ENG 543:  Topics for Paper II


Due Wednesday, December 1, your second essay should be 1,400 - 1,600 words long (please type in the word count at the end of your paper); the essay should also adhere to the formatting guidelines that can be linked to here:

http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/herman145/papertemplate.html

Option 1:  Compare and contrast the functions of memory in TWO of the following texts: Wide Sargasso Sea, The Third Policeman, The Cement Garden, The Remains of the Day.

Note that all three of these works are first-person narratives; they are told by character-narrators (i.e., narrators that recount stories in which they played a role as characters), and their words sometimes have to be taken with a grain of salt. How reliable, then, are the character-narrators' memories, and how do you know? What forces, events, or circumstances impede memory? What sorts of things facilitate memory? To what extent, in each text, does the older, narrating self seem to be defined by memories involving his or her earlier, experiencing self? In other words, how much continuity is there between the remembered self and the narrating self? What broader statement--for example, about the relation between past and present, or about the nature of identity--does each author seem to be making through his or her portrayal of memory in each work?

Option 2:  Discuss the portrayal of emotions in any TWO of the works that we've read since Mrs Dalloway. If one of the works that you choose is A Passage to India, how does Forster's use of third-person narration affect the his treatment of emotions in comparison with the other author's use of first-person narration? What sorts of things do we learn from the characters' (or character-narrators') expressions of emotion, and how does their emotional life relate to other aspects of their identity? In what ways does the portrayal of emotions in each text relate to other themes being developed in the work?

Option 3:  Compare and contrast the portrayal of race or racial identity in A Passage to India and Wide Sargasso Sea. How does race intersect with other parameters for identity--for example, gender, class, language, religious belief, or regional background--in the two texts? Do Forster and Rhys represent similar sorts of racial (or racially framed) conflicts? How do the authors relate race/racial identity to matters of culture and history? What are the cultural meanings of racial differences in each text, and to what extent do those meanings overlap in the two works? How does the portrayal of race in each text relate to other themes being developed in the work?

Option 4:  Discuss the portrayal of sex or sexuality in any TWO of the works that we've read since Mrs Dalloway, comparing and contrasting the functions of sex/sexuality in the two texts. How do the authors use sex/sexuality to develop their themes, provide insights into their characters, and explore gender differences? How does the portrayal of sex in each text relate to other themes being developed in the work?

Option 5:  Use ideas discussed in any of the secondary sources that we have since the first paper--P. Williams, Allrath and Gymnich, McHale, or Carey--to develop an interesting interpretation of TWO of the works that we have read since Mrs Dalloway. For this option, you should focus on just ONE of the secondary sources in the above list. Then use use the two texts to "test out" the validity or productiveness of the critic's ideas.  What features of the works do the critic's ideas help you understand? By contrast, are there aspects of the texts that the critic's ideas do not help illuminate? Do the critic's ideas seem to shed more light on one of the works than the other?  If so, why?