General Instructions: Write a 1,000-word (between 900-1,100 words) essay on Michael
Ondaatje’s Running in the Family that addresses one of the two essay prompts. Please be
conscientious about the word length. This essay must reference a secondary source
that explicitly addresses your primary text (either one of Kristine Smitka’s lectures or
Martha Bladeck’s “The Place One Had Been Years Ago’: Mapping the Past in Michael
Ondaatje’s Running in the Family”) and a secondary source that does not explicitly
addresses your primary text (either Nicola Renger’s “Developments in the Discipline of
History” or Edward Said’s “Introduction” to Orientalism).
Remember that these sources are secondary sources; the main voice in the essay should
be your own, and the essay must assert your own original argument about the memoir.
Follow MLA formatting and citation guidelines. Links to resources on MLA style have been
posted on eclass under Week 3.
Choose one of the following two topics:
1) The narrator in Running in the Family is aware of Sri Lanka’s colonial history, noting
“The island seduced all of Europe. The Portuguese. The Dutch. The English” (46).
Nevertheless, the narrator appears to be seduced by his dream of Asia (3-4), mirroring
colonial fantasies about the East. What commentary is Running in the Family making
regarding colonialism?
2) The edition of Running in the Family selected for this class has been marketed as
“Biography & Autobiography—Memoir” (back cover). However, historical documents, such
as the maps listed on page 45 are described as “sightings, glances from trading vessels, the
theories of sextant.” What commentary is Running in the Family making regarding history?
