Multicultural Literature: Cultural Context Paper

Purpose: Literary works are not created in a vacuum; they are products of the author's cultural and social background, the political and historical period, and the religious and/or philosophical thoughts of the time and place.

Explore a work of literature (essay, short story, drama, or poem) within a specific cultural context-historical, religious, political, or social status, etc. It is your job to identify one of these cultural contexts within a work of multicultural literature and show how that context has influenced or shaped the literary work.

Prompt: Choose a specific cultural context from which you will examine a work of multicultural literature we read and write a paper showing how that cultural context has shaped the work.

You will need to do a little research for this assignment and cite your sources using MLA format. This context paper may be the same culture you researched for your presentation.

Guidelines: This should be a 3-5 page essay that focuses on a specific cultural context and how that literary work was shaped or influenced by the cultural context.

At least one secondary source is required (more sources may be used at the student's discretion) in addition to evidential support from the primary source (the poem, short story, essay, or work of drama discussed).

Essays should be typed, 12-point font (Times New Roman), double-spaced with 1 inch margins following MLA format (see Hodges Harbrace Handbook), including a works cited page.