Compare H.P. Lovecraft And W.E.B. Dubois Discussing Xenophobia
Okay, here's what you're going to do. You are going to write a compare/contrast essay on H.P. Lovecraft and W.E.B. DuBois discussing xenophobia, hidden bias, and social identity--terms found in Peter Winters' article "Why We Fear the Unknown." You want to use that graphic organizer to help you out.
Here are the texts we're using:
Lovecraft--"The Lurking Fear," "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"
Dubois--"The Comet"
Winters--"Why We Fear the Unknown"
Consider a scratch outline for this. Your thesis is going to be a generic concept that will be similar among all you students, but your textual support should be different. Something like this:
Thesis: In the early 20th century, H.P. Lovecraft and W.E.B. DuBois had widely different perspectives on the psychological principles of racial fear in the United States.
Subject #1--Lovecraft's "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family"
Point A--Xenophobia
Point B--Hidden Bias
Point C--Social Identity
Subject #2--DuBois's "The Comet"
Point A--Xenophobia
Point B--Hidden Bias
Point C--Social Identity
For each of those points, you would use specific textual support to define that particular author's perspective. So that's where your worksheet will come in handy. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
You also want to reference the psychological article "Why We Fear the Unknown." For example, in your paper, you're going to want to define these terms. So there should be a part of your paper where you define "xenophobia," based on Winters' article. So, as you're exploring xenophobia in Lovecraft's and DuBois's fiction, you're also referring to xenophobia in Winters' article.
This compare/contrast is pretty clear. Lovecraft's racism is very evident, as is DuBois's progressive view of a more promising tomorrow. All you're really doing here is articulating their positions, based on their fiction, on these clear psychological principles of xenophobia, hidden bias, and race relations. What you need to do with DuBois is show how he challenges Lovecraft on these issues. For example, if Lovecraft is so against the idea of interracial marriage, how does DuBois challenge that? That's what you want to consider. In other words, it's probably easier for you to engage with Lovecraft first and then use DuBois to challenge him. That makes more logical sense.