Santa Monica College The Museum by Leila Aboulela Essay

Choose one of the four lenses you have been introduced to and apply it in a critical reading of Leila Aboulela’s “The Museum.” Using supporting evidence from the text, identify what the primary theme of the story is and what the story reveals or shows us regarding that theme.

Some More Info

Remember, you are writing an argumentative essay. While this may not look or feel like the arguments you used in English 1 essays, or high school essays before, by making a statement about your takeaways from the text, you are stating a position that you can defend. You want to give yourself the task of having to support your position by bringing in specific examples from the story to better allow your reader to see your point.

It is important to make sure your position or opinion is a critical one (see some sample thesis statements below). For example, if my friend and I go see Avengers: End Game and we leave and I say “I liked it” and she says “I didn’t like it,” technically we are disagreeing, but not laying the grounds for a very critical discussion/argument. However, if I say “I felt like the movie properly resolved the series, especially Captain America’s storyline,” my friend now has some specific points she might disagree with, and by citing examples from the film (and previous films), I can defend my position.

Requirements

• MLA Formatting (both document and quotes/citations)
• 4-6 pages (Double-spaced and all other MLA formatting requirements)
• Use of specific examples from the text – quotes or paraphrases count, make sure they are cited
• Clear writing, “academic tone” (avoid being casual or conversational, using slang or abbreviations)
• An introduction that provides a brief summary of the story
• A conclusion that makes a couple of statements toward a broader application (where can we see the things you’ve told us about outside of Aboulela’s story)

Sample Thesis Statements

(Note: I’ll be using slightly different language here to make sure I don’t get too much in your head as you develop your own thesis statements. These should just be seen as models or templates.)

By applying a psychological lens to “The Museum” by Leila Aboulela, one can see that a central theme of identity emerges both in Bryan’s rejection of his own home and desire to leave Scotland as well as the conflict between Shadia’s homesickness and her desire to be her own woman.

If one uses a gender criticism approach, “The Museum” becomes a story about Bryan’s struggles with masculinity and Shadia’s desire to embrace a country that gives her freedom as a woman, but stole her freedom as an African.

The central theme in Leila Aboulela’s “The Museum” is belonging, and by applying a historical lens to a story really about two individual young people, it becomes apparent that one’s identity is often tied in with the history of one’s country and people.

New story: https://www.wssd.org/cms/lib/PA01001072/Centricity…