THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
American Literary Realism is implicated in complex
issues of gender, power, class, and race. Edith Wharton’s definition
of realism emerges from novels about high society, or what Phillip
Barrish has called “cultural prestige.” The agency of women, and
disparities of gender, power and class are explored in The Age of
Innocence. . The paper on this subject should make a contribution to
the scholarly field. The argument can, and should be, informed by what
other scholars have written, but it needs to either expand, revise,
interrogate, dispute, and/or offer a fresh perspective on the topic.
The objective of this assignment is to engage with pre-existing
scholarship and enter into an academic conversation about the works in
ways that will enhance our understanding of the literature. The paper
posits a critical interpretation of a text (or a series of texts). But
its scope is more expansive in that it utilizes more secondary sources
to refine what has already been said about the topic and/or work(s)
and makes a scholarly intervention by articulating that which has not
been said (or said well enough). The essay must contain a thesis
statement, otherwise known as an “arguable claim.” This is a sentence
or two that formulates both the topic and the point of view. The
thesis statement should do one or more of the following: 1. Take a
stand on an issue or problem 2. Justify a line of thinking 3. Express
one main idea 4. Narrow the text to a manageable discussion A strong
thesis is complex and neither easily provable or disprovable. It is
also clear and succinct. It should come no later than the end of the
first paragraph of the essay, which should give some background and
contextual information on the topic. The analysis
should have a logical and coherent structure. The argument should
smoothly flow from one premise to another. To support the thesis, the
essay needs to use relevant examples from the text, i.e. quotations
and paraphrased content. But it is not enough to simply provide
textual evidence. The essay needs to analyze/interpret this evidence
by telling the reader how to make sense of it. Examples should come
from both the primary, imaginative work(s) under discussion AND the
secondary, critical works that also address the topic. It is essential
to engage with the scholarly material by having a dialogue with it.
Point out its strengths, weaknesses, how it adds to the argument, or
how the argument of the essay improves it. Finally, the essay should
end with a tying up of the argument. It might explain the larger
implications of the argument with regard to the text as a whole, the
discipline, or the world at large—particularly in terms of our current
political climate. Guidelines The essay needs to be between 8-10
pages. It may focus on a single text or a pair of texts. The argument
should be an original contribution to the scholarly community, it
should have a minimum of 8-10 secondary sources. These should be
scholarly articles, essays, and book chapters or scholarly books.
Finally, make the essay adhere to MLA style guidelines for formatting
and citation. For example, the paper should be typed and
double-spaced, using 12-point font in Times New Roman. Make sure the
margins are set at one inch at the top, bottom, and sides of the page.
Your last name, followed by the page number, should appear one-half
inch down from the top righthand corner of each page. Use in-text
citations and include a Works Cited page at the end
of the essay.
Answer preview
Gender is often constructed as the socially defined aspects that relate to a person’s sexuality and to which they are expected to conform. This discussion explores the agency of women, the disparities of gender, power, and class in Edith Wharton’s classic piece of “Age of Innocence.” Edith Wharton is acclaimed as one of the authors of “high realism” of the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century authors who…
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