CHABOT COLLEGE—SPRING 2016—2nd PAPER—English 4--Bread Givers.....

CHABOT COLLEGE—SPRING 2016—2^nd PAPER—English 4

One of the central claims that James Gilligan makes in his book Violence, and that Mary Pipher makes in her book, Reviving Ophelia, is that girls and women in the United States today are being harmed by something called the “Girl Code.”  (This code can be thought as the socially expected gender rules for women.) Pipher argues that this Code is everywhere and that girls and women have a hard time not changing their behavior to meet the Code’s guidelines. She goes so far as to say that any girl who resists the code should be called a Hero. And yet, some anthropologists have argued that the job of any society is to keep itself growing and prospering. And if this means that some individual members of the society suffer or are compromised—as long as the society itself is improved--well that is the way it goes.

For this paper you will be investigating these ideas and coming to your own conclusions about whether you think this trade-off (between the needs of women and the needs of a greater society) is worth it.  Here are some questions for you to consider. You don’t need to do them all, but a majority of them should probably be considered. You may also generate your own questions.

What do you think are some elements of this Gender Code for women in the book or movie?

What are the negative consequences for women when they follow the code in the book or movie? When they break the Code?

Could the Code offer any Positive benefits for women? For society?

Is Sara a Hero? Why or why not?

Is Sara a Feminist? Why or why not?

Of course you will want to start paragraph topic sentences (3-4-5) off with concepts and keywords, while for sure keeping people—Reb/Sara/etc—out of that part of the paragraph. They are brought in later to support your concept.

And of course you must integrate quotes from Bread Givers and from any other helpful sources including Hester Street you may have in order to support your points. You need to average 2-3 quotes per page of the paper.

The page minimum is 6 full pages….

—BNDJTM (But Never Do Just The Minimum.)

The first draft is due on March 23.

The final draft is due on April 6.