I really enjoyed your presentation, and I liked that you're writing about both authors. I think I might have missed your thesis, though. At first, your thesis seemed to be about the uneven, gendered power relationships in these stories--about two women writers refusing to limit themselves to feminist themes. Then, you moved to the differences in portrayals of masculinity between North American men and Mexican/Spanish men, which I found really interesting. Then again, you moved to a specific example using the "Artificial Nigger" and contrasting Mr. Head's childish nature with ideal masculine leadership qualities. I found all these part really interesting and strong, but I had a hard time seeing how your thesis tied them together. (I think the bit about alternative women like the Theft character and Hulga leading very empty lives was a really strong interesting point--I'll bet you have some good work on that). Nice presentation!
Your paper sounds like it is coming along well, I would just advise to be careful about generalizations and making sure you keep the stories as a clear referent. Otherwise, you might get in some trouble talking about "the weakness of men" (which is awesome, by the way)if you aren't sure to specify that you are talking about the men portrayed in these stories. I would agree with Sarah that your thesis needs to be clarified a bit, but I'm guessing that is due mainly to the format of an oral presentation as opposed to a written paper. Just make sure your thesis is strong enough that everything in your paper can be traced back to it. Otherwise, well done.
2 comments:
I really enjoyed your presentation, and I liked that you're writing about both authors. I think I might have missed your thesis, though. At first, your thesis seemed to be about the uneven, gendered power relationships in these stories--about two women writers refusing to limit themselves to feminist themes. Then, you moved to the differences in portrayals of masculinity between North American men and Mexican/Spanish men, which I found really interesting. Then again, you moved to a specific example using the "Artificial Nigger" and contrasting Mr. Head's childish nature with ideal masculine leadership qualities. I found all these part really interesting and strong, but I had a hard time seeing how your thesis tied them together. (I think the bit about alternative women like the Theft character and Hulga leading very empty lives was a really strong interesting point--I'll bet you have some good work on that). Nice presentation!
Your paper sounds like it is coming along well, I would just advise to be careful about generalizations and making sure you keep the stories as a clear referent. Otherwise, you might get in some trouble talking about "the weakness of men" (which is awesome, by the way)if you aren't sure to specify that you are talking about the men portrayed in these stories. I would agree with Sarah that your thesis needs to be clarified a bit, but I'm guessing that is due mainly to the format of an oral presentation as opposed to a written paper. Just make sure your thesis is strong enough that everything in your paper can be traced back to it. Otherwise, well done.
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