Choose only ONE  of the following options below and, in your post, write a paraphrase  that avoids plagiarism of the paragraph you have chosen. Your paraphrase  can be as long as the excerpt you have chosen, but should not duplicate  any phrasing from the excerpt. If you must, you can quote up to three  words in a phrase.

When you are done posting your paraphrase, reply to at least one  classmate’s paraphrase, commenting on what s/he has done well and what  s/he can improve with the wording. Your response should be written in no  fewer than 75 words.

Choose to paraphrase ONE of the excerpts below:

Option 1

Morrison began writing Sula in 1969, a time of great activism  among African Americans and others who were working toward equal civil  rights and opportunities. The book addresses issues of racism, bigotry,  and suppression of African Americans; it depicts the despair people feel  when they can’t get decent jobs, and the determination of some to  survive. Eva, for example, cuts off her leg in order to get money to  raise her family. Morrison shows how, faced with racist situations, some  people had to grovel to whites simply to get by, as Helene does on a  train heading through the South. Others, however, fought back, as Sula  does when she threatens some white boys who are harassing her and Nel.

or

Option 2

In 1993, Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature,  and thus became the first African American and only the eighth woman  ever to win the award. According to Maureen O’Brien in Publishers  Weekly, Morrison said, “What is most wonderful for me personally is to  know that the Prize has at last been awarded to an African American. I  thank God that my mother is alive to see this day.” In 1996, she  received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished  Contribution to American Letters.