AFR 2222: Current Caribbean Literature, D880

Prof. Garcia

Final Exam/Project

Assignment

Your final exam will be a two part project: one part of the project is analytical and the other is creative. You may choose to work in groups or alone, but both parts of the assignment must be done in the same way. In other words, you do both parts in groups or you do both parts alone. Groups should consist of 2-4 members.

Part I

For this part of the final you will do a power point presentation of a close reading of a significant passage in Edwidge Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory: A Novel. Your presentation should do the following:

1. Pick a specific moment in the text that is important to the novel as a whole.
2. Depending on the length summarize or quote the moment for the class. This should be very brief (2-3 sentences).
3. Explain the significance of the moment. In other words, what does it help you understand?
4. Explain, why and how you understand what you say you understand. To do this you will pay careful attention to language, action, characters, images, and other rhetorical devices in the passage itself and explain how these details make the point you have highlighted.

Part II

For this part of the assignment you can work with any text we have read this semester. The point of this part of the assignment is to engage the ideas of a text and interpret it creatively. And, you must present your work orally and in a dynamic way in front of the class. Finally, you must also turn in what you write up to do the presentation, which should be a minimum of three pages. Your choices for this part are:

1. Rewrite a text from the perspective of a character other than the one the text already employs.  You may want to do this to show how the text has a different meaning when seen from a different point of view. Choose multiple scenes and recast them from the new perspective.
2. Recast one of the texts in modern terms to show how the issues in the text apply to our society.  This might be a way of helping the class better understand the issues in a text. Choose multiple scenes and recast them in modern terms.
3. Write a short story that incorporates characters from two, or all three, of the texts we discussed this semester. Make sure your story addresses a theme the texts have in common. You might use this option to compare the way each text approaches the same theme, issue, and/or question.

During the presentation you or your group will:

1. Somehow orally present your project to the class. How you present your work is up to you so use your imagination.
2. Explain to the class the intention of your creative response. What theme, issue, or question were you interpreting and how?