You are encouraged to analyze, think critically, and even to inject objective and subjective writing as you interpret or make sense of the themes discussed so far in the class. Hermeneutics, or the “art” of interpretation, is a skill that you will hone throughout this class. Though some writing instructors may emphasize rather more strongly than I do the amount of opinion allowable, there is plenty of room for creativity in an interpretive essay. Your job is to employ reason (inference, judgment, logic) as you interpret the texts. Below are some helpful guidelines as you write. At least two (probably three) of the following texts should be employed in this assignment: Harry E. Vanden and Gary Prevost, Politics of Latin America: The Power Game, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014). Stephen Kinzer, Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, 1st ed. (New York: Times Books/Henry Holt, 2006). Alicia Partnoy, The Little School : Tales of Disappearance & Survival in Argentina, 2nd ed. (Pittsburgh, PA: Cleis Press, 1998). Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, 1st ed. (New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt, 2007). Christopher Hitchens, The Trial of Henry Kissinger (New York: Verso, 2001). The following should be considered alongside of the writing guide. In particular, follow the five paragraph essay as a guide (see the writing guide). DO NOT write book reviews. Begin by choosing the texts you wish to interpret. It may be helpful for you to determine ahead of time the outcome you want to achieve and the meaning you want to give to the text. Unlike a research essay, your personal opinions are not only welcome in interpretive essays, they are essential to making your case. Note: “opinion” is narrowly construed here as a view based on evidence (not “mamma said so”). Summarize the text you wish to interpret. Tell your audience what the text states without going into any subjective interpretation. You want your audience to be familiar with the subject matter before you begin your interpretation. (You should have had some practice with this section already as you’ve now written one reaction paper where you’ve been asked to partially summarize a film). Note: you only have a short space to write so choose carefully. Your goal is not to summarize EVERYTHING in a text but, rather, only the points that you plan on dealing with in the body of the essay. If you want to write about the intersection between the economy and gender it is not necessarily essential to discuss Klein’s research on torture (though it might in a longer, say 10-12 pages, essay). Here, and throughout the essay, you also want to make as necessarily thorough a representation of the author’s arguments and evidence that you plan to use. Analyze the text (that you choose to discuss) in the body of your essay. Use objective and subjective writing to illustrate any points you make. Use social, historical, and other methods to put the texts you are interpreting into context and to show the significance of the original text as well as your interpretations. Make arguments throughout the body of your essay that will support your interpretation. Be sure to use specific references that support your arguments (you must use text, a footnote to a page number is not sufficient). Close your paper by summing up the importance of the text as well as your interpretation of it. Your goal in an interpretive essay is not to devalue the text you’ve chosen to interpret, but to give it greater meaning. 5-6 pages (1250 to 1500 words). Remember to save the document in MSWORD as your name not “interpretive essay #1”. Also: double spaced, page numbers, include a heading with your name, date, and interpretive essay number.
