English 2332 - Essay One (600 words minimum) - Weeks 2-7
Choose one prompt from the list below - as with all submissions, please remember to:
· Revise with the course revision guidelines, based on previous response paper markings.
· Paraphrase and cite your examples with correct MLA documentation throughout the essay (avoid quotes).
· Follow each support example with a specific analysis and commentary.
· Place a correct Works Cited entry at the end of your essays, according to the ‘MLA Format Guide.”
· Place a correct (printed) word count of the text of your essay (excluding heading, title, and Works Cited)
1. Choosing specific examples from three or more of the assigned excerpts from different periods (weeks 2 through 7), compare and contrast arguments about a specific idea or theme concerning human life and destiny. What wisdom or answer(s) to a perennial question or theme do these works present or assert in their discussions of human nature and behavior? Such themes could include:
skill over strength, the mystery of death and mortality, self-reliance, dreams, the past versus the present, loss of innocence, the difficulty of love, the power of love, survival, love and hate, the power of the dead over the living, pride, beauty, courage, duty, fear, freedom, memory and vision, loyalty, self-sacrifice, obsession, isolation, sacrifice, grief and loss, identity, friendship, home, fate, oppression.
Based on the textbook documentation, cite parenthetically your examples throughout the essay.
2. Compare and contrast the place of gender (male and/or female) in three or more of the assigned excerpts (week 2 through 7). What positive and/or negative aspects of character do these works reveal with respect to gender? On an external scale, how do the distinct social and traditional relationships between men and women affect events in the stories? Based on the textbook documentation, cite parenthetically your examples throughout the essay.
3. Compare and contrast the various mythical geographies that appear in three or more of the assigned excerpts (weeks 2 through 7) as they reflect the spiritual or emotional states of central characters in the works. Based on the textbook documentation, parenthetically cite your examples throughout the essay.
4. Compare and contrast how the various language scripts, alphabets, and writing technologies affect the transmission of the content of three or more of the assigned excerpts from different periods (weeks 2 through 7). Do the methods of written delivery enhance or obscure the original oral or spoken content of the excerpts? What advantages and disadvantages do the forms of writing provide in preserving the message and content of the original oral recitations? Based on the textbook documentation, cite parenthetically your examples throughout the essay.
5. Optional: Choosing specific examples from three or more of the assigned excerpts from three different periods (weeks2 through 7), write your own prompt (with instructor approval) about a specific or shared literary feature. Based on the textbook documentation, cite parenthetically your examples throughout the essay.