Use any prewriting technique you prefer for finding a narrow topic for an essay of at least five paragraphs (including introduction and conclusion) to be written during a later class meeting. Begin with one of the following subject areas to help you get started:
1. What are some important or particularly interesting ways in which Conley's Honky demonstrates that many white people are generally more privileged than many black people in the United States?
2. How has reading Honky affected your attitude toward race or class distinctions in the United States?
3. What are the main qualities you admire in one of the people who appears in Honky: the young Conley himself, his mother, his father, etc.?
Examples of specific topics that might follow from prewriting on that broad subject are these: "What makes a good home?" "What makes a good home for children?" "What can cause problems in a home?" "What can parents do to avoid problems in a home?" What are the special problems or advantages of living in a single-parent home or other kind of nontraditional home?" "How can a dorm room be made into a kind of home?" "Why are some people homeless?"
Do not feel limited to those particular topics. Focus on what most interests you at the moment--perhaps something chosen from suggested topics in Wyrick or at the course website (click here). But by the end of the period, try to select one narrow topic that can be developed into a complete paper.
Important: In either case, save what you write to your disk or the J-drive, and include a printout with your paper later in the week.
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