ENG 543: Topics for Paper 2
A hard copy of your second essay is
due in my faculty mailbox in Denney Hall, Room 421, by noon on Friday,
March 7, although you are also welcome to turn in your paper on the
last day of class (Thursday, March 6), if you'd prefer to do that
instead. Your second essay should be 1,500 words +/- 10% (from 1,350 to
1,650 words) and adhere to the formatting guidelines that can be linked
to here:
http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/herman145/papertemplate.html
Please note that your essays for this class represent opportunities for
you to explore your own ideas, so you should do your best to avoid
repeating specific points that have come up during our
class-discussions.
Option A: Discuss the portrayal of
sex or sexuality in any TWO of the works that we've read since Mrs Dalloway (i.e., Brideshead Revisited, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Time's Arrow, or Atonement), comparing and
contrasting the functions of sex/sexuality in the two texts. How do the
authors use sex/sexuality to provide insights into their characters,
explore issues of gender, and examine other conflicts and problems in
these two narrative worlds? How
would you compare/contrast the overall comment these texts seem to be
making on sex/sexuality, if any?
As with your first essay, it would be a good idea to focus on one or
two specific scenes per text and use those scenes as case studies,
rather than trying to discuss the texts as a whole.
Option B: Compare and contrast the
representation of religion in Bridehead
Revisited and EITHER The
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie OR Time's
Arrow. How do the authors use religion
to develop their themes, provide insights into their characters, and
explore other conflicts and problems in these two narrative worlds? How would you compare/contrast the overall
comment these texts seem to be making on religion, if any? As with your first essay, it would be
a good idea to focus on one or two specific scenes per text and use
those scenes as case studies, rather than trying to discuss the texts
as a whole.
Option C: Both Time's Arrow and Atonement center on events
associated with World War II. Compare and contrast the texts' use of
aspects of the war, including (for example) their strategies for
interconnecting the characters' personal experiences of war with its
broader social and historical consequences, their exploration of issues
pertaining to how the war can or should be represented as a part of
history, or their recontextualization of particular wartime occurrences
as elements of fictional worlds. As with your first essay, it would be
a good idea to focus on one or two specific scenes per text and use
those scenes as case studies, rather than trying to discuss the texts
as a whole.
Option D: Compare and contrast
Spark's portrayal of Sandy Stranger in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with
McEwan's portrayal of Briony Tallis in Atonement. How does the authors'
treatment of these characters relate to their larger themes? Which
events in the two characters' lives are particularly formative, and how
are they shaped by those events? In turn, how do Spark's and McEwan's
narrative techniques shape your own understanding of these two
characters? As with your
first essay, it would be
a good idea to focus on one or two specific scenes per text and use
those scenes as case studies, rather than trying to discuss the texts
as a whole.