English Assignment: Exploring Themes and Literary Techniques

This English assignment presents an analysis of various texts, exploring themes, literary techniques, and rhetorical devices. The assignment includes close readings of excerpts from different sources, such as discussions on the Civil Rights Movement, descriptions of death, and the role of shared interests in forming friendships. The student analyzes the texts, providing insights into their meanings and significance. The assignment demonstrates an understanding of literary concepts and the ability to interpret and analyze different types of texts. This assignment offers a good example of how to approach literary analysis, making it a valuable resource for students seeking to improve their understanding of English literature and writing skills. The assignment also provides context for the understanding of the texts, as well as the ability to interpret and analyze different types of texts.

Running head: ENGLISH ASSIGNMENTS
English Assignment
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1ENGLISH ASSIGNMENTS
Question 1
According to the book Sweet Soul Music, soul music was associated with the Civil
Rights Movement the moment it emerged from the underground and its popularity was a
reflection of the social changes then taking place (6).
Question 2
Raymond Chandler in The Big Sleep describes the state of being dead and uses it to introduce
the reader to the scene of a old man who is dying:
What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble
tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not
bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just
slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I
was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was. But the old man
didn't have to be. He could lie quiet in his canopied bed, with his bloodless hands folded on
the sheet, waiting. His heart was a brief, uncertain murmur. His thoughts were as gray as
ashes. And in a little while he too, like Rusty Regan, would be sleeping the big sleep (187).
Question 3
He was still running when the police caught him but by that time he did not know
what he was running for (“Marijuana and a Pistol” 188).
Question 4
In The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Sarah Vowell explains how her being a being a nerd is the
perfect means of striking a friendship between two people:

2ENGLISH ASSIGNMENTS
Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the
best way to make friends I know. For me, the spark that turns an acquaintance into a friend
has usually been kindled by some shared enthusiasm.
This is generally a truth, as it is easier to connect with people and make friends out of
individuals when it is found that two people have a shared interest on a hobby, book or
activity. She further elaborates on this, by explaining how this worked for her life:
At fifteen, I couldn't say two words about the weather or how I was doing, but I could
come up with a paragraph or two about the album Charlie Parker with Strings. In high school,
I made the first real friends I ever had because one of them came up to me at lunch and
started talking about The Cure (188).
Vowell’s experience of making friends in school solely on the basis of common interests has
a universal manifestation. Back at school, I too made some of the first real friends by
connecting with them on the basis of the common interests we had.