Important Information for Final Essay

HERE ARE THE GUIDELINES:

Select one of the questions below to write a 5-paragraph essay on. Feel free to combine questions and be creative in your voice/ writing style, as long as you include evidence from or references to texts we’ve studied the year.

You will be graded on:

-          Are your ideas well-developed? (5 pts.)

-          Do you use concise and powerful word choice? (5 pts.)

-          Is your message clear? (5 pts.)

-          Do you answer all the questions? (5 pts.)

-          Do you include textual evidence from or references to at least 3 literary works we studied this year in your answer? NOTE: 1 of these should be The Giver (5 pts.)

-          Do you include the elements of  an essay: introduction, MEAL body paragraphs, conclusion? (5 pts.)

-          Do you indent your paragraphs? (2 pts.)

Total Possible Points: 32

LITERARY WORKS

Following, are a few excerpts from some of the literary works we studied this semester, to help get you thinking. You may use them in your writing if you like, but you can include others that are not here as well.

Lauryn Hill, Motives and Thoughts:

“When the blind lead the blind
Just more trouble and woes
It’s the mind that they chose
Its designed to stay closed”

Lois Lowry, The Giver:

“Listen to me, Jonas. They can’t help it. They know nothing.”

“You said that to me once before.”

“I said it because it’s true. It’s the way they live. It’s the life that was created for them. It’s the same life that you would have, if you had not been chosen as my successor.”

“But he lied to me!” Jonas wept.

“It’s what he was told to do, and he knows nothing else” (p. 153).

Kanye West, Self Conscious

“It seems we living the American dream
But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem
The prettiest people do the ugliest things
For the road to riches and diamond rings
We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us
We trying to buy back our 40 acres
And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop
Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coop/coupe…

…I say f**k the police, thats how I treat em
We buy our way out of jail, but we can't buy freedom
We'll buy a lot of clothes when we don't really need em
Things we buy to cover up what's inside
Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth
That's why shortys hollering "where the ballas' at?"
Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack
And a white man get paid off of all of that”

Black Star (Talib Kweli, Mos Def), Thieves in the Night

“Most cats in my area be lovin the hysteria
Synthesized surface conceals the interior
America, land of opportunity, mirages and camoflauges
More than usually -- speakin loudly, sayin nothin
You confusin me, you losin me
Your game is twisted, want me enlisted -- in your usary
Foolishly, most men join the ranks cluelessly
Buffoonishly accept the deception, believe the perception
Reflection rarely seen across the surface of the lookin glass
Walkin the street, wonderin who they be lookin past”

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Taylor Mali:

“Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.” (from: “Speak with Conviction”)

“I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).
Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?” (from: “What Teachers Make”)

Martin Luther King Jr.:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.