1st Year Winner: The Door

WRIT 1700A, Writing Process and Practice. TA: Dion Tubrett, CD: Dunja Baus

Abstract

“The Door” is a beautifully written short essay that presents a compelling narrative of Goreé Island’s history. What makes this first-year winning paper particularly noteworthy is the author’s outstanding sentence craft. The writer effortlessly incorporates numerous rhetorical devices and sentence types while simultaneously weaving their commentary on privilege, power and colonialism with grace. Through moving, eloquent sentences, the writer describes the world of human cruelty and slave trade that occurred on the island south of the Cape Verde peninsula in Senegal. The reader immediately becomes aware of the island’s devastating past once the writer contrasts it with island’s modern, tranquil state. Sentence after sentence, the writer thoughtfully invites readers to Goreé Island and leaves them with a new, profound perspective on its history.