The purpose of this paper is to make a critical assessment of the stories we read from Her Body and Other Parties. Please review my comments on your other papers as well as the rubric. You may want to review your responses to the Becoming a Critic worksheet in module one. The first decision you will make as a critic is whether Her Body and Other Parties is good or bad art. That will serve as your THESIS statement. You will then support your assessment of the text as good or bad by giving examples about the text’s aesthetic, technical, sociopolitical and ethical components. The whole paper will be worth up to 100 points and will be due to the canvas no later than midnight on Friday June 24 It will be graded according to the following rubric:
Grammar, Usage and Mechanics: 10 points
The format should follow the example given in class. Style and citation should follow Modern Language Arts (MLA) guidelines. Each error in usage, mechanics or grammar will be a one point deduction. No excess points will be taken away should the paper have more than 10 errors. The works cited page will not be included in the word count and it should have the edition of the text the student used to cite from and ANY outside material used in the paper. Please note, I will stop grading for this component after I find 10 errors. It does not mean there
were no more errors in your paper. The errors will be marked clearly on the pdf copy of your paper that I upload. Please review your mistakes and avoid repeating them — especially easily fixed ones, like format and typos.
You are welcome to use software like Grammarly to catch and fix your mistakes. Introduction, Conclusion, Organization 30 points: The paper should have a clear and direct introduction (10 points) that expresses an opinion on the merits or failings of the text based. This might include context (why it is relevant), or your own personal aesthetic.
The paper should be organized either themetaically or subject-based and should offer clear transitions between sections. It MUST use all of the stories we read for class as support and not just one. Since there are four criteria, I would expect you to use a different story for each criteria. A paper that substantially addresses the required components should be between 500 and 750 words. Because the length is so short, there should be no filler material. Every sentence must contribute to the overall argument. Please avoid excessive summary. Do not exceed the word count. (10 points).
In addition to a few sentences that explain how your arguments about the aesthetic, technical, sociopolitical and ethical of the text support the idea that Silencer is good or bad art, your conclusion (10 points) must answer the question why this book, why here, why now? Most students lose points on this section. Please be sure to be specific. This is a good book for our time is NOT specific. Consider this sentence as an example: Although Hurt Village takes place almost two decades ago, the current conversation about poverty and inequality in wealth make this play an important addition to contemporary literature.” Aesthetic: 15 points
Often our initial response is typically one of liking or disliking the text. It is important to investigate your own preferences and understand what they are so that you do not let your natural bias cloud your critiques. For this section you will need to explain why you liked or disliked the text, give an example from the text of Silencer that supports the reason you liked or disliked a text and then cite that text correctly.
Do not look up what is aesthetics on google and then write about beauty and taste and art. I am using the term to apply to your own personal tastes. At the gut level, did you like or dislike the text? Why? Choose a stories that represent why you did or did not like the text.
Technical: 15 points
This section must assess the merits of the text based on what you learned about good art from reading Poetics sections sixteen thru twenty-one. The criteria that are new that also apply to Her Body and Other Parties include
1. The KINDS of recognition
2. Episodes of the plot must be connected to the single line of action
3. Complication and Unraveling in Plot
4. Thought
5. Use of current, strange, newly-coined words
6. Metaphor
You will need to choose the criteria from the above list, define the criteria by paraphrasing it IN YOUR OWN WORDS to make sure that you fully understand the concept. Be sure to cite it correctly. You may want to review the Butcher text, the slides and my audio lecture. Then you must give an example from the text of Her Body and Other Parties that proves why you think the text satisfies or doesn’t satisfy Aristotle’s standards for the criteria you chose. You may also bring in other information you know about the technical merits of short fiction and narrative. If you do, please include those works on the works cited page and cite accordingly.
Sociopolitical: 15 points
Choose a theme from Her Body and Other Parties that is relevant to our current cultural and/or political climate. Spend a sentence or two explaining your understanding of that theme. If you need to, you might consider using an outside source to help explain that theme and why it is relevant. Then give an example, summary or paraphrase that connects Her Body and Other Parties to that theme. Be sure to cite this.
Finally explain what you think Her Body and Other Parties adds or contributes to that theme. You may also want to address if that contribution is good or bad. Remember there are several themes present in each text that can speak to the sociopolitical issues that are currently of importance.
Ethical: 15 points
As a critic, it is important to let the reader know that your assessment is informed by your own individual ethics (beliefs, morals, philosophies). This is especially true if your judgment of the merits or flaws of the text is related to your own ethics. For this section, you need to decide if Her Body and Other Parties supported one of your ethical views of the world, or contradicted it. Here you might consider Machado’s statements about what she hopes to achieve by writing stories with unnamed female protagonists, writing about sex, providing broad representation in texts, or writing about the female body. There are many ways in which this text might align with what you believe or counter it. Once you decide, you’ll need to find a part of the text to use as an example of how it supports or counters your ethical views. Be sure to cite it — whether you use paraphrase, summary or quotation.
Remember you are considering this as part of the overall question of whether or not this is good art or bad art. So, if you decide it is against your ethical beliefs, but you still think it is good art, you will need to explain why. Or if you think it is bad art, even though you agree with it ethically, you’d need to explain that as well.
