Research and Personal Narrative Book

Project PROMPT:
Ari and Dante Paper: Your Book, Your
Life, Your World
For this assignment you will be using the knowledge that you have collected
from the lecture and the webercise research scavenger hunt in order to write about
how the novel, your life, and the world relate to one another. Find a way to make the
novel and the outside sources come alive for you. Make the texts relevant to your
personal life and the world you live in by showing your reader the connections
between things. There are neither right nor wrong answers in this assignment.
Instead, you will have to come up with and argument and claims, which you will
support with evidence. Additionally, no hate based answers are permitted for
this writing project. You are welcome to disagree with the texts. However, if you
choose to do so, do so with a mind that remains open to tolerance, diversity, and
sensitivity for a topic that concerns the experiences of real peoples lives.
Write about the groups that you belong to (your own communities,
families, ethnicities, races) and explains how these communal experiences
are similar and/or different from those portrayed in Saenzs novel. Draw on
what you have learned about character development, language use, and theme to
find relevant passages of text that you can use for comparative analysis with your
own lives. Analyze and evaluate who belongs, who does not belong, and
why.

Here are some questions and ideas from the webercise activity to help
you:
Boarderlands: La Frontera published in 1987 and Azaldua from S. Texas/El
Paso in S.Texas. Consider the geographical, historical, social, and literary
relationships between the borderlands, Chicano(a), and Queer themes.
For further focus in the text: the tension between being Mexian and American,
the tension of being male and being typically unmale (which includes sexual
attraction to males. This gender and sexuality spectrum is a part of Queer
Theory.), and the construction of identity through language.
How do Ari and Dante find belonging through language?
How can oppression, hardship, sadness, and loneliness be constructive
in the novel and with Anzaldua?

How might shame (and more importantly overcoming it) connect the
experiences of oppressed peoples?
In what ways can shame be attatched to language (which in Anzaldas theory
transmits identity)?
Consider the relationship between shame and belonging.