Seminar One: Ticket Topic
As is the case with most stories that have any substance to them, it’s possible to discern the presence of several themes in Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” For many readers, one of the most obvious concerns family connectedness and obligation; another hard-to-miss theme in the story involves the artist’s—in this case, the musical artist’s—place in society and the questions of where art comes from and what it might be good for. For your seminar paper, discuss the story’s treatment of either the family connectednessissue or theissue of the artist’s situation and motivations.
Remember, your seminar ticket needn’t be a full-fledged essay; it may, for instance, be as brief as a page or so—in essay format, set up as a series of bullet points, or configured however else will allow you easy visual access during seminar—and, if you prefer, it can be handwritten rather than typed (of course, if you want it to do double duty as part or all of your journal, it’ll need to be typed). Typed or not, it should reflect some genuine thought and contain some meaty ideas (i.e. five sentences scrawled on the back of a grocery receipt won’t cut it). Your paper might focus on a single notion or it might be composed of several more or less separate observations. In any case, it should include textual evidence in support of your ideas (you’ll be attending carefully to the text anyhow in preparation for seminar), and no matter what its form or content, the most fundamental requirement for your seminar ticket is that it exist—I’ll ask to see your paper at the beginning of class, and if you can’t produce it, you won’t be able to join the seminar.
Seminar One: Ticket Topic
As is the case with most stories that have any substance to them, it’s possible to discern the presence of several themes in Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” For many readers, one of the most obvious concerns family connectedness and obligation; another hard-to-miss theme in the story involves the artist’s—in this case, the musical artist’s—place in society and the questions of where art comes from and what it might be good for. For your seminar paper, discuss the story’s treatment of either the family connectedness issue or the issue of the artist’s situation and motivations.
Remember, your seminar ticket needn’t be a full-fledged essay; it may, for instance, be as brief as a page or so—in essay format, set up as a series of bullet points, or configured however else will allow you easy visual access during seminar—and, if you prefer, it can be handwritten rather than typed (of course, if you want it to do double duty as part or all of your journal, it’ll need to be typed). Typed or not, it should reflect some genuine thought and contain some meaty ideas (i.e. five sentences scrawled on the back of a grocery receipt won’t cut it). Your paper might focus on a single notion or it might be composed of several more or less separate observations. In any case, it should include textual evidence in support of your ideas (you’ll be attending carefully to the text anyhow in preparation for seminar), and no matter what its form or content, the most fundamental requirement for your seminar ticket is that it exist—I’ll ask to see your paper at the beginning of class, and if you can’t produce it, you won’t be able to join the seminar.