Part I: Read Siddhartha Instructions: Read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. It is suggested that you read the Barnes and Noble Classics Series edition. The purpose of this assignment is to prepare for the test on Siddhartha that will be given during the first two weeks of school. Part II: A Quest for Life Instructions: Using the following documents and the text of Siddhartha as a basis for your responses, you must respond to the following TWO questions in essay form (introduction, body, and conclusion.) You must use three out of the four documents. Your essay will be used in our classroom discussions about Siddhartha at the beginning of the school year. 1. Identify the theme of Siddhartha and discuss the significance of the title to the theme. 2. Choose a character other than Siddhartha, and discuss how the character supports the theme of Hesse's novel. (Characters to choose from are Govinda, Vasudeva, Kamala, Kamaswami, the Son, or the River) The essay must be in the following format: The essay must have an introduction, body and concluding paragraph. Typed; Double-spaced Size 12; Times New Roman or Arial font 500-750 word limit Modern Languages Association (MLA) in-text citations (8 th edition) Works Cited Page Please see attached rubric for grade breakdown
Document A Source: Plato. Phaedo. Written in 360 B.C.E. Note: Phaedo or On the Soul, is considered to be the best known recorded dialogue between Socrates and his student, Plato. All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine." -quote attributed to Socrates Document B Source: Sharma, Udit. Teachings and Philosophy of Buddha. Diamond Pocket Books, 2008. It is rightly said that coming events cast their shadows before and if a divine child is born, it forebodes certain forthcoming events which can caste great impact upon his future life. The actions of childhood remain deeply ingrained in a person s personality and people around him can easily foresee what course of occasion of a child s future life would be. But some of the legends, attributed to Buddha, might have been in the form of later additions, but they do portray the future events. So, legends should not be dismissed in a hurry and rejected outright, as they form the basis upon which future life of a legendary figure is based. Document C Source: Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Natural history of intellect and other papers. Riverside Press, 1893. The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew it passes into other habitations, for the soul is immortal. Document D Source: Anonymous Chinese scholar, The Disposition of Error, China, circa 500 C.E. Question: If Buddhism is the greatest and most venerable of ways, why did the great sages of the past and Confucius not practice it? In the Confucian Classics no one mentions it. Why, then, do you love the Way of the Buddha and rejoice in outlandish arts? Can the writings of the Buddha exceed the Classics and commentaries and beautify the accomplishments of the sages? Answer: All written works need not necessarily be the words of Confucius. To compare the sages to the Buddha would be like comparing a white deer to a unicorn, or a swallow to a phoenix. The records and teachings of the Confucian classics do not contain everything. Even if the Buddha is not mentioned in them, what occasion is there for suspicion? Question: Now of happiness there is none greater than the continuation of one s line, of unfilial conduct there is none worse than childlessness. The monks forsake wives and children, reject property and wealth. Some do not marry all their lives. Answer: Wives, children, and property are the luxuries of the world, but simple living and inaction are the wonders of the Way. The monk practices the Way and substitutes that for worldly pleasures. He accumulates goodness and wisdom in exchange for the joys of having a wife and children.
Rubric for Siddhartha Critical Analysis Essay Maximum: 100 points INTRODUCTION and CONCLUSION (Background History/Thesis Statement) MAIN POINTS (Body Paragraphs) ORGANIZATION (Structure and Transitions) STYLE (Sentence Flow, Variety, Diction) MECHANICS (Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization) 10 8 6 4 There is a well-developed introduction that includes relevant historical background/context. The thesis statement should clearly state the experience or event that will be described as well as the effect on the writer. Conclusion should effectively wrap up and stress the importance of the thesis. Well-developed main points/topic sentences that relate directly to the thesis. Supporting examples are concrete and detailed. The analysis is developed with an effective point of view. Logical Progression of ideas with a clear structure that enhances the thesis. Transitions are effective and vary throughout the paragraph, not just in the topic sentences. Writing is smooth, skillful, and coherent. Sentences are strong and expressive with varied structure. Diction is consistent and words are well chosen. Punctuation, spelling, and capitalization are all correct. No errors. Introduction includes historical background/context, but minor inaccuracies; Thesis vaguely states the position. Conclusion effectively summarizes the topic. Three or more main points relate to the thesis, but some may lack details or irrelevant to thesis. The analysis attributes but fails to provide point of view. Logical progression of ideas. Transitions are present throughout the essay, but lacks variety. Writing is clear and sentences have varied structure, Diction is consistent. Punctuation, spelling, and capitalization are generally correct with few errors (1-2) Introduction adequately explains the background, but may lack detail. Thesis states the topic, but key elements are missing Three or more main points are present, but lack details/irrelevant in describing the event. Little descriptive language is used. The analysis attributes but fails to provide point of view. Organization is clear. Transitions are present at times, but there is very little variety. Writing is clear, but could use a little more sentence variety to make the writing more interesting. There are a few (3-4) errors in punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. Background details are a random, unclear collection of information. Thesis is vague and unclear. Conclusion is not effective and does not summarize main points. Less than three ideas/main points are explained and/or they are poorly developed. The story tells; it doesn t show Writing is not organized. The transitions between ideas are unclear or nonexistent. Writing is confusing and hard to follow. Contains fragments and/or run- on sentences. Distracting errors in punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. Introduction/Conclusion Main Points/Body Paragraphs Organization Style Mechanics Positive Comments What needs work: Total Points x 2 = /100 Points
MLA Basic In-Text Citation Rules Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth Angeli. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 4 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 July 2010. MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263). Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263) tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information: Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford U.P., 1967. Print. In-Text Citations for Print Sources with Known Author For Print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation: Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3). In-Text Citations for Print Sources with No Known Author When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (e.g. articles) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire websites) and provide a page number: We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has "more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change..." ("Impact of Global Warming" 6). In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title of the article appears in the parenthetical citation which corresponds to the full name of the article which appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:
"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." GLOBAL WARMING: Early Signs. 1999. Web. 23 Mar. 2009. Citing Indirect Sources Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example: Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259). Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source. Multiple Citations To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:... as has been discussed elsewhere (Burke 3; Dewey 21). When a Citation Is Not Needed Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge. Remember, this choice is based on audience. If you're writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, they'll have different expectations of what constitutes common knowledge. MLA Works Cited Page Sample Entries Book Critical essays, articles, plays, poems or other works included in print anthologies and collections Author. Title of Work. Book Title. Ed. Editor. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date. Pages. Print. Moorthy, P. Rama. Fear in Macbeth. Major Literary Characters: Macbeth. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1991. 189-197. Print. ebook citation "Macbeth." Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 2. 2 nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 435-468. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.