Major Assignment 4: Why the Divide?

This major assignment is the fourth of a series focused on a central theme that we are calling Turn to Face the Strange/r. The focus of this piece is facing strange ideologies as a way of understanding the source of political divide among people. This may be an incredibly difficult assignment. It requires great care, thought, and nuance.

A Bit of Context

Self-Conflict by Lorne RedmondA basic assumption going into this assignment is that to grow as an individual, to improve our relationships, and to progress as a country, we must first understand one another—especially when and where we most disagree. To truly understand a person and what they believe, we have to step into their shoes—to see the world through their eyes. This can be incredibly difficult when trying to understand a person and a belief that is polar opposite to what we believe. To want to understand those whose political ideologies we may find disagreeable, distasteful, or even offensive is hard and maybe even loathsome to us—which is to say we hate the idea of it. See how that works? The divide widens and deepens. There is no way we can ever begin to address our differences and move forward together if we cannot bridge our divide long enough to have an honest conversation. We don’t have to agree, but we should listen to one another and strive to understand one another’s perspectives.

To take on another person’s perspective—in a nut shell, that’s what this assignment asks you to do. To write a story, or a scene, from a narrative (and political) point-of-view opposite to your own. Writing a character who is more than a thinly guised fictional version of yourself is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while. You must strive to understand, to listen authentically, to put aside your own righteousness long enough to hear and feel what your character means and to know where they come from. Keep reading for all the details on this (surprise surprise) rather complicated writing challenge.

I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.
– Barack Obama

Most of us don’t listen to each other with the intent to understand; we listen with the intent to reply.
– Steven Covey

Your Essential Task

This task requires a few steps. I have outlined them for you below.

1. Take the Political Compass Test:
   The Political Compass is a tool that has been around for nearly 20 years. It is a trusted measurement of one’s political position considering dimensions of both economics (i.e. the spectrum of left to right) and social (i.e. the spectrum from authoritarian to libertarian). To learn a little more about how the Political Compass works, check out their brief introduction video . I’d like you to take the Political Compass test, which asks for you to rate the degree to which you agree or disagree to a number of propositions. It should take you about five minutes. When you are done, take note of your score and where you fall on the compass grid (especially the quadrant you fall into). Click here to take the test now → Political Compass Test

2. Imagine someone opposite to you on the political compass (diagonal to your position):

   This will be the main character of the narrative/scene you are going to write. Spend some time sketching this character—in other words write a little about who this person really is before you actually bring them into your story/scene for the assignment itself. To help with this, you might revisit a few of the 62 propositions from the Political Compass Test. How would this person respond to the propositions, and more importantly, why? Pick a few. Choose the answer exactly opposite yours (e.g. instead of strongly agree, go with strongly disagree), and write an explanation they might give for their position. (This is important process writing, but I won’t directly collect this part. It’s just an idea to help you.)

3. Do some research:

   Politics and political identity are very much tied up with our personal value system. We don’t wake up one morning and have a fully formed political identity and firm positions on the big issues of our world. This aspect of our identity, like all aspects of identity, are shaped over time and experience. Why is your character (who is politically opposite to you) the way they are? Why do they believe what they believe? What has affected the lens through which they see the world? I don’t know. That’s where your research comes in.

   While you are writing a small work of fiction for this assignment, it’s not enough to simply write your character off the top of your head. You need to be informed with the choices you make when writing this character. Look into some academic research on the formation of political identity. Maybe spend a few days reading, watching, and listening to the kinds information you suspect your character might take in. Talk to some people who you think might be politically very different from you (but similar to your character in some ways) in order to hear first hand perspectives from “the other side,” as it were. Work with the fantastic MVCC librarians to help you find additional avenues of research to uncover the point of view you are trying to learn about. (Document your research. Take copious notes. You will have to show it as a part of this project; keep reading ;-)

4. Write a narrative/scene using third person limited point-of-view:

   With the understanding you gain through your research, imagine the character you are inventing who embodies the political identity and perspective opposite yours. Think about this person. Who are they? How did they become this way? How might they see and understand you?

   Now from the third-person limited perspective of this imagined individual, write a narrative (or a scene ) that puts them into conversation (and conflict ) with another person about fundamental values and political beliefs. The third-person limited perspective is essential here for the specific challenge of this assignment. If you’re not sure what this means, check this out as a quick review → What is Third-Person Limited POV .

   You are writing a very short story or a scene for this narrative. A scene must have a beginning, middle, and an end. It’s a continuous series of events without a break that unfolds in near real time. It has an arc to it and perhaps an inciting incident to thrust the characters into immediate conflict. Tension builds. They are forced to engage. There is dialogue . Their politics, that is to say, their basic values and worldviews are at play. Something keeps them from just walking away from one another. They have to deal with what’s before them. Remember, to write from the third-person limited point of view of the character whose political views are opposite of yours. Follow the basic storytelling advice of show more than you tell. Have fun with it.

5. Add an Annotative Overlay to Show Your Research:

   Once you have your narrative written (and/or perhaps while you are writing it), use the Hypothesis Annotation Tool to actually annotate your own draft with specific research-based explanations of why you chose to write your character the way you did. Cite specific sources in the annotations themselves. These annotations will become a kind of meta-narrative that explains the thinking and research you put into developing this character. You should have at least 10 annotations, but more is better.

   Technical Note: When adding your annotations with hypothesis, be sure to add them to the published page of your draft and not in the editing page. The annotations are connected to the URL. The URL for the published page is different from the editing window. If you add your annotates in the editing window, no one but you will be able to see them. Ask if you have questions.

   In addition to this, write a short reflective author’s note to give context to your experimental narrative and discuss the effect it had on you. Include this as a part of your composition (probably before or after the narrative itself). Make it clear somehow that these reflections are from you, as author, and no longer from the point-of-view of the character in your narrative. These annotative and reflective pieces are a major part of this assignment.

6. Document All Sources Consulted:

   You likely will not directly cite sources in the narrative itself (as narratives/stories don’t typically do this); however, you will cite sources in the annotative overlay. Show how the research helped you draw this character in a convincing and insightful fashion. At the end of the piece then, use MLA to document all the sources that you used to learn about the nature of political identity, values, worldview and how they come to be.

How will this piece be assessed?

First of all remember that this assignment will not be fully assessed until you include it as a part of your final portfolio project; however, as an initial draft that will be reviewed by members of the class, completing it on time is essential to stay on track toward at least a B in this course. Refer to the grading contract on the syllabus for more information about the importance of meeting all deadlines, and for general information on what makes for exemplary writing in this course.

The basic expectations that I have for average and acceptable work for this assignment are as follows. The work should:

• offer a compelling narrative that addresses the essence of the task described above in the essential task;
• draw a convincing character in a way that demonstrates insight on how his or her political identity was shaped—considering the sociological and psychological underpinnings;
• strive to help your reader identify and empathize with the character you create;
• use at least three sources to inform your understanding of the character and the source of their values and political ideology;
• include the “annotative overlay” as described above with detailed notes regarding where and how you applied your research along with the before and after reflective notes from your point-of-view as the writer of the piece;
• have an interesting opener and resonating close;
• have an effective title—one that is interesting, representative of the work is about, and creative;
• properly document all sources used, using MLA as the documentation standard; this includes a properly formatted works consulted page/section;
• be no less than 1250 — 1500 words (but it can be more);
• be proofread to ensure it is free from careless mechanical errors.

And a Few Additional Tips and Reminders

I think I’ve been pretty thorough in my explanation of this assignment, but check out the brief video below for a few further tips and reminders.

Major Assignment 4: Why the Divide?

Useful Tips and Advice on Assignment 4

Sample Portfolio Page (w/ more tips)

Click the thumbnail below to visit the “sample portfolio” that I am putting together for you. It doesn’t have complete model assignments, but it does offer some additional tips that might be useful.

M.S. McGuire – Why the Divide?

Remember, that this piece requires a reflective component, where you, as author, discuss what it was like to write this experimental third-person limited narrative from the perspective of a character who was political views completely opposite yours. What were the intellectual and emotional challenges associated with this work?

Due Date

This assignment is due March 24.
This work must be added to your course portfolio (on Google Sites) and then a link to the specific page of the portfolio along with a brief reflective note must be posted to the course “Commonplace” by the scheduled due date. This assignment is presented as a part of this lesson for your review and so you can get started on it, but it may not be due until a bit later. Consult the course schedule for a complete list of due dates. If you are having technical challenges with this, it is your responsibility to seek assistance from the instructor as soon as possible. Be sure also to keep your own electronic copy of your draft, so that you can easily return to it for revision at a later time. Use the button below to add the link to the appropriate page of your portfolio to the course Commonplace when you are ready.