E5 Make-Up Project
Part I: Essay 1
| After reading Sonny's Blues and "Harlem Dancer", you are asked to write a unified essay about identity as revealed in both passages.In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea bout identiy. Using evidence from each passage, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses literary elements and technique to convey that idea. |
Passage 1 :Excerpt from "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin
On the sidewalk across from me, near the entrance to a barbecue joint, some people were
holding an old-fashioned revival meeting. The barbecue cook, wearing a dirty white apron,
his conked hair reddish and metallic in the pale sun, and a cigarette between his lips, stood
in the doorway, watching them. Kids and older people paused in their errands and stood
there, along with some older men and a couple of very tough-looking women who watched
everything that happened on the avenue, as though they owned it, or were maybe owned by
it. Well, they were watching this, too. The revival was being carried on by three sisters in
black, and a brother. All they had were their voices and their Bibles and a tambourine. The
brother was testifying and while he testified two of the sisters stood together, seeming to
say, amen, and the third sister walked around with the tambourine outstretched and a
couple of people dropped coins into it. Then the brother's testimony ended and the sister
who had been taking up the collection dumped the coins into her palm and transferred them
to the pocket of her long black robe. Then she raised both hands, striking the tambourine
against the air, and then against one hand, and she started to sing. And the two other
sisters and the brother joined in.
It was strange, suddenly, to watch, though I had been seeing these meetings all my life. So,
of course, had everybody else down there. Yet, they paused and watched and listened and I
stood still at the window. "'Tis the old ship of Zion," they sang, and the sister with the
tambourine kept a steady, jangling beat, "it has rescued many a thousand!" Not a soul under
the sound of their voices was hearing this song for the first time, not one of them had been
rescued. Nor had they seen much in the way of rescue work being done around them.
Neither did they especially believe in the holiness of the three sisters and the brother, they
knew too much about them, knew where they lived, and how. The woman with the
tambourine, whose voice dominated the air, whose face was bright with joy, was divided by
very little from the woman who stood watching her, a cigarette between her heavy, chapped
lips, her hair a cuckoo's nest, her face scarred and swollen from many beatings, and her
black eyes glittering like coal. Perhaps they both knew this, which was why, when, as rarely,
they addressed each other, they addressed each other as Sister. As the singing filled the air
the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within;
the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away
from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first
condition, while dreaming of their last. The barbecue cook half shook his head and smiled,
and dropped his cigarette and disappeared into his joint. A man fumbled in his pockets for
change and stood holding it in his hand impatiently, as though he had just remembered a
pressing appointment further up the avenue. He looked furious. Then I saw Sonny, standing
on the edge of the crowd. He was carrying a wide, flat notebook with a green cover, and it
made him look, from where I was standing, almost like a schoolboy. The coppery sun
brought out the copper in his skin, he was very faintly smiling, standing very still. Then the
singing stopped, the tambourine turned into a collection plate again. The furious man
dropped in his coins and vanished, so did a couple of the women, and Sonny dropped some
change in the plate, looking directly at the woman with a little smile. He started across the
avenue, toward the house. He has a slow, loping walk, something like the way Harlem
hipsters walk, only he's imposed on this his own half-beat. I had never really noticed it
before.
I stayed at the window, both relieved and apprehensive. As Sonny disappeared from my
sight, they began singing again. And they were still singing when his key turned in the lock.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey, yourself. You want some beer?"
"No. Well, maybe." But he came up to the window and stood beside me, looking out. "What a
warm voice," he said.
They were singing If I could only hear my mother pray again!
"Yes," I said, "and she can sure beat that tambourine." "But what a terrible song," he said, and laughed. He dropped his notebook on the sofa and
disappeared into the kitchen.
Passage 2
Guidelines:
You will write 4 or 6 paragrpahs-
Paragraph #1 Introduction
Sentence 1: Use one sentence to express your view on identity(One or two sentences of your insight into how one should deal with one's identity , for example, our life journey ).
Sentence 2-3: What do James Baldwin and Claude MacKay tell us about their views on identity through the story and poem? For example, both authors convey the idea that one must struggle to find one's identity. Sometimes struggle/obstacles can strengthen a person but can also destroy one.
Sentence 4: Both authors use literary elements and techniques to convey their ideas. (Use the sentence the way it is).
Body
Write TWO paragraphs to discuss Sonny's Blues.
Body paragraph 1: DESCRIBE Specific Parts of the story about Identity. Which parts of the story of Sonny's Blue byJames Baldwin tell us stories about Identity?
For example, describe briefly what Sonny had experienced in his life to be where he was-a successful musician( who can touch on people's souls), for example, jail, drugs, deaths of his niece & parents, "deep water", "drowning" etc. What's your conclusion of Sonny's experiences?
Body paragraph 2: Use three literary techniques or elements to ANALYZE how James Baldwin uses characterization, conflict, mood, point of view, details, imagery and symbolism to reveal his ideas about Identity.
For example, provide three three milestone moments in Sonny's life that define his identity, for example, his arrest, return from jail, runaway from home, hangout in the jazz club, dialogue with his brother, observation of a street singer, etc.
Write TWO paragraphs to discuss Harlem Dancer by Claude MacKay
Body paragraph 1: DESCRIBE the meaning of the poem- how is the poem about Identity?
Body paragraph 2: Use three literary techniques or elements to ANALYZE how MacKay uses characterization, simile, metaphor, imagery and irony to reveal his ideas about Identity.
Conclusion (paragraph 6): Use different words to restate your controlling idea.
Introduction:
Define the word "Good" in the title
Introduce your thesis statement: Do any characters in the story demonstrate the qualities of a good human being?
What literary elements or techniques ( such as characterization, irony, foreshadowing, setting, theme, conflict, imagery, symbolism etc) did the author use to make her point.
Body:
Paragraph1: Analyze the grandmother. How is she portrayed as a woman who can't be regarded as "good" while she seems to be the best character in the story? Give examples to show she is a hypocrite.
Paragraph 2: Analyze Misfit. How is he portrayed as a common person judging his background and behavior and yet he is evil (soulless) and has no conscience. Use examples from what he said and did to show the kind of evil person he is.
Paragraph 3: Analyze the Bailey and his wife and the two children. In what ways are they portrayed as possessing no qualities as "good" human beings?
Conclusion:
To reiterate your point. Make one or two-sentence comments on what you think personally of the title of the story.