Essay Assignment Guideline

Length: 5-7 pages, double-spaced.

To bring together your learning both in and out of class, and to demonstrate how understanding of the past can help deal with the future in a spirit of compassionate hope, you will write a reflective paper. It should be a carefully-constructed, well-thought-out essay comparing one character from Achebe's Things Fall Apart with one character from "The Mission." The setting of this analysis is, of course, the 500-year story of "The West and the World." The focus of this analysis is to reflect on the question: "How can someone in a situation of powerlessness find hope for the future?" But this is no glib opinion piece: the paper should

• indicate your close familiarity with the two works by summarizing each character's role in the story

• reflect and comment on (1) how the character had to confront powerful outside influences, and (2) how (if at all) the character found grounds for hope

• place these fictionalized characters into the concrete, real-world context of both (1) particular events from their own time and place and (2) broad, long-term historical trends

• include a paragraph or two evaluating whether such fictionalized accounts (novels, plays, films, legends, etc) can provide true historical insight-and if so, how

• conclude, in light of your analysis, with a personal statement-either from an explicitly Christian or honestly non-Christian perspective-on the sources of hope in a world of power.