Literature
Reading Reflection Paper Instructions
For each Reading Reflection Paper you will choose from the list of work themes below and write a 2 page essay using one of the course themes (see the content outline on the syllabus) to interpret and explicate a piece of literature assigned in our course. Explicating means unfolding and interpreting with a careful, very close reading to show your understanding of the piece you chose. Over the course of the trimester, you will write four of these essays.
Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits
No one asks
where I am from,
I must be
from the country of janitors,
I have always mopped this floor.
Honduras, you are a squatter's camp
outside the city
of their understanding.
No one can speak my name,
I host the fiesta
of the bathroom,
stirring the toilet
like a punchbowl.
The Spanish music of my name
is lost
when the guests complain
about toilet paper.
What they say
must be true:
I am smart
but I have a bad attitude.
No one knows
that I quit tonight,
maybe the mop
will push on without me,
sniffing along the floor
like a crazy squid
with stringy gray tentacles.
They will call it Jorge.
— Martín Espada