Essay—World’s End Pt 1: “Martyr’s Reach”

 

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfill it”

(often misquoted as “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”)

–George Santayana

(misquoting Edmund Burke, the 18^th C. Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher)

 

“Wondering just what, then, is the major irony, the reader discovers that this book, so rich in carefully researched historical details, is really about the problem of pastlessness.”

–Michael Kammen  “T. Coraghessan Boyle and World’s End” (249)

 

T.C. Boyle’s World’s End Part One (“Martyr’s Reach”) concerns itself with “pastlessness” in the lives of various characters who are missing some aspect of who or what should have defined them and helped them to discover their complete identity.  We usually praise those who seek to acquire more knowledge, believing knowledge leads to enlightenment and can prevent the repetition of history.  But in Boyle’s novel, loss, violence, mystery and death sometimes obscure the past, hiding the truth and breaking it into many pieces; characters who seek knowledge and awareness of the past face severe obstacles.  In preparing for this now take-home essay, you carefully considered three passages highlighting Walter Van Brunt’s two collisions with history (#1: p 3; #2: p. 17; #3: pp. 256-257).

 

In passage #1 – the opening paragraph of the novel – Walter interacts with a series of ghosts, revealing only a vague awareness of the riots and the history of the early Hudson Valley immigrants.  Boyle explores Walter’s pastlessness here as blurry, a sequence of nostalgic recollections that haunt but do not instruct him.  The ghostly, sad and unhappy diction, along with the miserable imagery of Walter’s family members, reflects, paradoxically, that Walter cannot forget his past but nevertheless attempts to do so.

 

In a well-organized three-paragraph essay (Intro + 2 BPs – approximately 2.5 typed pages) please answer the following two questions:

 

• How do T. C. Boyle’s diction and imagery characterize Walter’s particular brand/type/sense/version of “pastlessness” at each of the following two crucial junctures – passage #2 & #3?
• How does Boyle’s exploration of Walter’s “pastlessness” affirm (agree with) the statement that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfill it”?

 

èSCHEDULE: 

ASSIGNED:                         Friday 11/13 (A) or Monday 11/16 (D, E, H)

BP 1 RD due:                       Tuesday 11/17 (A, D, E) or Wednesday 11/18 (H)

BP 2 RD due:                       Wednesday 11/18 (A, D, E) or Thursday 11/19 (H)

FD DUE (incl Intro):          Thursday 11/19 (A) or Friday 11/20 (D, E, H)

ALL DEADLINES : TYPED in PROPER FORMAT

 

èFORMAT:

INTRO (only 4-5 sentences!) (approx. 1/2 page):

→In your opening sentence you must not only correctly cite author and title but also contextualize your argument by making a fabulously intelligent statement about the themes of the entirety of “Martyr’s Reach.”

→In the next two sentences state the claims of BPs 1 & 2 (answering question #1 above two times).

→Your 4^th sentence (and maybe your 5^th) wants to specifically answer question #2 above, assessing and describing the trends/meaning of Walter’s particular brand/type/sense/version of “pastlessness.”

 

BODY PARAGRAPH 1 (approx. 1+ pages) :

Re-introduce that BP1 Claim from the Intro—with even greater detail and depth—and then quote three times from Collision #1 – Passage #2 (17), analyzing the diction and imagery.

 

BODY PARAGRAPH 2 (approx. 1+ pages):

Re-introduce that BP2 Claim from the Intro—with even greater detail and depth—and then quote three times from Collision #2 – Passage #3 (256-257), analyzing the diction and imagery.

 

No concluding paragraph: The final two sentences of BP2 will provide closure to your argument.

 

Note: Consider that, while you are specifically answering QUESTION #1 twice, once in each body paragraph, regarding two different passages, you are holistically answering QUESTION #2 throughout the entire essay.  You will specifically reference question #2 in the final sentence (or two) of the Intro, and surely you must also link back to it either implicitly or explicitly as the essay progresses and finishes.

 

 

è “THE SIX-PART FORMULA”         

            Q/D     èE/C       èC/F       èE/S       èE/A        èS/C – to Q, to C, to E (text)

 

Q/D – always first, always thorough

 

E/C  — which you have already done in great depth, but which you must now actively review,

must always PRECEDE E/S

Remember, there is TOO MUCH EVIDENCE (E/C)

which makes your evidence choices all the more essential (E/S)

 

C/F

“CLAIM FORMATION WORDS”

“THE 2-3 RULE”

 

E/A

“THE BIG 4”

“THE SUBSTITUTION TEST”