How does Eggers present the fluctuating nature of identity in Zeitoun?
The following proposal must include all of the following information but the question above is the main title!!!!!
1) Title:
�Constructing identity in the face of adversity�
How does Eggers present the fluctuating nature of identity in Zeitoun?
2) What the focus of your project is and what texts you intend to work on:
Identity 1: Ordinary man, romance, marries Kathy � happens to be Muslim, she converts and her reaction and reasons for that conversion and how it establishes her identity
Identity 2: Zeitoun as �all American hero� � what he does in hurricane Katrina� what establishes this identity & how does Eggers present that.
Identity 3: Muslim terrorist [Al Qaeda / Taliban] � by calling him that, they establish the right to treat him like that � how does Eggers present this as treatment similar to Guantanamo Bay?
3) How you are going to approach your topic:
What is his message? How external events can construct an identity � so 9/11 = anyone of Asian descent is a potential terrorist = anyone of any descent can be re-identified by an external event. Individual identity is vulnerable and fluid when affected by external circumstances.
Genre Posing as biographical account:
Sources � nature of the sources determine the objectivity of the account
= Primary � he lived with them and therefore it is his opinion and feelings about subject
= Secondary � he asks other people who live around the family in New Orleans
= He does not meet Kathy�s family [only from her perspective and she might not be objective because of her conversion]
Biography is arguably biased in favour of Zeitoun who then might be constructed by the author as the �hero� of the story � where in the book does Eggers �excuse� his hero?
How Far foes Eggers maintain Zeitoun�s identity throughout the book, in comparison to his public identity.
Narrative Voice – Eggers voice is �invisibilised� and the book takes on the appearance of a story � fiction purporting to be fact and becomes more like a story of a hero than a biography. Celebrating a particular heroic event and the unfair consequences.
Authorial techniques
Structure – How he puts this book together � diary effect
Symbols – what symbols does he use
4) Why you want to pursue this research:
In the light of Eggers hero worship and that of some of the press, it is interesting to see other sources concerning Zeitoun�s current position. Has the identity imposed upon him now become his actual identity? If they think he was full of hatred and treated him as such, has he now become a man of hatred?
1. What the focus of your project is and what texts you intend to work on. Here, a brief description which states what the central question or area of your research will be � for example: a particular author / genre / period / style. In addition, a brief list of primary literary texts and any key theoretical texts will suffice at this point.
2. How you are going to approach your topic. Here you need to say what the theoretical or methodological angle will be � for example: a reading of class / race / gender / sexuality in a particular author / genre / period; a historical understanding of the impact of one author / genre / period on another; an analysis of the use of tragedy / comedy / epic / metaphor in a particular writer or works; etc.
3. Why you�ve chosen to do this topic. Please do not state that you are �interested� or �passionate� about the topic. You need to explain the reason why you want to pursue this study � for example: there might be an unexplained connection between two authors / corpuses; there might be something in contemporary critical writing which could change our understanding of a historical author; new forms of literary writing might need analysing; etc.
Methodology
A good Extended Essay proposal will include an explicit statement of your methodology � the theoretical approach to the topic you�re investigating. You shouldn�t worry about being eclectic in your approach � that is, drawing elements from a range of theories � as often projects require that. You might not be working solely from a feminist or Marxist or new historicist angle, for example, but be taking elements from two or three of these. Some of the main approaches and theoretical frameworks used in Extended Essays include:
a) Gender theories � for example: masculinity studies; feminism; queer theory. If you�re using feminism, you should try to be as specific as possible about what type of feminism. There are three �waves� of feminism, each associated with historical periods, and different thinkers and ideas. Contemporary feminism sometimes calls itself post-feminism, but this is a highly contentious claim. Anglo-American feminism is the type we most often use, which means a focus on constructions/representations of women in texts and connections with the material conditions of women�s lives.
b) Elements of New Historicism � New Historicism is concerned with reading texts as products of a particular historical moment. It also tends to examine literary texts in relation to other, non-literary texts written at the same time � for example, reading Dickens� Great Expectations (published 1861) alongside extracts from Darwin�s Origin of Species (published 1859).
c) Theories of auto/biography can be useful for some Extended Essays and have been a key development over the last decade or so. This also comes under the more general heading of life writing, but also has a long history in terms of �intentionality� � the idea that we can find the author�s intended meaning in a text or texts � key figure here for example would be: I.A. Richards, Wimsatt & Beardsley, Roland Barthes.
d) Psychoanalysis: this is obviously a huge area and you would need to specify which type of psychoanalytical approach you�re going to employ (Freudian, Lacanian, Jungian, etc), and which concepts or ideas you are going to employ � for example: the Oedipus Complex, fetishism, the death drive, etc. It�s a tricky area so would need some rigorous research.
e) Marxism: again, you would need to specific which type of Marxism (Barthes� semiotic Marxism, Althusserian structuralist Marxism, Raymond Williams� cultural studies, etc) or which particular elements you would need (the theory of the commodity fetish, materialist history, revolutionary politics, etc). Again, this will require some research.
f) Formalism: basically, this is equated with close attention to the language, structure and form of the text � a �close reading� of texts. While this kind of detailed attention usually constitutes the basis of any detailed analysis of a given piece of writing, remember that there are formalisms � Anglo New Criticism, American New Criticism, Russian Formalism, etc � that can have very different ways of reading texts and can produce very different results and make very different claims. You would need to specify the kind of formalism you would be employing.
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