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Example research essay topic: Sounder By William H Armstrong - 686 words

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Sounder By William H. Armstrong Published in 1969 short novel of unknown William Armstrong entitled Sounder was fairly appreciated by various literary critics and general public. In 1970 the classic masterpiece won the John Newbery Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. In 1972 its popularity was enhanced by the novel adaptation into a motion picture.

The main peculiarity of the novel constitutes the story of poor black sharecropper family lost somewhere in the Deep South in times of the Great Depression. William Armstrong refers to the main character of the story as boy. A young boy lives in the family of his mother, father, sibling, beloved dog Sounder and extreme poverty. In order to put on the family table the father steals food whenever there is an opportunity.

As a result he is caught up and sentenced to years of hard labor. However, despite the terrible ordeal the boys family survives and endures. While the mother obtains psychological strengths to wait her husband return, the boy accomplish endless quests of spiritual character to find his fathers whereabouts. As the story goes on the only thing remains to be constant the love and faithfulness of the coon dog Sounder to the boy. William Armstrong pointed out that Sounder is a representation of the timeless novel, therefore should be apprehended as a parable.

Under difficult economic and psychological conditions the family keeps spiritual bonds by believing that life goes on no matter how hard things are. On the other hand, as a reward for the family patience and optimism the boy is granted with the opportunity to learn how to read and to experience the wonders of education. Being simple in language and brief in storytelling, William Armstrong created a parable of poverty, hope, prejudice, survival and reward. The class is offered to choose the most interesting paragraphs of the story and to read aloud during the class sessions. Teacher asks the questions why children consider those paragraphs to be interesting. In addition, the communication with class has to flow into the social nature of a human.

Teacher points out that family is the most important part of society and there are many benefits the family bonds can bring into the life of every individual. In the end children are offered to explain what they do when they feel loneliness or misunderstanding (the explanations are supposed to refer to parents and family). Teacher concentrates on the issue of justice in society. The father stole the food in order to save his family from hunger. Does the theft make him a bad person or the father is a mere victim of unfortunate circumstances? According to children, are there ever times when the theft can be justified?

Would do children do for the survival of their own families? Sounder was adapted into a motion picture starring Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield. The movie is shown during two class sessions. Teacher stops the movie and reads the passages, which closely corresponds and contribute to the topic of the novel. Children are asked to explain the impressions of both reading and watching the same story. What are the main differences in story perception while reading or watching?

If children were given an opportunity to make a movie on the story of the boy and Sounder, what details, storyline, etc they change? Children are asked about animals in their life that they love as the boy loved Sounder? Specifically, children are asked to describe relationship between them and animals, and why the animals have earned their love. In the cases of interesting stories, some children are offered to make their own small novels for the next class session. Teacher read important passages of the Sounder, specifically those which characterized the story as parable. To explain what parable is, the teacher illustrates some examples from the Bible and read some peculiar passages.

To link Armstrong's story to the biblical parables, the teacher quotes the passages where the mother refers to the Bible. In addition, the teacher emphasizes the boys endless quest for his father as a final evidence of parable nature of Sounder.


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Research essay sample on Sounder By William H Armstrong

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