Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Phase 4: Hapgood
For my final investigative paper, I have decided to look into Hapgood and her approach to social and class issues in her writings. I would like to focus on the Sacco Vanzetti case, but utilize her shorter writings to emphasize her points and to exemplify her writing styles. Her involvment in politics outside her writings shows her obvious interest in social reform and other issues involving class and immigration topics. Hapgood's writings of the Sacco Vanzetti trial prove to canjole readers into a sypathetic state of mind for the immigrants that have been tried and found guilty of murder. I am undecided on which source I will use as a lens, but I have found outside sources to utilize in attempting to pick apart Hapgood's writings. The three sources I have found so far are from JSTOR and they are; The Legislation of Crime and Delinquency: A Review of Theory, Method, and Research by John Hagan, From "White Slave" to Labor Activist: The Agony and Triumph of a Boston Brahmin Woman in the 1910s by Stephen H. Norwood, and a book review done by Hapgood in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. I think that all of these writings should provide insight into the social reform issues of the time and Hapgood's own thoughts on other writers divulging her review style and issues she finds relevant and style in which it is presented.
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This sounds like a very interesting subject topic! Just from your description of what you are hoping to write on, my interest has been sparked and I would love to read more on the subject. Especially looking at her own reviews of other writings along with reviews done by other people sounds like it should bring an interesting analysis.
ReplyDeleteI think that you have a very interesting subject and it is great you already have such interesting secondary sources. However, I find sometimes that it is really helpful for me to actually state a question (not necessarily in your paper) to begin writing. Like is there a specific thing you want to know or see how something was changed or affected? I think it sounds like a lot of interesting things, and you may run into a problem with how much information you find if you don't narrow it down. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteErica, what is the dissonance that got you interested in Hapgood's approach to social and class issues in her writing? In other words, what things about Hapgood's writings don't match up for you? Or, what portrayals seem to be complicated or contradictory (if they do)? What writing strategies or styles don't match up (if they don't)? I find this can be a good place to start if I'm not sure of the question I want to ask.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wonder if you could specify what you mean by "approach to social and class issues"? Perhaps that would give you a sense of things to look for or track in her documents. Since this paper needn't be the same kind of lens analysis as our shorter papers have been, you might consider some of your own motivations for being interested in class and gender, or in class and ethnicity.
I'll bet there are bigger questions that cause you to be interested in how Hapgood portrays Sacco and Vanzetti (or how she discusses societal roles in her short stories)--what are those issues or reasons? It's okay to let them inform your research.
That might help you to ask a question that is truly unique and doesn't have an easy answer in other secondary sources. You might try looking at the "archival tips" blog post from our March archives to see if related documents at the Lilly can offer you any insight into Hapgood or women writers like Hapgood. AJ's idea of just stating a question and freewriting about might be a good strategy, too, depending on your thinking and writing style.
-Dr. Graban
I have looked further into some of Hapgoods other essays, which have proven to show a different side of Hapgood than previously displayed in her autobiographical telling of No Tears From My Youth. Her change of attitude in subjects related to domescticity and women is intriquing and the the question i wish to address in my paper. I wish to investigate why it is that in her telling of No Tears From My Youth she is a driven indiivual fighting for equality and with an obvious sense of individualism, but then in her shorter essays she seems more apt to be a dependent woman reliant and complacent to her husband and a contented mmber of society and for the most part abiding by its rules. My essay will look at other sources from the time, but many to her sources as investigative lens in order to divulger her reasoning behind these differences in opinions.
ReplyDelete