Extra-Credit Assignment

Due in class on December 3.

This assignment may help you with up to one-half of a letter grade in the final grade tabulations. To be considered for the extra-credit, you must complete one of the following:

OPTION ONE:

  1. Read The Name of the Rose.
  2. Select 10 to 15 quotations (anywhere from a sentence to a paragraph long) which you think best illustrates Eco's "theory" of semiotics. (He doesn't ever really talk about a "theory" of semiotics, but he does allude to it. For instance in the first paragraph on page 11, he is telling us about semiotics: "But we now see through a glass darkly, and the truth, before it is revealed to all, face to face, we see in fragments (alas, how illegible) in the error of the world, so we must spell out its faithful signals even when they seem obscure to us and as if amalgamated with a will wholly bent on evil.").
  3. Provide a typewritten copy of those quotes (including the pages they were taken from) with your name on it.
  4. Write a one paragraph statement comparing Eco's idea of semiotics with Chandler's.

 

OPTION TWO:

  1. Read The Things They Carried.
  2. Select 10 to 15 quotations (anywhere from a sentence to a paragraph long) which you think best illustrates O'Brien's "theory" of fact vs. fiction. (He doesn't ever really talk about a "theory" of fact vs. fiction, but he does allude to it.)
  3. Provide a typewritten copy of those quotes (including the pages they were taken from) with your name and group number on it.
  4. Write a one paragraph statement comparing O'Brien's idea of "facts" to Campbell's discussion of literary forms of journalism on pages 224-225.

 

OPTION THREE:

  1. Read Tony MorrisonÍs The Bluest Eye.
  2. Select 10-15 quotes (anywhere from a sentence to a paragraph long) that you believe illustrate how Morrison observes individuals use the signs and symbols of the mainstream culture to form their own person identity.
  3. Provide a typewritten copy of those quotes (including the pages they were taken from) with your name and group number on it.
  4. Write a one paragraph statement comparing Morrison's "theory" of identity formation with Downing's discussion of culture and hegemony on pages 14-18.