WR115 Spring 2007 Michael
Dembrow, Instructor
Essay #3 – Going Deeper
Into the Dumpster
In
your third essay for this course, I’d like you to turn the spotlight on the
issues that are raised in the essay “On Dumpster Diving.” In this essay, which is written from the
point of view of an urban dweller who scavenges for his food, you will see
reference to a number of issues:
homelessness, poverty, hunger, our consumerist culture, attitudes
towards social “misfits” and “dropouts,” along with other ideas. I’d like you to take one of these
themes (it can be one of the above, or another that you come up with) and
explore it in your essay.
You’ll
be watching a couple of excerpts from a French documentary film, The Gleaners and I, by Agnes Varda. I’ll want you
to use the story of Alain, the French scavenger, to provide added perspective
for the reader. You’ll need to introduce
the reader to Alain and his situation (assume that the reader is not familiar
with Alain or the film), and comment on what we can learn from him in relation
to your topic.
In
addition, you will need to come up with and one outside article that
you’ve found on the internet and two outside articles that you’ve found
via Ebscohost or another of the PCC Library’s online
databases. (We’ll be having a library
orientation next week.) These sources
should shed additional light on the issue that you’re addressing in your paper.
So,
you will be using five sources in all for this film: the essay “On Dumpster Diving” from your
textbook; the film documentary The
Gleaners and I; one internet source; and two from online library databases.
You
will want to include quotes from all your sources. Good topic sentences will be a must for this
paper. You’ll also need a Works Cited
page listing your sources. (I’ll show you how to do that.)
For
the most part, you should keep yourself out of this paper, though depending on
your topic and your experience, you may want to refer to your own experience in
your introduction and/or in your conclusion.
The
key to this paper will be coming up with a topic that interests you, something
with which you can connect.
Typed Draft Due:
Mon., May 21 (we’ll have a draft workshop on this day)
Final Draft Due: Wed., May 30
Length: 750
words (3 typed pages, double-spaced)