Length: 5-6 double-spaced pages (1500-1800 words)
Percentage of Course Grade: 20%
Select one (1) topic from the list below and write an analytic essay on Michael
Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost. Your essay must contain an introduction with a clear argument
(thesis statement), body paragraphs with topic sentences, and a conclusion. Your ideal
reader is someone who has read the text you are discussing but not recently. As such,
there is no need to summarize large stretches of plot. Instead, you must extract and
analyze specific textual details to make your interpretation clear to the reader.
The essay topics are places for you to begin your analysis, not to end it. The purpose of
an essay topic is to push you to arrive at your own interpretation of the literature.
Rather than treating the topic as a question you have to “answer,” you should use it as
the launch-point for your original analysis.
Evaluation
I will evaluate your essay according to four rubric categories:
1. Analysis and insight
2. Knowledge and application of course concepts
3. Structure and focus
4. Writing
This essay must be written using MLA style. Failure to use proper MLA style, or to
include a list of works cited, will result in penalties to your grade. Failure to meet the
required assignment length will also result in penalties to your grade.
Research Requirements
Outside research is not required for this essay. However, if an essay topic mentions a
scholar we have discussed in class, you are expected to engage with that scholar’s work
in your essay.
Submitting Assignments
Upload all written take-home assignments to the appropriate submissions folder on
iCollege. Late assignments will receive a 1% penalty for each day late (including
weekends) up to a maximum of seven days, after which the assignment will no longer
be accepted and will receive a grade of zero. Any assignment submitted after the start of
class on the due date will count as being late and thus receive a 1% late penalty. Late
assignments will not receive marginalia or final comments.
2
Essay Topics
1. Discuss at least three different factors that shape Anil’s perception of trauma in
Anil’s Ghost, such as her job (forensic pathologist), hybrid status (from Sri Lanka
but having spent many years abroad), and past (Cullis, Leaf, her parents, etc.).
Does Palipana offer a different perspective on the “truth” of trauma? Does
Sarath? How?
2. Examine the stories told in the “interchapters” (short passages, sometimes in
italics and not always focused on the novel’s main characters). How do these
interchapters add to our understanding of trauma? What kind (or kinds) of
knowledge do the interchapters convey that the “main” story doesn’t? You may
wish to include the author’s note and the epigraph in your analysis.
3. Apply Dori Laub and/or Veena Das’s ideas on how to work through (heal) from
trauma to Ananda’s experience, paying special attention to the novel’s use of
metaphor, imagery, and symbol. You may wish to compare and contrast Ananda
and Gamini in your analysis.
4. Explore the relationship between the representation of vision (sight, seeing, eyes,
etc.) and the different sides of the Sri Lankan civil war. Does the novel take a side
in the conflict? If so, which one, and how? What are the ethical implications for
the story? You must draw on the specific historical and/or cultural context for the
novel in your essay