Bernard Cooper: Burl’s

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This activity contains 3 questions.

Cooper writes that, as a child, he thought it “possible to divide the world into male and female columns” but that, even so, he found many things that “didn’t fit neatly into either camp.” Examine the imagery he uses throughout this essay to suggest distinctions between male and female and also the blurring of lines between the two.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

Cooper is quite explicit here about his burgeoning sense of homosexuality at a fairly young age. What purposes do you think he might have for writing this essay? How do you respond? What makes you feel the way you do?

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

Think about your own childhood in terms of how you tried to understand the mysteries of the larger world of adults and your place there as you began growing up. Write an essay in which you focus on some of these experiences; like Cooper, be sure to link your scenes so as to give you essay unity and coherence.

To create paragraphs in your essay response, type at the beginning of the paragraph, and at the end.

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