DUE: Week Fourteen (Apr 18-24, through drop-box in Brightspace page for our class).
Please note this is a later due date than is indicated on the syllabus.
LENGTH: 4-5 full pages, double spaced (Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1-inch margins),
not including your Works Cited page. Four full pages (i.e. your conclusion extends to the bottom
of page 4) is an absolute bare minimum for a passing grade. Do not turn in a paper that is less
than 4 full pages (again not including the Works Cited page) or you will likely fail the
assignment. You will need at least that much space to answer either of the questions below in
significant depth.
GENERAL DIRECTIONS: Select one of the four options below and write a formal essay in
response. All
options are meant to move you beyond lecture, and you should be sure to do so.
These questions neither require nor request outside research. They should be entirely your own
work. Your essays should be tightly
focused on answering the specific questions posed and
should not devolve into mere plot summary or a general discussion of one or more stories. Be
sure your essay is well structured and clearly written, and be sure to support all claims with
substantial evidence drawn from the text.
NO PLAGIARISM
You can assume your readers are generally familiar with the stories, so you should not provide
exhaustive summaries of them or try to say everything there is to say about them. Instead, keep
your focus on the issue under consideration. Start with an introduction that identifies your
specific focus, demonstrates its significance, and (in the last sentence) presents your thesis
statement. Then, get to analysis. Don?t, in other
words, spend your whole essay summarizing
and only get to analysis on the final page. Start analyzing
right from the beginning.
You have everything you need to answer these questions, each of which is based on
texts we?ve
discussed in depth during class. I want your ideas in this paper, not those of critics (and not my
own, cast back at me).
Don?t turn this into a research assignment, and do not plagiarize by
presenting others? ideas as though
they are your own. Plagiarism will result in a zero for the
assignment and, depending on its severity, failure for the course.
NO PLAGIARISM
OPTION TWO: In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Rick Deckard?s job (which
requires him to ?retire? androids) encourages him to distance himself from androids and thus is a
significant obstacle to his feeling and acting on empathy toward them. Is his masculinity another
such factor? That is, does Philip K. Dick?s novel portray empathy as being less typical in men
than in women? [Hint: To discuss Dick?s take on ?masculinity? and ?femininity? you obviously
need to discuss a number of male and female characters, not just Rick Deckard alone].
OPTION THREE: Like Father Like Son? At the end of Mary Shelley?s Frankenstein the
Creature refers to Victor as a ?generous and self-devoted being,? and as my lectures demonstrate
Victor clearly exhibits both selfishness and a narcissistic, self-oriented perspective that blinds
him to the needs and welfare of others (168). Write an essay is which you examine the degree to
which the Creature too is a ?generous and self-devoted being? who greatly resembles his father
in ways that lead to disaster.
OPTION FOUR: The ending of Mary Shelley?s Frankenstein depicts how the Monster ?hung
over [Victor?s] coffin? and reached out ?one vast hand . . . in colour and apparent texture like
that of a mummy? (168). This scene in some ways reminds us of Victor?s first interaction with
the living creature, which Victor recalls having ?one hand stretched out, seemingly to detain?
him (37). Victor, moreover, describes several circumstances in which he avoids contact and/or
intimacy with others. In class we?ve discussed the tragic events of this novel as being driven by
his selfishness, but bracket that claim for now and consider instead whether Victor has always
suffered from a fear of intimacy and if so whether we can attribute the novel?s disastrous
events in part to that psychological condition.
BE SURE YOUR ESSAY
? demonstrates careful reading and close analysis of the text under consideration.
? has a clear, specific thesis, an interpretive claim that is supported by evidence from the text.
Your thesis should appear in the last sentence of your introduction as well as in your
conclusion. The best theses are sophisticated and debatable (which thus means the essays
should take risks and avoid ?playing it safe?).
You may not avoid interpreting the text by
stating its meaning is up to the individual reader. You are being asked here to defend an
interpretive claim.
? moves beyond plot summary and even mere plot analysis. To
do this you?ll need to refer not just to what happens in the text
(plot) but to the text?s actual words. That means you?ll need
to quote selectively. You?ll need to do this to gauge
emotional states, motivation, etc. Don?t pad your paper with
excess quotations;
only quote when you want to discuss a
feature (word choice, tone, imagery, emotional content, etc.)
of a
passage.
? introduces the text(s) in the introduction but then gets quickly to the specific issue at hand.
This ensures you move very quickly beyond plot summary and into analysis and
argumentation. Assume your readers are intelligent, have read the texts, and have a basic
understanding of the plot, but you should also assume they are not too familiar with the
specific passages you wish to discuss.
? Is well structured and logically ordered.
? moves clearly and substantially beyond classroom discussion. The above questions are
specifically
geared to get you to move beyond classroom discussion.
? is properly formatted using MLA format
throughout.
? includes a Works Cited page (for the primary texts) and uses proper in-text documentation
(MLA
format).
? presents only your own original work.
? is relatively free of grammar mistakes and is well structured.
