Humanities MLA

Any topic (writer’s choice)

Honors Project DescriptionSpring 2020This project isa critical review of the book Memoirs of Bernardo Vega. A Contribution to the History of the Puerto Rican Community in New York.The purpose of the project is to foster a learning experience wherethe student gain a  deep  understandingof  an  important  stage inthe  history  of  Puerto  Rican  migration  to  New  Yorkby  reading  ahistoricaland  autobiographical account  written  in  the  first  person  by  one privileged protagonist.To  do  this  the student needs to read the book criticallyto identify the main ideas the author expresses.It is useful that the studentgain familiaritywith the history of the Puerto Rican migration to the United States and particularly to New York City. The  student  should  also  question  the  information  and  opinions  expressed  in  the  text.  It  is  also  expected  that thestudent assessthe  strengths  and weaknessesof  thebook.  This  will  be  done  adequately  if  the  student  becomes familiar withthe literary genre the books belongs to, i. e. memoir or autobiography,as well as otherrelated textslike the  writings  of  PuertoRican  feminist  and  labor  leader  Luisa  Capetillo  and Cuando  era  puertorriquea,  by Esmeralda Santiago.This will allow student to consider the content of the book from different historical perspectivesand to contextualize it within a tradition of personal accounts about what it means for Puerto Ricans to migrate to NYC.The student should also evaluate howthe content of thebook is presented, what are the authors objectives and what is hisaudience.An important component of this critical reviewisthe analysis of the text. This aspect entails ability to identify the way the text is structured, what elements make part of it and how they connect.The book was originally written in Spanish.There is also an English translation available. The student is free to choose the version she wants to readto compose the critical review.The critical review is to be 7-10 pages in length. It shouldbe submitted using MLA format, 12-point font, Times New Roman, doubled-spaced, with even margin text