Writing Is Messy
by Annika Wildenradt
This semester I have been taking an English elective about the role of genre in contemporary American fiction. The books we have read have ventured into a wide range of territories, from suspense to horror to zombie apocalyptic.
Here you can view the prompt for the assignment.
In my final paper, I crafted an argument based on two of the texts we read, both of which were set in a post-apocalyptic world. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, poetically intertwines narratives from before and after a plague wipes out 99% of the human population. Zone One, by Colson Whitehead, is a satirical novel set in Manhattan after a zombie epidemic has destroyed the city. In my paper, I argued that both novels criticize the fast-paced, future-oriented mentality of Americans through their central characters.
Check out the surrounding artifacts to explore my creation process of this paper!
While brainstorming for papers, it helps me to visually draw out some the elements of my argument. Here is a picture of my notebook that shows some of my initial idea-generating scribbles.
When I settled on a topic to pursue, I went through both novels and collected quotations that might be relevant. This document is a collection of passages and some freewriting about them.
Here's my final draft!
Comparative Analysis
