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Pride and Prejudice                                                                Name_________________________

Essay Assignment: 125 Points                                                Section_____

 

Is Jane Austen’s position on the related social issues of class and marriage progressive or conservative for her time, and what relevance does it have to us today? Consider and include whether her views correspond more with Wollstonecraft’s or more with More’s as detailed in the introduction by Viviane Jones. You must use this introduction, the textbook excerpt from Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman, ample textual support from Pride and Prejudice, and two contemporary articles on the relationships between or among gender, marriage, family, and socioeconomics in society today.  Five pages, must include claim and counterclaim format. (100 points)

Also include:

  • Annotated Bibliography (10 points): For each source you must provide:
  1. The complete works cited entry, MLA formatted, with hanging indent (this is the only part of this needed for Pride and Prejudice as it is our primary source; all secondary sources must also include):
  2. A one-to-two sentence summary of the source
  3. A sentence on the reliability and any bias of the source
  4. Three to five sentences on the usefulness of this source to your topic, analysis, and argument

 

  • Reflection (5 points): Your experience in thinking about, researching, and writing on this topic; what did you learn?

 

  • Self-Evaluation: (5 points): How you evaluate your work on this assignment; using the “write effectively” rubric, score and grade your essay.

 

  • Previous formal essay (5 points): Beowulf

 

Some suggested sources that you may use depending on your area of interest, but not to which you are limited:

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/how-to-save-marriage-in-america/283732/

(We’ll read this one in class—yes, you may still use it.)

 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/01/economist-explains-0

 

http://www.economist.com/node/21526329

 

http://qz.com/359424/every-us-company-arguing-for-the-supreme-court-to-legalize-same-sex-marriage/

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/30/gay-rights-world-best-worst-countries