Updates to Instructions for Critical Review of Book Due Monday

CRITICAL REVIEW OF BOOK

Choose ONE of the books below:

Maya Angelou. (1969). “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” New York: Bantam Dell Publishing.
Mary Karr. (1995). “The Liar’s Club” New York: Penguin Publishing.
Sharon Ellison-Ottey. (2006). “All I Ever Did was Love a Man” Chicago: Hilton Publishing.
Rita Mae Brown. (1978). “Rubyfruit Jungle” New York: Bantam Dell Publishing.
James McBride. (1996). “The Color of Water” New York: Riverhead Books.
J. Comer. (1988). “Maggie’s American Dream” New York: New American Library.
Laura Esquivel. (1993). “Like Water for Chocolate” New York: Anchor Publishing.
Michael Dorris. ((1989). “The Broken Cord” New York: Harper Collins.
Michael Patrick MacDonald. (1999). “All Souls” Boston: Beacon Press.
Barbara Kingsolver. (1990). “”Animal Dreams” New York: Harper Collins.
Amy Tam. (1990). “The Kitchen God’s Wife” New York: Putman Publishers.
Alex Kotlewitz. (1991). “There are no Children Here” New York: Doubleday.
May Sarton. (1978). “A Reckoning” New York: Norton Publishers.
Paul Monette. (1992).”Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story” San Francisco: Harper Collins.
Tim Rumsey. (1985). “Pictures from a Trip” New York: Fawcett Publishers.
Toni Morrison. (1970). “The Bluest Eye” New York: Simon and Schuster

After reading your chosen book, critically think about the major character. ONLY ONE CHARACTER. This is not a family therapy paper. Look at it as you would a client coming to you, just them, all on their own- not with a spouse, parent, friend or other assorted characters. The goal of this assignment is to evidence mastery of the course material by applying a theory that explains the behavior of the major character of the book that you read. Special attention should be given to the impact that diversity has had on the major character. Students should analyze the character within a person-in-environment framework and discuss the relevance of the various theories studied in HBSE I .

Questions that should be addressed in the written paper include, but need not be limited to the following:

A. How does the character display typical issues of that stage of human development? Use one of the following to begin:
Freud – Stage of psychosexual development
Erickson – Stages of psychosocial crises
Kohlberg – Stage of moral development

Use any material from the text (or other outside support) that describes your chosen theory, and compare it to the character. For example, discuss the importance of peer groups to an adolescent, discuss the effect of school competence to a child in middle school, or discuss the career crisis of a woman in mid-life who develops a disability, etc. What other conflicts are evident in the role (race, gender, ethnicity, age, class, color, disability, family structure, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, religion) or norms of the character? Is the character’s behavior in conflict with group, cultural or ethnic norms of his/her family or community system?

B. What is the nature of the interactions of the character with other systems (i.e. family, community, formal organizations, and society)? How does this shape his/her development and functioning? What is the socioeconomic status of the family or character? How does that impact the character’s development? Are there patterns of abuse, neglect, and/or addiction on the part of the character or his/her family members? How does that affect the character’s development? How does your chosen theory explain this?

C. Use another theory that may offer explanation to the behavior of the client in your chosen book. How is this theory similar/different than your previous theory? Provide excerpts from text to help support your argument. Focus on two major theories in this paper. You may want to include a third (more in passing) as to how it doesn’t fit your character or their life situation, or how it also supports your outlook on the character analysis.

The paper can be organized into the three sections described above. Further directions for this paper will be discussed in class.

TOTAL 80 POINTS