Monday, Feb. 11th, 2013--5 pm

Greetings,

below you will find a copy of Out of Class Essay #1 Assignment which was distributed and explained in class today. If you missed class, you are responsible for finding out what you missed. Not everything about this assignment is on this handout, so you will need to check with another student to learn what you missed.

I will field any questions or concerns you may have about this assignment at the beginning of class on Wednesday. Sometimes it takes extra time to mentally process an assignment before any questions are generated.

English 20, Sections 1, 4, and 7---Spring 2013---Prof. Catherine Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #1—200 points possible—

VOICES AGAINST CONFORMITY

• Assigned: Monday, Feb. 11th

• Rough Draft Due (OPTIONAL), typed & double spaced, no later than: Friday, February 22

• Final Draft Due: Monday, March 4, typed & double spaced

***Note that you have three weeks to research and write this essay. Your final draft should reflect this.

Let’s take a closer look at the issue of conformity/non-conformity.

The most interesting, focused and articulate essays I receive from students are ones where the students select their own specific topic and are genuinely intrigued by the topic.

TOPIC: For this essay, you will research and write about one person who is/was considered a non-conformist in his/her field of interest. Consider the possibility that the person deemed a non-conformist may not, in your opinion, actually BE a non-conformist. So your essay could support or disprove the label given by the majority of society.

This topic allows for a wealth of flexibility and choice.

Your focus will be on a person working in an area (and time period in history) that you are most interested in: photography; art; literature; politics; film; music; fashion; science; computer technology; mathematics; education; or ???

To get a better idea of some possibilities, and for purpose of illustration, let’s look at some examples of topics within in the time period of the 1950s in America.

Premise: Many in the 1950s worked diligently for the comfort and conformity displayed on such TV shows as “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it to Beaver.” But regardless of the affluence of the new American middle class, there was still poverty, racism and alienation in America rarely depicted on TV.

Dozens of people rejected societal norms through their artwork, creativity and lifestyle. They used words, art, film and music to rebel against the cookie-cutter mentality of the established power structure and mass-marketed culture.

Many writers during this time period (referred to as the Beat Generation) adamantly refused to submit to the conformity of the 1950s. (these writers included Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Diane Di Prima, Sloan Wilson, J.D. Salinger, William Burroughs, and others)

Likewise, many artists during this time period adamantly refused to submit to the conformity of the 1950s. (these artists included Willem De Kooning, Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Clement Greenberg, and others)

Also, according to an Internet article on conformity in U.S. History: “While the 1950s silver screen lit up mostly with the typical Hollywood fare of Westerns and romances, a handful of films shocked audiences by uncovering the dark side of America’s youth.”

Many filmmakers of this time period adamantly refused to submit to the conformity of the 1950s. (these films include The Wild One; Blackboard Jungle; Rebel without a Cause, etc)

No matter what non conformist you select to research, your essay must contain the following:

• your working definition of a non-conformist (in order to frame and set up your argument)

• a brief history of the country’s mood during this time period;

• background and details about the non-conformist you will focus on;

• how his/her work challenged the status quo;

• the impact of his/her work on others in the same field and on society;

• and the repercussions and influence felt today, or what you predict WILL be the repercussions in the future.

Your essay will be both informative and analytical: your thesis will “prove” the person’s influence, or not, on people’s lives, then and now.

Things to Consider:

This is NOT an essay in which you write an in depth analysis of the literature, film, music, etc. of the time period you are focused on. To do that, you would need to carefully read, view, or listen to the work or material at great length.

Instead, you are conducting research to discover the mood of the country and the status quo during a particular time period——why and how a person’s work was considered non conformist—and how their work influenced those living then…and now.

Your thesis might read something like this:

Although 1950s America appeared to be almost unrealistically content, many visual artists at this time, particularly Jackson Pollack, successfully combated the blissful charade by using innovative methods and themes in his work.

A BRIEF LIST OF TOPIC SUGGESTIONS:

Mahatma Ghandi   George Carlin

Martin Luther King, Jr.    John Cassavetes

Eminem     Yves St. Laurent

Georgia O’Keefe    Abby Hoffman

Galileo Galilei    John Lennon

Emma Goldman    David Mamet

Janis Joplin    Jim Morrison

Johnny Cash    Ralph Nader

Steve Jobs    Joan of Arc

Nelson Mandela    Che Guevara

Karl Marx    Bill Gates

Dr. Jack Kevorkian    James Dean

Quentin Crisp    Henry David Thoreau

Ayn Rand    Elvis Presley

Carl Jung

Carl Sagan

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn