For my research paper I will be writing about the story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. In the story, a young Langston believes he must lie about being saved to appease those gathered in the church, where the story takes place. This lie is so detrimental to Langston that it causes him to lose faith in Jesus Christ. My research paper will explore the significance of social culture and how it plays an influential role in his decision to lie by examining both the setting and secondary characters. My secondary sources will be Langston Hughes biography to gather knowledge on the familiar and cultural upbringing of Mr. Hughes and various articles pertaining to Lev Vygotskys theory of social culture to provide a clear point of reference to what social culture is and its effects on the human experience. I have not explored the BMCC database yet, I have been using external sources from google searches and textbook infromation.
Daily Archives: October 28, 2022
For my research essay I chose “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara and my thesis word for word is ” Miss Moore wants to show them the unfairness of the world and its distribution of wealth, in the end only two students actually get the lesson.” I have recently, to the best of my interpretation of the story, tried to show how certain actions of Sylvia and Sugar are different from the other students which may show why they were the only ones who actually got something out of the trip to the toy store. I think the kind of secondary source of information that would be helpful to me would be how other people would interpret some of the actions or things the kids have said to help show my point on why only those two got the lesson. So far I have used One search to try to find what other people have written on the actions and words of the children. I have found one result that talks about one thought Sylvia has made that could help my thesis statement.
My research paper will be on “The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The main points that I am focusing on are the villager’s perspective on life and how they want to change their lives for the better when they see this drowned man wash up in their village. My thesis is “The arrival of this mysterious man displays to the reader that it does not take much to change oneself rather it is a deeper want for them to want to change for the better.” The kind of secondary source information that will support my thesis is physiological studies on how other people may change your mindset and life and also a biography on Gabriel Garcia Marquez to understand the way he thinks. I would get these articles from places like JSTOR and the BMCC library. I would also add other articles where people have similar ideas on how and why Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote this and thinks that it takes a great person to change others.
For my research essay, I have chosen “Araby” by James Joyce. My thesis statement is – “The author uses light and darkness to demonstrate the narrator’s battle between the fantasy and brutality of reality”. I have decided to use literary critique as a secondary source to support my research essay and to better describe Joyce’s use of dark and light imagery. I found several literary databases in the BMCC library, such as JSTOR, Literature Resource Center, however, I have not made my final decision yet.
My research essay will be on Araby by James Joyce. The main thing I will be focusing on for my essay is how the story is not actually a love story but one with many other underlying tones. The thesis statement is “Throughout the story readers see how the narrator uses settings and metaphors, particularly the contrast between light and darkness to show how the feelings he has towards the girl are not love but obsession.” I feel like dissertations on the author, James Joyce, would be useful as I would be able to gain insight on the authors writing style. Furthermore, there are many Journal articles on JSTOR which would provide many different interpretations of the story which I could draw ideas from in my research paper. Biographies on James Joyce would also further my understanding of her, specifically her writing style. Lastly, criticisms of literature would be helpful as they provide constructive criticism of Araby from which I can draw points from to connect to my thesis.
For my research essay I will be focusing on the short story written by Langston Hughes, “Salvation.” The reading centers on a young boy who attends church with high hopes of being “saved by Jesus,” only for circumstances to change when he is the last child sitting on the mourners bench and has yet to be rescued. In fear of wasting any more time, he stands- though he goes to bed later that night with the lack of faith in Jesus and feeling remorseful for lying. From the beginning to the end of the story, readers are able to see the change in his thought process as well as feel his emotions. The secondary source information I will use to support my thesis will be the journal article “The American Dream of Langston Hughes” published by Southern Methodist University. [JSTOR] This article supports my thesis because throughout the reading, readers are informed on everything Hughes had experienced. From being a victim to racial discrimination to using poetry to make ends meet and than making poetry his voice. Readers are able to witness the character development.
I chose to do my research essay on the short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. My thesis is “During the course of the story, the character undergoes a great change and is a very different person by the end.” For my secondary source, I am choosing to do a biography on him. This will explain will more about his childhood life, since in this story he was twelve turning thirteen. By researching, I am hoping to find out why he wasn’t able to see Jesus in the church, and I think that his early childhood may have had an impact on that. I am choosing to go more into his personal life and find deeper meanings in his childhood because it will show how one course of the event led to another. The BMCC database that I explored is the “Gale Literature Resource Center.” I found this database interesting because it explains how he saw his “home” in another church.
For my essay I chose “Araby” by James Joyce, My thesis statement is “James Joyce uses light and dark imagery to symbolize the narrator’s journey from childish romanticization to disillusionment.” I think the specific kind of secondary source information that will support my thesis best would be a literary critique analyzing or critiquing Joyce’s use of dark and light imagery. So far I’ve browsed JSTOR and GALE. I haven’t had luck yet finding a critique similar to my idea that the narrator is childish for his romanticization, but I’m sure I’ll be able to bounce off of some of the opinions in whichever source I decide to work with.
For my research essay, I picked “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. The reason I chose this story is that the young boy lost his faith in Christ due to misunderstanding what his Aunt said about being saved. The narrator shows how the pressure of his aunt and the crowd add to his distress. This reflects my thesis of the character undergoing many shifting emotions and is significantly changed by the end of the story. My secondary source will be Langston Hughes’s biography where he talks about the hardships of who he was, especially in the early 1900s, and also his famous “Harlem Renaissance” explaining the path that led to Hughes’s determination to understand religion, although often from a critical perspective, and incorporates his experiences going back as far as his childhood. His experience relates to my thesis on how Langston lost his faith in Christ when he was young because of his disappointing experience of not being saved.
For my research essay I have chosen to write about “salvation” by Langston Hughes. My thesis is about the conflict the young boy faced throughout the story that led to an internal battle between his expectations, beliefs and his realization of harsh reality. For my secondary source I will be using Langston Hughes biography because in there it mentions the few times Hughes had to experience conflict because of his writings and beliefs which soon clashed with the harsh truth of reality. This resonates with my thesis so I will be putting that to use to help with my research summary. As for the bmcc databases so far I’ve explored JSTOR but haven’t found anything useful yet.
my research essay is about “Salvation” by Langston Hughes my thesis statement is about the range of emotions by the young boy on the path to his epiphany going in with expectations and leaving with disappointment. I will be using Langston Hughes biography as my secondary source to help with my research summary. Langston Hughes was one of the most talented writers of the Harlem renaissance in the 1920’s they weren’t very religious which can show how much that experience in church has had a major effect on Langston hughes which I will be mentioning in my research summary.
