Monday evening, March 7, 2011

Greetings!
Below is a copy of the out of class 2 assignment, distributed and discussed in class today.
See you Wednesday!


English 20, Spring 2011---Sections 1, 4, 7, 11---C. Fraga

Date assigned: Monday, March 7
Rough draft (optional): due no later than Wed. March 30
Final draft due: Monday, April 4
(you have four weeks to research and write this essay)

Details:
1. MLA format
2. At least 3 outside sources on your Works Cited page
3. Please, no Wikipedia

OUT OF CLASS ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #2
Among many things, the series Breaking Bad focuses on the family entity and what happens when something quite extraordinary occurs—how do members of the family cope, adjust, and/or “deal” with the event/situation? (In the case of this series, obviously it is Walter’s cancer that is the main ‘event’).

I am not referring to the everyday bumps in the road that occur for all families. Instead, I am asking you to consider the family unit when faced with an especially challenging situation. These situations could include but are not limited to:
• death
• birth
• infidelity
• serious injury
• dementia
• serious illness
• divorce
• unemployment
• new employment
• moving to a new home/state/area/country
• the return of a war veteran
• moving BACK home after initially moving OUT
• alcoholism
• drug abuse

Select ONE situation that you are most interested in exploring. You will conduct research (and possibly personal interviews, if possible) in order to write an essay that offers the reader background on the topic and makes an assertion about what elements of the situation impact a family in the most challenging of ways and supports it logically and interestingly.

Your thesis might read something like this:

When a family member develops dementia, the challenges are often devastating, yet the disease definitely impacts family members more than the dementia patient.

Or…

When a couple divorces, it most certainly impacts the children still living at home; however, it is the older children who have already moved away that are most affected by the split.