California Literature

 2009-10 (Fall Semester)

Literary Term Paper

Assigned Thursday, December 17, 2009: Due Friday, January 22nd

Your term paper for this semester will be a critical paper dealing with some aspect of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.  Since its publication by Viking Press in September of 1952, ten years before the writer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the novel has never been out of print. Only one month after being published East of Eden was number one on the fiction best-seller list.  In A Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letter, the writer's diary of East of Eden, Steinbeck calls the novel “...the story of my country and the story of me.” The book spans the history of the nation from the Civil War to World War I and tells the story of two American families. The Hamiltons, Steinbeck's maternal relatives, are considered the “Universal Family” while the fictional Trasks are the “Universal Neighbors.”

Steinbeck's inspiration for the novel comes from the Bible, the fourth chapter of the book of Genesis, verses one though sixteen, which recounts the story of Cain and Abel. Steinbeck chose the title, East of Eden, from Genesis, Chapter 4, verse 16.  Steinbeck called East of Eden “a sort of autobiography of the Salinas Valley.”  Although at this point you have not completed the book, it is obvious that East of Eden, which begins in 1862, covers three generations and 56 years. The book ends in Salinas, California, in 1918.

The clearest theme of East of Eden can be captured in the following quote: “All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.”   East of Eden is an allegorical/realistic novel, a daring combination of biography and fiction.  In our reading of the novel, we have considered issues related to California history, Westward movement, the known and unknown family history, sibling rivalry, social and racial expectations, gender roles, sexuality, narrative forms and the use of various genres, war and politics as a backdrop, the definitions of sanity, dreams and realities, references to the Bible, industrialization and progression, the American canon of literature, money, the psychological development of various characters, the use of character device, the development and use of character, and other subjects that you have discovered in your own reading. In your argumentative papers, please make sure to keep East of Eden as the central text of critical study in your paper. Choose a topic that you have an interest in, especially if the reading of the text has resulted in some poignant engagement or intellectual curiosity.  Your research of literary criticism and related material that may stem from other disciplines is crucial to the success of your paper. By using appropriate and varied evidence, your paper is more like to result in a sound argument, one that considers the complexities of an argument through the scholarly work of others and your own critical voice.  Remember, ultimately you are the most important voice in the paper. 

The Process:

1) Selecting a topic that you can readily research and truly engage in

2) Limit your topic and make the purpose of your paper clear

3) Gather information on your limited topic

4) Plan your paper and consider the notes you took during the reading of the central text

5) Write the paper

6) Use, without any deviation, the MLA as the format and method of documentation (MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers: 7^th Ed. 2009).  Your paper will not be accepted with any deviations; thus, please be very meticulous in the production of your paper.

7) Revise

8) Edit

Paper Requirements:

1)    Your paper topic must be one that provides for an argument.  Your thesis must be slanted (arguable).  Although your paper will be informative and expository on many levels, it is primarily an argumentative paper.

2)    Your paper must be 6 to 8 pages in length (this does not include a cover sheet, your Work Cited sheet, or any visuals you might include as part of your paper.)

3)    You must use a minimum of four different sources (these will not be the first five you find!).  Anything over ten sources is unnecessary and may result in an unbalanced paper.  In addition, your sources must be varied in order to achieve a more valid survey of the research available to you. 

4)    You must: use size 12 font; 1-inch margins; your personal information must be typed (it cannot be written by hand!); you must use page numbers following the MLA format; you must use a header; and, you must use white paper with Times New Roman as your font.

5)    Your paper must be balanced. This means that your own voice must come through in the paper and not just the sources you’ve chosen.

6)    I highly suggest that you purchase or check out the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7^th Edition 2009).  It is a text you will use as a college student.  If you choose not to purchase the book, you may still be able to access the MLA expected format and guidelines online.   

DUE DATE: (ABSOLUTELY NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED: SERIOUSLY, YOU HAVE A MONTH TO PRODUCE A STRONG PAPER OF SHORT LENGTH)

Final Draft (Strictly Following MLA): 300 Points