2- Assignment Paper

Length: 1,000-1,250 words

Required text: A Friend of the Earth, by TC Boyle

Secondary sources: though not required, you may include additional research if it helps you explain your arguments about the literary work(s). Any secondary sources must be cited according to MLA style.

Your Task: write an essay that presents a complex and sophisticated argument about A friend of the earth. Essays must focus on the text itself and should develop ideas beyond what we have discussed in class. Do not make a general or moralistic argument about climate change (such as “This novel shows that selfish humans have trashed the earth,” or “The author argues that we must act now, or we will all be doomed!”) While you may go beyond the rigid five paragraph essay structure, you should still have a strong thesis statement, and body paragraphs that feature related topic sentences and which flow logically from one idea to the next. Please note that any literary work has many themes. Though this class is organized around climate change in fiction, you are not required to write about that topic explicitly.

Additional text (you will choose one):
“Yeah, the Weather Has Been Weird,” by Katharine Hayhoe;
“A World at War,” by Bill McKibben
“The Owner,” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
“An Account of My Hut,” by Christina Nichol
“Hermie,” by Nathaniel Rich;
“Orphan Bird,” by Leah Newsom; “
“Cloud Dragon Skies,” by N.K. Jemisin.

choose one of these texts to incorporate into the essay.