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Final Paper – An Anthology of Our Own
This semester we have read several anthologized excerpts from immigrant literature of the past and present. For the final class project, we will be working together to make our own immigrant lit anthology of readings with (1) introductions to our selections; (2) rationales for our selections; and (3) a close reading/analysis of a key part/excerpt from our selections (which is essentially an extension of the rationale). As part of the final project, you will need to submit all of the following:
You must first select a novel (which must obviously be of the immigrant lit genre; no shorter works will be allowed) from outside of class you wish to feature in the anthology, and clear your selection with me before starting work. Think of this as your pitch” as a contributor to the course anthology. You should do requisite vetting of the novel you have selected, because you are going to have to write a convincing rationale for including your piece. Simply being written by an immigrant is not a sufficient rationale.
The entire excerpt itself. There are various means for submission; you can scan pages, screenshots, or photographs of the book itself (using a scanner, a smartphone, an iPad, etc.). Much more labor intensive, you can also type out the entire excerpt, if you want. To each their own, suffice to say that you need to submit the excerpt.
An introduction to your selection. Use the introductions to literary pieces in Becoming Americans as models and samples to emulate. This is your opportunity to discuss your author, their background, credentials, etc.
The rationale for your selection; what does your selected author have to contribute to our course anthology? Why 0did you choose them? Why should they be included in our anthology? This se

ction should essentially justify the inclusion of your author and your author’s excerpt. If it helps, consider that future generations will be reading the excerpt you have selected, so there had better be something special, unique, and exceptional for the excerpt’s incorporation. You need to be able to show your reader what those special characteristics are in order to persuade your reader as to why the excerpt merits incorporation
Close reading/analysis of a key section of your excerpt. This is very important. Keep in mind that you are only providing an analysis of a key passage from your excerpt, not the entire excerpt itself. Pick a key passage from your excerpt that you want to focus in on and highlight for your reader’s attention.
Your completion of this assignment will be evaluated on the basis of your persuasive abilities. If your excerpt, rationale, and commentary are convincing and engaging, you will earn high marks. If your reader is left unconvinced as to the excerpt’s merits and reasons for inclusion, the work will read as more mediocre. Thankfully, we’re going to be seeing glimpses of important passages from immigrant literature – a “greatest hits” package, so to speak – all semester long that you can use as models and samples.
In terms of the paper’s length, there is actually no set required length. That said, I would recommend in the neighborhood of 4 double-spaced pages, and likely no more than 5pp total. Between the introduction -> rationale -> close reading, give or take one page apiece should suffice. (This is obviously not including scans of the excerpt itself, which also need to be included with your submission. Ideally you should just submit one single document which includes everything.)
I choose the book Jasmine (1989) by Bharati Mukherjee