jeffrie G. Murphy, Jealousy, Shame, and Rival

Contexts for Research:  Social Disruption, Personal Anxiety, and “Dover Beach”
      Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach
Contexts for Research: 
Charles Dickens, from Hard Times
Friedrich Engels, from The Condition of the Working Class in England
James Eli Adams, Narrating Nature: Darwin

11.  Freedom and Confinement
Oppressive Traditions:  Stories
        Shirley Jackson, The Lottery
 *Alexander Weinstein, Rocket Night

Everyday Confinement: Stories
 *George Saunders, Exhortation
 Daniel Orozco, Orientation

Trapped in Stereotypes: Poems
       Chrystos, Today Was a Bad Day Like TB
       Dwight Okita, In Response to Executive Order 9066
       Pat Mora, Legal Alien
       Toi Derricotte, Black Boys Play the Classics
       Naomi Shihab Nye, Blood
 *David Hernandez, Words without Thoughts Never to Heaven Go
 
A Creative Confinement:  Poems by Emily Dickinson
         Emily Dickinson, Wild Nights--Wild Nights!
Emily Dickinson, Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--
Emily Dickinson, Much Madness is divinest Sense
Emily Dickinson,  I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Domestic Prisons: Plays
        Susan Glaspell, Trifles
        Lynn Nottage, POOF!

Dreams of Escape: Stories
       Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour
New    Kirstin Valdez Quade, The Manzanos   

Literature and Current Issues:  Does Our Happiness Depend on Others’ Misery?
        Ursula LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Arguments on the Issue
David Brooks, The Child in the Basement
John R. Ehrenfeld, The Error of Trying to Measure Good and Bad

Literature and Current Issues: What Aren’t You Free to Say? 
 *Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Flowers and Bullets (poem)
Arguments on the Issue
 *David Cole, Liberals, Don't Lose Faith in the First Amendment
 *Minouche Shafik, Should Universities Host Speakers Who Propound Offensive Ideas?
New Lara Kiswani, Should Universities Host Speakers Who Propound Offensive Ideas?

Contexts for Research: Domesticity, Women’s Rights, and A Doll’s House
      Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
      Contexts for Research
      Henrik Ibsen, Memorandum
       August Strindberg, Woman in A Doll’s House
       Emma Goldman, Review of A Doll’s House
       Joan Templeton, The Doll House Backlash:  Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen
       Susanna Rustin, Why A Doll’s House Is More Relevant than Ever

12.   Crime and Justice

Discovering Injustice: Stories
         Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown
         Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson
         Ha Jin, Saboteur

Justice for Workers: Poems
Marge Piercy, The Secretary Chant 
Philip Shultz, Greed

Crime and Guilt: Stories
Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart
 *Edward J. Delaney, Clean

A Dream of Justice:  Poems by Langston Hughes
         Langston Hughes, Open Letter to the South
         Langston Hughes, Theme for English B
         Langston Hughes, Harlem

How Can Injustice Be Resisted? Plays
         Sophocles, Antigone
         Ida Fink, The Table

Histories of Racial Injustice:  Poems
          Countee Cullen, Incident
          Natasha Trethewey, Incident

Literature and Current Issues: What Are Effective Ways of Fighting Racial Injustice Today?
     *Hafizah Geter, Testimony (poem)
  *#IfTheyGunnedMeDown (visual)
Arguments on the Issue
 *Barbara Ransby, Black Lives Matter is Democracy in Action
 *Barbara Reynolds, I Was a Civil Rights Activist in the 1960s…
 *The Economist, The Misplaced Arguments Against Black Lives Matter

Arguments about a Story:  “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
        Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
        Arguments about the Story
                   Flannery O’Connor, from Mystery and Manners
                   Martha Stephens, from The Question of Flannery O’Connor
                   Stephen Bandy, from “’One of My Babies’: The Misfit and the Grandmother
                   John Desmond, from “Flannery O’Connor’s Misfit and the Mystery of Evil”

Contexts for Research:  Innocence, Evil, and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
        Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been
 Contexts for Research
      Don Moser, The Pied Piper of Tucson
      Joyce Carol Oates, Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film
      Meghan Daum, Jaycee Dugard and the Feel-Good Imperative

13. Journeys
Fairy Tale Journeys:  Stories
      Charles Perrault, Little Red Riding Hood
      Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, Little Red Cap 
      Angela Carter, The Company of Wolves

Wartime Journeys: Stories
        Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
        Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Roads Taken:  Poems by Robert Frost
      Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
      Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
      Robert Frost, Acquainted with the Night

Final Journeys: Poems
       John Donne, Death Be Not Proud
       Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
       Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death
  *E. A. Robinson, Richard Cory

Journeys to the Future
 *Ray Bradbury, Mars is Heaven
 *Octavia Butler, Human Evolution
 *T.C. Boyle, The Relive Box

Literature and Current Issues: How Should the U.S. Handle Immigration?
 *Juan Felipe Herrara, Borderbus (poem)
Arguments on the Issue
 *Douglas Rand, Want to Get Rich? Let in More Immigrants
 *Dan Crenshaw, The US Should Work with Mexico to Stem Central American Migration
 Francia Raisa, I Can't (and Won't) Stop Talking about the Dangerous

Contexts for Research: Race, Social Equality, and “Battle Royal”
Ralph Ellison, “Battle Royal”
 Contexts for Research:
         Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address
         W.E. B. DuBois, Of Mr. Booker T. Washington
         Gunnar Myrdal, Social Equality

Appendix: Writing with Critical Approaches to Literature 
 Contemporary Schools of Criticism
             New Criticism; Feminist Criticism; Psychoanalytic Criticism; Marxist Criticism; Deconstruction; Reader-Response Criticism; Postcolonial Criticism; New Historicism; Queer Theory
Working with the Critical Approaches
           James Joyce, Counterparts (story)
           Molly Fry, A Refugee at Home (student paper)
           James Joyce, Eveline