Assignment Essay: Analysis of On Such a Full Sea
Length: 2000-2500 words MLA Format.
Task
Aim to write an argument that persuades readers to consider your interpretation of an issue described below. Consider your interpretation as an answer to an unsettled question about the construction of the text. Develop your answer, or claim, with a logically sequenced chain of sub- claims, and include evidence from the novel. You may introduce some evidence from sources other than On Such a Full Sea. Consider using Chapter 5 of A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature as a guide for helping you formulate and organize your essay.
Suggested Topics:
1. An issue of pattern and theme: One complex feature of On Such a Full Sea is its narrators' reluctance to stick with Fan's tale as they tell it, instead intertwining it with other stories about the community itself in the wake of Fan's departure. How do you think readers should best understand the intertwining of Fan's journey with the narration of events at B-Mor?
2. An issue of causality: Clearly, the story of Fan is being told (and perhaps invented) by the community of B-Mor, but why? What does telling the story seem to do for them? What, in your opinion, is the B-Mors' purpose in dwelling on the tale of Fan? As is described on page 61 of A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature, you may find it helpful to rephrase the question to focus on the author's choices: Why does Lee invent a community storyteller that reflects as much on the community itself as it does on the story of one of its erstwhile members? (With this essay topic, you might also choose to focus on effect: Does the community seem to get what it wants from telling Fan's story?)
3. An issue of symbolism: Interpret the symbol of submersion in the novel (You are not required to use the term, submersion. I'm using it as a catchall to include all of the underwater scenes and events of the story, along with those that can be understood as metaphorical submersion.) How can readers understand its significance?