For this essay, you are encouraged to come up with your own thesis. Your thesis will serve as the driving purpose of your paper, but more importantly, it will allow you to write about what you find most compelling, most puzzling, most worthy of exploration. The argument should be clearly stated in your introductory paragraph, and if you are striving for an A, the thesis should explore a position that is complex and nuanced. Be sure that your discussion is grounded in the text, that you include relevant quotes, and that there is analyzation and close reading and discussion of the text. Strive to be original. Take risks, push yourself, consider all of the information that is availa-ble to you, even the historical references and context, and possible implications you may wish to explore. Think big.
Deborah H. Barnes argues that Morrison often presents “maladjusted people [who] become ludi-crous, pathetic, and dysfunctional when they abandon traditional cultural values and practices for alien ones. Without a native culture to inform or mediate their existence, life often becomes al-ienating, meaningless, and indecipherably foreign.” Barnes goes on to say that “Jazz’s urban newcomers are shattered by significant geographic, social, and economic change. They yearn to discover a vital essence that they lose in the quest for a better life.”
None of the major characters of Jazz are from the City. Each has left behind a past life, and argu-ably some elements of identity. Select the character of your choice. Question: do you see evi-dence or have reason to believe that the culture that has been left behind would or could have been a centering force, and that because this character has left it behind it has left him/her shat-tered? Regardless of your position, be sure to address and discuss what you interpret as the cul-ture/community/values that have been abandoned and why they are or are not a significant fac-tor. I also urge you to consider any and all ways in which what has been left behind may be im-portant to a sense of identity. It may also be a good idea to at the very least, consider the histori-cal context, and all that this could/ does/ or might imply.
“Clarity about the past plays a very important role in how we handle the present and what we may be able to do for the future.” -Toni Morrison,