Below is a list of possible paper topics. If you have your own topic in mind, please check with me first. As you begin to work on your paper, please remember to consult the “writing tips” sheet that I handed out in class (it is also posted on the class website).
How is the “horror” created in the Poe and King short stories? Compare the various strategies that each author uses to create his scary stories?
Discuss Flannery O’Connor’s use of violence (psychic, emotional, physical) in both “Good Country People” or “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Is violence used the same way in both stories? Does violence create the same effect in both stories?
What do “Sweat” and “City of Refuge” suggest about the power of an individual to control his or her own life? If the individual does not seem to control his/her own life, what does?
Explain how the image and idea of the “ugly design of bruises” is a central theme in Tracks.
Compare the presentation of gender roles in any two of the texts we have read, keeping in mind that “gender roles” applies to both men and women and the roles that each has in society.
Both Hester Prynne and Fleur Pillager are women who are outcasts within their own communities. Explain both the reasons for their outsider status and how this reflects on their communities: what critique(s) is each author making about the community?
Compare the attitudes toward family and memory in Adrienne Rich’s poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” and in Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz.” Are the poets similarly ambivalent about their family memories? How does the sonnet structure contribute to the meaning of each poem?
Using two or three of the sonnets we have discussed in class, explore the connections between structure and theme. How does the structure of the sonnet (rhyme scheme, line breaks, title, etc) connect to the various themes of the poems?
Using both the preface to Leaves of Grass and “Song of Myself,” discuss Whitman’s ideas about a “democratic poetry.” Do you think he achieved his goal?
Is Hester Prynne a heroic figure?
Discuss one of these three themes from The Scarlet Letter: the
individual versus the community; nature versus society; emotion versus
intellect.