ENGL 65.

Asian American Literature

Final Essay
Choose 1 of the following 3 questions to write a 10-page essay. Make sure that you
refer primarily to the literary texts indicated in each question. You are also welcome to
incorporate in your arguments any other critical essay that we have read this semester.
1. In A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki considers multiple notions of time scales,
which traverse across continents as well as across centuries. With reference to any
two characters in the novel, consider what it means to embody a sense of time.
What does it mean to be a time being? How do such time beings reshape your
understanding of the relation between past and present experience?
2. The experience of migration has frequently been narrated as an act of translation or
interpretation. With reference to either Dictee or any two short stories from Interpreter
of Maladies, examine the ways in which literary subjects negotiate the burden of
translation. Is translating between two languages or two cultures an adequate
metaphor for immigrant experience? What is gained and what is lost in the process?
3. Throughout the semester we have been preoccupied with the question of masculinity
in relation to Asian American literature. In his classic introduction to the volume
AIIIEEEEE!, Frank Chin notes the following:
Several generations of suppression [] have left todays Asian
Americans in a state of self-contempt, self-rejection, and
disintegration. We have been encouraged to believe that we have no
cultural integrity as Chinese- or Japanese-Americans, that we are
either Asian (Chinese or Japanese) or American (white), or are
measurably both. (1973, x).
With reference to either Native Speaker or Disgraced, examine the ways in which
contemporary fictional portrayals of Asian American men embody or contest Chins
claim. How, if at all, have representations of Asian American masculinity evolved
over the past forty years?
Your essay should be 10 double-spaced pages (excluding footnotes and bibliography). The
best essays will incorporate a clear thesis and detailed references (close readings) to the texts.
However, what is most important is your ability to advance your own argument about the
texts, instead of simply repeating what authors and scholars have said. Please note that you
are welcome to consult Moodle postings and class notes, as well as confer with each other;
but all written work should be completed on your own.
**In addition to my regular office hours this week, I will also have special office hours the
week of May 4th. Please note that as of May 7th I will not be able to able to check email
regularly, so I encourage you to contact me as soon as possible with your questions**
Finally, please check your essay for grammar, spelling, and punctuation!
Please upload all essays on Moodle by Wednesday May 13th at Midnight, local time