Assignment: EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE
Instructions
PICK TWO questions from the options below and answer them. One of the questions should be 5 pages or more in length, and the second should be 2.5 pages long or longer. Support your analysis with extracts from the texts.
I require that at least TWO secondary articles be used overall; this a requirement. Present your paper in MLA format, with correct citations (we'll cover this on the 20th March in class). You will print me out a copy and also upload a copy to our Moodle page (a link will appear close to the deadline).
Submission Timing: as stated above, you have to submit electronically. A Turnitin link will be available soon after this Final is uploaded. Given that our last class is on the 24th April, the physical copy will be able to be delivered to me in one of two ways:
1) Is Cetology the true religion of Moby Dick?
2) What is Melville's approach to religion in Moby Dick?
3) Is Moby Dick essentially a comic book in fundamentally prose form?
4) Moby Dick is a comedy. Discuss.
5) What is the importance of Ahab to Moby Dick?
6) Discuss narrative technique in Moby Dick?
7) "Vengeance on a dumb brute!" - Discuss vengeance/revenge (and the wisdom of it) in Moby Dick. You may want to look at Ahab's justification for it in Chapter 36.
8) What importance does prophecy have to the story? You may wish to look at Chapters 71, 117, 119, and 134 (these are only some examples).
9) How important is rumour, lore, and/or superstition in Moby Dick? You may wish to look at Chapters 41, 73, 99, and 126).
10) Discuss colour as a theme in Moby Dick (see Chapter 69).
11) Discuss history as a theme in Moby Dick (see Chapter 45)
12) Discuss Fatalism and/or Fate in Moby Dick.
13) "Moby Dick's real obsession is science." Discuss. (Chapters 55, 56, 57, 74, 76, 77, and 79 may help).
14) Moby Dick seems to be obsessed with the inadequacy of artistic representation. Do you agree? (You may want to look at Chapters 80, 85-6, and 103-4).
15) What is the role of the Bible in Moby Dick?
16) Write an essay exploring the theme of Death in Moby Dick. (Chapters 113 and 126 may be of interest).
17) Discuss movie versions and/or movie adaptations of Moby Dick. How do those movies enter into artistic conversation with the text?
18) Is Jaws a retelling of Moby Dick? Again, if so, how does it enter into artistic conversation with the novel of Moby Dick?
19) Is the Governess mad in The Turn of the Screw?
20) Is the Governess a heroine in The Turn of the Screw?
21) The Turn of the Screw is about child abuse. Discuss.
22) Discuss truth and fiction in The Turn of the Screw.
23) Is sex (in all its forms) the driving impulse of The Turn of the Screw?
24) Mrs. Grose: Complicit or Not?
25) How would you describe the narrative technique of The Turn of the Screw?
26) Compare and contrast The Turn of the Screw with any of Henry James' other "ghost" stories. (You may want to look at "The Real Right Thing".)
27) Write an essay on Whitman's "A Song of Myself" - topics you could look at include: eroticism; the Oneness of man; democracy; freedom; nature; identity; America.
28) Write an essay on Wharton's "The Journey" - topics you could look at include: the relationship between men and women in the text (for example, Wharton's commentary on marriage); the inner psychology of women; Illness as a Form of Disgust.
29) Compare and contrast Wharton's "A Journey" to Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper".