Paper #1

Please choose one of the following options.  In preparing your essay, be sure to focus your paper on the close examination of very specific scenes or references.  Be sure as well to shape your discussion into a clear and sustained argument about these scenes, rather than simply a series of observations or a summary of your chosen text.

1. The texts we have read so far in this course often include scenes of reading or references to books.  In these moments, the figure of the reader often seems quite crucial -- perhaps because in that figure the reader outside the text confronts a potential stand-in for him- or herself.  Focusing on one text, select one or two of these scenes or references and discuss their role or function.  What do these scenes seem to say about the act of reading, or about being (or becoming) a reader?  How are readers outside the text themselves being taught to read?  What effect do these scenes have within the text -- on character, for example, or plot?  These questions are meant to guide, not to limit.  You are also welcome to discuss more figurative scenes of reading -- scenes of instruction, for example, or moments of song, or even instances of characters (or narrators) "reading" people, objects, or events.  As a final variant, you might also consider scenes of writing: what might such scenes seem to say about effective expression, technique, or even authorship itself? If you decide to tackle one of these latter options, be sure to discuss your approach with your preceptor in advance.

2. The texts we have read also seem preoccupied with virtue and moral behavior.  The standards for such behavior, however, often seem to vary according to a character's gender.  Focusing on a small selection of scenes from one text, write an essay in which you consider the role of gender difference in the book's depiction of moral standards.  In what ways does gender matter in questions of morality in this particular work?  Why?  Are there different moral standards for men and women in the text, or different ways for men and women to meet the same standards?  If so, what accounts for these differences?  Social position?  Moral capacity?  Narrative necessity?  Something else?  Why might the author instead insist that virtue is the same for all, regardless of gender?  Be sure to keep your essay focused on your chosen text; be wary of simply making general claims about morality and/or gender.

Length: 5-7 pages

Due Date: Friday, October 20 (the end of week 5).  Please turn your papers in by 4:00 p.m. to your preceptor's mailbox in 22 McCosh Hall.  Work submitted after the due date will be penalized.
 

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