FINAL PROJECT 

 

For this project, you will rewrite a scene from either The Sign of Four or the Sherlock episode we analyzed with Sherlock inhabiting a subject-position other than his customary upper-class, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied white man.  Your rewrite should be 6-7 pages long, though there is no penalty for a longer story. This project will also include a 2-3-page reflection that explains your rhetoric choices and reflects upon your thoughts and feelings during the assignment.

 

If you are rewriting a scene from the novel, use the formatting style of a creative story with new line breaks to denote dialogue, quotation marks, etc. If you are rewriting a scene from the episode, you may write it in either prose-format or like a play script with dialogue in the center of the page with speaker listed at the left margin and non-dialogue provided in italics or parentheses or a combination thereof.

 

Much of your grade will be based upon your sincere effort to portray an alternate subject-position and imagine who an experience would be different from that subject-position. A rehash of classic stereotypes – either positive or negative – does not count for sincere effort.

 

The scene that you rewrite must be recognizable and similar to the original, though I will allow creative license in order to truly consider an alternate subject position. 

 

Your story should be 6-7 pages long, though there is no penalty for a longer story.

 

Creativity: While you may certainly write the rewrite in text only, you may also (if you choose) get creative and include your own drawn pictures, copywrite-free music, or write as a graphic novel. If you want to add this type of variation, make sure to include it in your commonplace book on Dec 1 and make sure I approve it before you get too far along. If you stick with a traditional text-based product, I encourage you to channel your creativity with descriptive language.

 

Reflection: When you turn in your final project, you must also include a 2-page reflection that explains the subject position you chose, why you chose it, and how it affected both Sherlock Holmes and your experience writing the story. Did writing from an alternate subject position change the way you view Sherlock Holmes? Does it change the way you view your own experience in contemporary society? This document should reflect the large amount of thought you put into this story and its components. 

 

Document Details:

If you are rewriting a scene from the novel, use the formatting style of a creative story with new line breaks to denote dialogue, quotation marks, etc. If you are rewriting a scene from the episode, you may write it in either prose-format or like a play script with dialogue in the center of the page with speaker listed at the left margin and non-dialogue provided in italics or parentheses or a combination thereof. The scene should be typed and double-spaced in a Word document (with a .doc or .docx at the end) with 1-inch margins on all sides (unless you are choosing a more creative option that I have approved). Your scene will not need a title or title page: place your name, the course number (ENG 3080J), the date, and my name at the top left-hand corner of the first sheet. Also, please include your last name and page numbers in the top right margin of each page.