In this essay, you become the theorist, the one who examines a particular work (Zong! As told to the author by Setaey Adamu Boateng) and its relationship to what falls under the rubric of “theory.” Your engagement with “theory,” however, is flexible, can be multiple. You can engage the book-length poem for the way. It produces theory; it engages theory; theory helps elucidate it, or some combination of any of the above.
You’re not trying to look at and analyze how someone else takes a particular theoretical approach when engaging a literary work. You will now function as that someone, the literary critic and theorist. You should have your own opinion and analysis on the work “Zong!” that how it engage with theories.
Your paper should do the following:
Produce an analysis/reading of Zong! that is in conversation with at least two of the major theories(Feminism, post-structuralism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, structuralism, ) we have engaged this semester.
Tie together those two or more theories with a claim about what Zong! does, as a poem.
Present a claim that is clear, clearly arguable, and focused.
Demonstrate an understanding of theory and its relationship to literary texts, in this case Zong!
Your audience for this paper is a general critical educated audience. Thus, you should not assume deep familiarity with Zong! nor with whichever theories you engaging. You are not required to do secondary criticism about Philip’s poem, but you may. Similarly, you may read and include contextualizing information about the historical Zong, but you are not required to do so.
Business Considerations:
Your paper should be 5 pages, double-spaced, the only resource is the book “Zong! As told to the author by Setaey Adamu Boateng” in MLA format (including in-text citations and a Works Cited page).
