In a prominent bar in secaucus one day

Reading Response Assignment

English Composition II

Purpose:

This assignment is meant to give you space to express your thoughts on the readings somewhere in between free writing and a formal assignment. It is meant to gauge your reaction to a piece in an undirected manner.

Requirements:

· 5 reading response papers should be submitted throughout the semester.

· Assignments can be handed in as soon as they are completed.

· Students may choose any of the readings assigned throughout the semester to work with. If you wish you may do 2 reading response essays on different aspects of The Great Gatsby.

· Response papers should be about two pages in length, and have at least a basic organization and focus to them.

· If quotations or citations are used they should be properly formatted following MLA guidelines

Prompt:

Give your response to the reading of your choice. This can focus on any aspect of the text you wish. Things you consider may include but are in no way limited to:

· What are the major themes or arguments of the piece? Why do you think the author wrote it?

· How does the style or form of the piece affect what it is trying to say?

· What do you make of the characters within the piece?

· Do you like or dislike the text? Why? Be specific

· Does the text agree with, or go against your personal world view?

List of Readings to Choose from:

· “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro

· “Wildwood” by Junot Díaz

· “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy

· “In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus One Day” by X. J. Kennedy

· “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay

· “Fences” by August Wilson

· “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

· “Exchanging Hats” by Elizabeth Bishop

· “Punishment” by Seamus Heaney

· “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath

· “Sonny’s Blue’s” by James Baldwin

· “A Wall of Fire Rising” by Edwidge Danticat

· “On Being Brought From Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley

· “Litany at the Tomb of Frederick Douglass” by Martín Espada

· “The White House” by Claude Mckay

· “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen

· “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara

· “Ballad of the Landlord”, “Harlem”, and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes