Assignment:

An essay on a theme of your choice of at least 6 pages (and no more than 12) is due at the beginning of lecture on Wednesday, June 2, 2004 or at any time earlier.

Rewrite option: Students that turn in their essay on or before Monday, May 24th will have the option of rewriting the paper. I will return the essay with comments on Friday, May 28th, and the revised paper is due in class on Friday, June 6th.

Guidelines:

You have already selected one of the following books for your written assignment, and hopefully have begun to read the novel:

Ella Cara Deloria. [Yankton Lakota] Waterlily.

Louis Owens [Choctaw-Cherokee-Irish] Bone Game.

Leslie Marmon Silko. [Laguna Pueblo] Garden in the Dunes.

James Welch. [Blackfeet-Gros Ventre] Fools Crow.

Each of these Native American authors have written works which embed concerns about the American Indian present within an Indian perspective on the past.

Write about a theme or themes that you find interesting and relevant in the work that you read. Think of this assignment as an interpretive effort to link your novel choice to other peoples, events, or circumstances that we have dealt with elsewhere in the course.

Your essay should not be a book report. Assume that your reader has already read the book and knows the plot. You are writing to interpret the central ideas that the author seeks to communicate in the work, and to make connections between this material and topics that we have encountered in Native American history.

Please read carefully through the accompanying ?Checklist for Better Writing.?

You are encouraged to meet with Professor Frank individually or in small groups to discuss your ideas and focus for the assignment. Please begin to think about themes that you have identified in your novel before meeting with us so that we can answer questions that you might have about the reading or assignment, and perhaps help to define or refine the theme(s) that you will pursue in your essay.

Discussions with your classmates also serve a good forums to refine your themes and arguments. However, your written work must be your own or properly attributed.

Meet with me in my office hours (Tuesday 2-4, Friday 10-12) or by making an appointment at another mutually convenient time.

Important Note:

In fairness to the other students in the class, I generally do not accept late essays except in extreme and properly documented circumstances. I am, however, willing to help to resolve difficulties that you might have with the essay or the deadline as long as you speak to me about the matter before the assignment due date.