EN12i: Texts & Contexts II

Third Essay Assignment

The third essay is due at the beginning of class on Monday, April 18. The paper should be about 5-6 pages long.

In this paper, you should carefully compare and contrast the representations of Eve in any two of the versions of the Garden of Eden story that we have discussed:

• Genesis 1-3
• The Life of Adam and Eve/The Apocalypse of Moses
• The Service for Representing Adam ("The Play of Adam")
• Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve
• Urusula Le Guin's "She Unnames Them"

Focus not just on the specific ways in which the stories of Eve differ but also on the effect and meaning of those differences. Keep in mind that your essay should have a clear and distinct thesis, a central idea about the depiction of Eve that you have drawn from your close study and comparison of the texts. Remember also that any representation of Eve is also a representation of the original or essential nature of woman, so each of these versions of the story are suggesting specific things about women, femininity, men, and gender relations.

For class on Monday, April 11, bring a thesis for your first essay. This thesis should be typed and should be stated as a single, complete sentence. The thesis of the essay is the one, central idea that you want to convince the reader of. A good thesis is one that can be proven (that is, there is objective evidence in the texts to support it) and that needs to be proven (that is, it is not obvious or self-evident). A thesis does not have to be a single sentence, but it is a good exercise to write it as a complete sentence since it forces you to articulate the single, coherent idea that drives the essay as a whole.