Working Thesis: Neufeld shows the readers examples of people who are caring and contrasts them with people who are angry with the only way of coping is through violence and shows weakness in others through his work in "A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge".
Statement of Purpose: My readers are my fellow classmates and my course instructor. My readers are familiar with the topic having read the material as well. What my readers do not know is how I perceive the material to be. I believe my readers will accept my writing with some discussions to go along with it. After reading my work I hope they will view my writing in a positive way and know exactly where my evidence is coming from. Also when my readers finish I would like them to think I understand where Neufeld is coming from and that I understand his point of view as well. I would like my readers to feel that my work is important. I also want my work to get my readers thinking about how their views changed on the material after reading my work. I am not sure about how my audience's emotions are going to shift, are they going to feel angry about my work, are they going to enjoy reading my work, or are they going to feel neutral when it comes to my writing? I just hope that they feel informed on how I feel about the material for myself.
Hi Carly - You ask a good, honest question: "I am not sure about how my audience's emotions are going to shift, are they going to feel angry about my work, are they going to enjoy reading my work, or are they going to feel neutral when it comes to my writing?" I think that the emotional tenor of your working thesis will definitely elicit emotions in your readers when they read your interpretation of "A.D." Essentially, your working thesis seems to be about human nature and how humans deal with violence and desperation. Your working thesis is a bit foggy right now (and that's OK! you have not written the paper yet, after all.), but from what I can tell, your interpretation will grapple with the many emotions in "A.D." and examine how these emotions vary from character to character, or from panel to panel, or scene to scene. Perhaps you could then look at why Neufeld chooses to represent these different emotions, and how he depicts emotion in visuals and in text. There are many examples of scenes with shifting emotions, and you could compare/contrast some of these. In showing "weakness," then, is Neufeld trying to "humanize" the events for readers who only have a surface impression from stories in the news and on TV? Even some news sources sensationalized the death toll and reported widespread looting and raping, so maybe Neufeld wants to attack this inaccurate picture and show the "real people" dealing with the tragedy and living behind the news stories. They are not engaged in senseless violence, he argues, but instead they are "coping." Great idea. I'm looking forward to seeing how your interpretation develops!
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