Topic: A Consideration of Notions of Conformity and Consensus in the Material Abundance of 1950s America.
Description:
• All papers and media projects are subject to the following requirements
o Written work shall be typed in a standard 12-point font (Times New Roman, for example), with 1-inch margins, and both a hard copy and electronic copy shall be submitted. The electronic copy may be checked for plagiarism by UT College of Liberal Arts software.
o Students must meet with their grading TA and gain written approval, via a confirmation email sent to the student and to the instructor, before beginning work on a given project, and at least three (3) weeks before the due date.
o Students working on group assignments must
• Assign a group leader, who must meet with his/her grading TA (with or without the rest of the group), and gain written approval, via a confirmation email sent to the student and to the instructor, before beginning work on a given project.
• The roster of the group shall also be announced via email, to their TA and instructor, and members are not allowed to withdraw from the project until it is completed.
• Analytical Term Papers and Media Projects: Students are invited to consider a number of the following media artifacts (novels and films) from our historical period, and to write about them and their relationship to course material in a persuasive (i.e. a supported thesis) and interpretive manner. Note: each of the following constitutes a “major assignment,” i.e. a book review would count as 30% of your grade, as would a film documentary project.
• TITLE OF THE TERM PAPER
“A Consideration of Notions of Conformity and Consensus in the Material Abundance of 1950s America.” Students will compare two of the following novels and analyze them in the context of our course inquiry into the culture and identity of middle class America in the first decade or two of postwar affluence and (apparent) socioeconomic security: Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger, 1951), The Ugly American (Eugene Burdick & William Lederer, 1951), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury, 1953), and Rabbit, Run (John Updike, 1960).