English 109 - Cora Agatucci
Survey of Western World Literature: Modern

English 109 AssignmentsOnline Handouts
See English 109 Course Plan for Week-by-Week Schedule of Reading & Related Assignments
Samples of StudentWriting Interested in Extra Credit?

Spring 1999
Course Grading & Assignments
(From English 109 Syllabus)

Class Preparation & Participation 40% of course grade
3 Discussion Papers (@ worth 20%) 60% of course grade

Class Preparation & Participation: Response Writings (RW) & Seminars
RW#1: Equiano or Wollstonecraft
Seminar #1: Romanticism & William Blake
Student Seminar #1 (Online Handout)
RW#2: Goethe's Faust; RW#3: Bronte's Wuthering Heights
Seminar #2: Literary Realism & Flaubert's "A Simple Heart"
Student Seminar #2 (Online Handout)
RW#4: Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Seminar #3: Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Seminar #4:
RW#5: Kafka, Garcia Marquez, Kundera

Discussion Papers: General Directions
Discussion Paper #1 Topics
Discussion Paper #2 Topics
Discussion Paper #3 Topics
NEED HELP WITH WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Online Handouts:
Response Writings
From Eng 109 Syllabus: Class Preparation & Participation will be graded, in part, on
"In-Class Response Writings [which] may or may not be announced in advance,
so try to come to every class prepared (see Eng 109 Course Plan).
Missed Response Writings cannot be made up or completed late;
however, the lowest Response Writing grade will be dropped."

Response Writing #1 (Week #1 - See English 109 Course Plan for assigned readings):
Respond to one of the following topics (students were given 15 min. to write in-class on Fri., 4/2/99):

1. In The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African, Equiano writes:
". . . did I consider myself a European, I might say my sufferings were great: but when I compare my lot to that of most of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular favourite of Heaven . . . ." (474). Interpret this quotation, explaining to what "sufferings" of his "countrymen" he refers, and why he would consider himself fortunate in comparison. Be sure to support your interpretation with one (or more) specific examples from The Interesting Narrative….

2. Explain Mary Wollstonecraft’s view of the education of women in 1792, as presented in her Introduction to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (526-528). Be sure to support your explanation with specific example(s) from the text.

Response Writing #2 (Week #3 - See English 109 Course Plan for assigned readings):
Respond to one of the following topics (students were given 15 min. to write in-class on Wed., 4/14/99):

*When you cite Faust, please identify the passage as clearly as possible:
e.g., by giving scene title and page number—and line number if possible.

1. Identify one or two significant differences between Mephistopheles and Faust, and explain why the difference(s) seem(s) significant in helping us understand the play. Be sure to support your point(s) by citing* and interpreting relevant passage(s) in the play.

2. Identify and explain one or more lesson(s) Faust’s "experience" with Margaret/Gretchen in Part I might have taught him. Be sure to support your point(s) by citing* and interpreting relevant passage(s) from the play.

3. Our textbook editors claim that Faust "epitomizes European romanticism" (545). Identify one or two characteristics of Romanticism that you find demonstrated in Goethe’s play. Support your point(s) with specific example(s) from Faust that illustrate the identified Romantic characteristic(s).#

Response Writing #3: (Week #4 - See English 109 Course Plan for assigned readings):
Respond to one of the following topics (students were given 15 min. to write in-class on Wed., 4/21/99)

*When you cite Wuthering Heights,
please identify the passage by page number

1. Identify one Realistic characteristic and one Romantic characteristic of Wuthering Heights, illustrating each characteristic identified with a specific example from the novel.

2. Explain one or two reasons why you think Emily Bronte chose Nelly Dean as the principal narrator of the story of Wuthering Heights. Illustrate your point(s) with a specific example from Dean’s narration in the novel.

3. Identify one or two keys to understanding the character of either Catherine Earnshaw-Linton (the original Cathy) or of Heathcliff. Illustrate your point(s) with a specific example from the novel.

Response Writing #4 (Week # - See English 109 Course Plan for assigned readings):
Respond to one of the following topics (students were given 20 min. to write in-class on 9)

*When you cite Heart of Darkness,
please identify the passage by page number

Choose one of the following topics for your Response Writing:

1. Explain what you believe to be key source(s) of Marlow’s strange but strong feeling of kinship with Kurtz—the fateful "unforeseen partnership" (1414) that ultimately requires Marlow to become the keeper of Kurtz’s memory and to remain "loyal" to Kurtz in the end.

2. Marlow characterizes Kurtz’s dying words--"’The horror! The horror!’" (1415)—as a "supreme moment of complete knowledge," and an affirmation that "Kurtz was a remarkable man" (1415). What "truth" do you think (that Marlow thinks that) Kurtz "glimpsed" (1416) in his dying moment, and why does Marlow judge it "a moral victory" (1416)?

3. Even though Marlow tells us in Part I that "…I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie . . ." (1384), in the end he lies to "the Intended." Why do you think Marlow lies to Kurtz’s fiancee, telling her that Kurtz’s last words were "—your name" (1420)? What does Marlow seem to fear might happen were he to tell the truth (e.g. see pp. 1420-1421)?

4. Cora proposed that the unnamed narrator’s description of Marlow’s stories points to where the meaning of Heart of Darkness can be found…and that Marlow’s own opening meditation regarding the Romans’ conquest of the British isles nineteen hundred years earlier (1368-1370), parallels and foreshadows key elements of the ensuing story of Marlow’s journey into and out of the "heart of darkness." Focus on one of the following opening descriptions and interpret how it foreshadows the main story and significance of Heart of Darkness:

  1. "But Marlow is not typical…, and to him the meaning of an episode is not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze…." (1369).
  2. "Or think of a decent young [Roman] citizen in a toga…coming out here….and in some inland post, feel the savagery, the utter savagery had closed around him . . . .And it has the fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination—you know, imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate" (1369).
  3. The Romans "were no colonists….They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force….your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what could be got. It was robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind—as is proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it much." (1370).
  4. "What redeems it [the conquest of the earth] is the idea only… at the back of it; not sentimental pretense but…an unselfish belief in the idea—something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to. . . .’" (1370).

Response Writing #5 (Week #9- See English 109 Course Plan for assigned readings:
students were given 15 min. to write in-class on 5/28/99)

*When you cite quotations or paraphrases from our textbook ,
please cite the passage parenthetically by page number like this: (1264)
If you cite one of the "Critical Views" handouts on Kafka or Garcia Marquez,
please cite parenthetically like this: (Critical Views…, 3)

Choose one of the following topics for your Response Writing:

1. Identify one major theme (or central message) advanced in one of the following stories assigned in Week #9:

  1. Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis" OR
  2. Garcia Marquez’ "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" OR
  3. Kundera’s "The Hitchhiking Game"

Be sure to explain what in the story led you to your interpretation, supported with relevant specific example(s) from the story.

2. As presented in class and background readings, Kafka has been acknowledged by both Garcia Marquez and Kundera as a major influence on their writing. Identify at least one aspect of Kafka’s story "The Metamorphosis" that you recognize as an literary influence at work in Garcia Marquez’ "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" and/or Kundera’s "The Hitchhiking Game." Be sure to explain and illustrate your comparative point(s) with relevant specific examples from the stories.

3. Both "The Metamorphosis" and "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" present us with a fantastic being who enters "a more realistic world and transforms it in unexpected ways" (Janes, "Critical Views . . . 4). What do you think that Kafka in "The Metamorphosis" and/or Garcia Marquez in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is trying to accomplish in blending the fantastic and the realistic in the story(ies)?

4. What is the "hitchhiking game" and its outcome as developed in Kundera’s story?

Seminars
From Eng 109 Syllabus: Class Preparation & Participation will be graded in part on
"Participation Credits (PC) awarded for engaging in small group Seminars"

Seminar #1 [assigned in class on Mon., 4/5/99]: William Blake & Romanticism; &
Interpretations of Selected Songs of Innocence & Experience

1. Deadlines (Week #2 - see also Eng 109 Course Plan)

Mon., 4/5/99, In Class: Form Seminar Groups, discuss directions & preparation, and assign Seminar Leaders & Summarizers
Wed., 4/7/99: Seminar preparation is due at the beginning of class. In-Class: Seminar #1

2. Seminar #1 Directions

  1. Preparation (required of all): (1) Review Reading assignments for Mon., 4/5 (see Eng 109 Course Plan), bring course textbook, & reading notes/annotations; (2) Read Blake handout (distributed in class on Mon., 4/5) & consider/annotate your responses to Discussion Topics (see b & c below).
  2. Seminar Leader A: Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion in class on Wed. on "William Blake & Romanticism" by listing/charting (1) Defining characteristics & ideas of Romanticism; and (2) Specific examples from reading assignment on Blake’s life and works that seem to best reflect/represent Romanticism’s defining characteristics/ideas. You will turn in your written list/chart to Cora at the end of class on Wed., 4/7/99.
  3. Seminar Leader B: Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion on Wed. on "Interpretations of Selected Songs of Innocence and Experience" by creating a comparative list/chart of similarities and differences between (1) the two versions of "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, and (2) "The Lamb" from Songs of Innocence and "The Tyger" from Songs of Experience. Also (3) identify critical views from the Blake handout that seem helpful and relevant to understanding the meaning of Blake’s poems. You will turn in your written list/chart/notes to Cora at the end of class on Wed., 4/7/99.
  4. Seminar Report: In-Class on Wed., 4/7, one student in each Seminar group will (1) write down the names of Seminar group members and (2) take notes on main ideas that emerged in the Seminar discussions on each of the two topics: "William Blake and Romanticism" and "Interpretations of Selected Songs of Innocence and Experience." From these notes and Seminar group assistance, the Seminar Summarizer will be asked to write a (3) brief summary of the main ideas identified at the end of class on Wed.. The summary may be in list or outline form, but please express main ideas in complete sentences. Your Seminar Report, including Seminar group members’ names and summary of main ideas, should be turned in to Cora at the end of class on Wed., 4/7/99.

Student Seminar #1 (Online Handout)

Seminar #2 [assigned in class on Wed., 4/21/99] - Gustave Flaubert's "A Simple Heart": Characteristics of Literary Realism & Critical Views of "A Simple Heart"

1. Deadlines (Week #4 - see also Eng 109 Course Plan)

Wed., 4/21/99, In Class: Form Seminar Groups, discuss directions & preparation, and assign Seminar Leaders
Fri., 4/23/99: Seminar preparation is due at the beginning of class. In-Class: Seminar #2 (& select Seminar summarizer for each Seminar group)

2. Seminar #2 Directions

  1. Preparation (required of all): (1) Review/read 4/21/99 assignments on Flaubert & "A Simple Heart" (see Eng 109 Course Plan), bring course textbook, & reading notes/annotations; (2) Read handout "Critical Views on 'A Simple Heart'" & consider/annotate your responses to the Seminar Discussion Topics described below.
  2. Seminar Leader A: Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion in class on Fri., 4/23, by listing/charting (1) Defining Characteristics & Ideas of Literary Realism gained from reading textbook introductions & Cora's presentation; and (2) Specific examples (with page numbers) from Flaubert's short story that seem to best reflect/represent these defining characteristics/ideas of Literary Realism.  You will turn in your written list/chart/notes to Cora at the end of class on Fri., 4/23/99.
  3. Seminar Leader B:  Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion in class on Fri., 4/23, by (1) summarizing key points--especially points of disagreement--among the various critical interpretations of "A Simple Heart" offered in the handout; then (2) generate seminar discussion on these points (and/or other points the group deems significant) to explore your seminar group's interpretations of "A Simple Heart."  You will turn in your written list/chart/notes to Cora at the end of class on Fri., 4/23/99.
  4. Seminar Report....(rest to be posted soon!)

Student Seminar #2 (Online Handout)

Seminar #3 [assigned in class on 5/799] - Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (with Back-Glances at Conrad's Heart of Darkness) In-Class Seminar #3: Mon., 5/10/99

Seminar Preparation (required of all): (1) Finish reading Things Fall Apart, bring course textbook, Things Fall Apart Study Guide handout, & reading notes/annotations on Things Fall Apart (and Heart of Darkness, as applicable); (2) consider/annotate your responses to Discussion Topics selected by your Seminar #3 Leaders from among those described below.

Seminar Leaders’ Discussion Topic Choices:

Seminar Topic #1: Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion in class on Mon., 5/10/99, on by (1) briefly summarizing/listing the Main Points of Achebe’s argument in "Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness" (handout) to be presented orally to your seminar group; then (2) stimulate discussion on the questions, (a) Is Heart of Darkness racist? and (b) Has reading Things Fall Apart changed your view of Africa and Africans? You will turn in your written summary/list to Cora at the end of class on Mon., 5/10/99.

Seminar Topic #2: Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion in class on Mon. on (1) How/why "things fall apart"? both (2) for Okonkwo (the individual story) and (3) for traditional Igbo culture (the collective story) in Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. You will turn in your written notes/chart to Cora at the end of class on Mon., 5/10/99.

Seminar Topic #3: Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion in class on Mon., on (1) Things Fall Apart as a "bicultural novel" by charting/identifying some of (a) the African elements of the novel, and (b) the Western elements of the novel; then survey your Seminar group to determine (2) the effects on Western (i.e. non-African, non-Igbo; i.e. us as) readers of such a "bicultural" reading experience. You will turn in your written chart/notes to Cora at the end of class on Mon., 5/10/99

Seminar Topic #4: Be prepared to lead a 10-minute Seminar Discussion in class on Mon., by charting a comparison of (1) Achebe’s stated purposes for writing a novel like Things Fall Apart that he hoped to achieve with indigenous African and with international Western readers (derived from the Study Guide handout, esp. the last section excerpting Achebe’s statemtns on the Value and Function of Literature - viewing the Bill Moyers’s interview videotape now on COCC Library reserve is an extra credit option), to (2) the major message(s) seminar Eng 109 readers actually received from reading the novel. You will turn in your written chart/notes to Cora at the end of class on Mon., 5/10/99

Seminar Summarizers will be selected at the beginning of class on Mon., 5/10/99: directions are similar to those for previous English 109 Seminars #1 & #2.

Seminar #4 [directions given in class]

Discussion Papers: General Directions
StudentWriting

[Running Page Header:]
Yourlastname 1

[MLA STYLE HEADING:]
John Student [Your Name]
English 109, Dr. Agatucci [Identify course & instructor]
Discussion Paper #1 – Topic #4 [Identify assignment & Topic choice]
26 April 1999 [Type Date assignment is DUE, or
*If Late, give Date assignment is SUBMITTED]

English 109 Discussion Paper Directions

1. As stated in the Eng 109 Syllabus, three (3) Discussion Papers will be assigned this term, each worth 20% of the course grade. See current Eng 109 Course Plan for deadlines.

2. Suggested length: 3 typewritten/wordprocessed double-spaced pages. Discussion Papers must be typed or wordprocessed or they will not be accepted.

3. Please use standard manuscript format—e.g., 1 inch margins at top-bottom-sides, type/print on standard sized 8 ½" x 11"white paper, using only one side of each page, readable fonts in standard point sizes (10 point for larger fonts, 12 point for smaller fonts), etc. Please label your assignment completely, using MLA-style heading (illustrated at the top of this handout) in the upper left-hand corner of the first page, and running page headers (illustrated on the second page of this handout) in the top right-hand corner of second and subsequent pages of your Discussion Papers.

4. Please edit and proofread your papers before submission: neat handwritten corrections in black or blue ink on the typed/wordprocessed pages of the final draft are acceptable. NOTE: Grammatical errors will not be considered in the grading unless they hurt the clarity and coherence of your expression.

5. As stated on the Eng 109 Syllabus, late Discussion Papers will be accepted, but will be penalized one letter grade. After graded Discussion Papers are returned, a revision option will be extended on one of the three Discussion Papers (of the student’s choice) for students wishing to try to strengthen their papers and grades, but the original graded Discussion Paper must be resubmitted with the optional revision or it will not be accepted for re-grading.

6. A choice of topics will be given for each Discussion Paper, asking students to interpret one or more of the literary texts that we have been studying in Eng 109. Please include the number of your topic choice in the MLA-style heading (as modeled above).

7. Seek help with your writing if you need it: see Engl 109 Syllabus for resources (NEED HELP). Remember, too, that you have a revision option on one of your three Discussion Papers if you don’t do as well as you would like and would like to improve or strengthen your writing (see #5 above).

8. Most topics are designed for treatment in short essay form, developing a central thesis in response to the chosen topic. In developing your literary interpretation, a primary goal is to help you and your readers better understand the meaning(s) and significance of the literary work(s). Topic choices also include suggestions for methods of developing your Discussion Paper. You will be expected to show that you have (re)read the literary work(s) under discussion thoughtfully and seriously, and that you can support your interpretive points with well-selected specific examples for the literary text(s). To demonstrate that you have completed assigned background and handout readings, and have been a regular and attentive participant in class, you will be expected to apply what you have been learning about historical and cultural backgrounds, key literary concepts, and various critical views as relevant to the chosen topic and literary work(s) under examination. of what the literary work(s) mean. The Discussion Papers are intended to be valuable learning experiences: through developing an interpretation based on more sustained attention to a focused topic on the literary work(s), you are encouraged to analyze selected literary works in more detail, to synthesize what you have learned about the works’ contexts, and to explore and clarify more fully your own understanding of the literature’s meaning and significance.

9. Plagiarism must be avoided and citations properly documented when you quote, paraphrase and/or summarize the literary work(s), related readings from our textbook or course handouts, and/or any outside sources. When you quote or paraphrase from the Eng 109 class textbook, use parenthetical documentation to cite page numbers (also scene titles, line numbers if applicable) in the body of your Discussion Paper immediately following the quotation or paraphrase. For example:

Goethe called Faust "’a fragment’" and "challenged his readers to make sense of it" (549).

If you cite an Eng 109 course handout, please give the author (if indicated), the handout title and page number. For example:

Frank Magill explains that Faust continues to strive to the very end of Part II, and argues that "Only from the point of view of the Divine does all the confused striving attain meaning . . ." ("Faust: Summary of Part II & Commentary" 2).

If you are citing Eng 109 course text and/or materials that everyone has had access to, you need not include a bibliography at the end. In-text citations, as in the above examples, using author tags and citations in parenthesis within your Discussion Paper will be sufficient. Eng 109 Discussion Paper topics are not intended to require outside research; however, if you do use any outside sources, you will be expected to cite them in-text and give a full bibliographical entry for outside source(s) at the end of your Discussion Papers. See Cora for more guidance.

10. Write to communicate clearly and effectively with other English 109 readers—not just Cora—and remember that your interpretation as only one among many possible interpretations. Diversity of opinion and interpretation is inevitable and valuable in the study of literature: such diversity helps us all understand the literary work(s) from multiple perspectives and in new/different ways. There is no single "right" answer to the topic choices given, nor a single "correct" interpretation of a given literary work. Nevertheless, some interpretations may be more persuasively supported and coherently explained than others. One key to success on English 109 Discussion Papers is explaining, developing, supporting and illustrating your interpretation clearly, effectively, and specifically. Remember too that even though everyone in English 109 has been studying the same works and materials over the past weeks, no two readers are likely to read, understand, and interpret a given literary work in exactly the same ways, and what seems "obvious" to you may very well not be "obvious" to other Eng 109 readers. So offer full explications and illustrations of your literary views—the goal is not necessarily to persuade us all that we must adopt your interpretation, but rather to help others clearly and fully understand how and why you have interpreted the literary work(s) as you have. And, in the process of communicating and sharing our diverse interpretations through the Discussion Papers, we may all come to a broader and deeper understanding the literary work(s), and how/why they reflect and shape their literary-historical contexts.

I look forward to reading and learning from your Discussion Papers!!
Cora

Discussion Paper #1 Topics
See current Eng 109 Course Plan for deadlines. Sample Discussion Papers: StudentWriting

Choose one of the following topics for Discussion Paper #1:

1. Thesis focus: Defining European Romanticism
Method & Development: Identify and explain 3 or 4 of the defining characteristics of literary Romanticism. Illustrate these characteristics with specific examples from the works of William Blake and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

2. Thesis focus: Understanding the character of Faust as important to understanding the meaning of the Romanticist play Faust
Method & Development: Identify two or three key events, scenes, and/or speeches in Faust, Part I, which reveal the nature, strengths/weaknesses, and/or development of Faust’s character. Analyze what the chosen passages reveal about Faust’s character and/or development. Explain how your insights about Faust’s character contribute to a better understanding of Faust.

3. Thesis focus: Understanding the concepts of "innocence" and "experience" in the work of Blake and Goethe.
Method & Development: Compare the states of innocence and experience as presented in Blake’s poems in the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience, to the fall from innocence into experience of either Margaret/Gretchen) or Henry Faust by the end of Faust Part I. Explain what is lost and what is gained in these transitions from innocence to experience.

4. Thesis Focus: Understanding Faust Part I as a "philosophical" poem through its main characters Faust and Mephistopheles.
Method & Development: As presented in key scenes, actions, and/or dialogues in Faust, Part I, identify and analyze key differences in the philosophical attitudes of Faust and Mephistopheles. (You may wish to consider the terms of their wager, the goals of each, their attitudes toward human life and aspiration, and/or their moral positions and actions in their dealings with others.) Based on your reading of the "Prologue in Heaven" and the handout summary of Faust, Part II, do you feel that these philosophical differences are ever resolved, or that one philosophy finally wins out over the other? Why or why not?

5. Thesis Focus: Reframe the Faust legend for the year 2000 to test its relevance to contemporary life.
Method & Development: In your Discussion Paper, present your proposal for a contemporary version of Faust by answering key questions like these: What genre/s (play, novel, epic poem, TV mini-series, film, MTV music video, and/or . . .?) would you choose for the 2000 version of Faust and why? Describe the identity of your contemporary Faust (age, ethnicity, sex, religion, region, socio-economic class, etc.) and her/his character (what are his/her key goals, internal conflicts, dissatisfactions and/or desires?). What setting or dramatic situation would you place your contemporary Faust in? What would be the nature of Faust’s antagonist, your contemporary Mephistopheles? What kind of wager between protagonist and antagonist might be struck, in your contemporary version, to set the plot in motion? What kind of experiences would you have your Faust undergo, and what would be the impact on your protagonist? What point(s) about human nature and contemporary life would you try to dramatize through your 2000 version of Faust?

6. Thesis focus: Understanding the narrative structure of Wuthering Heights
Method & Development: Describe the "narrative frame" established by the double narrators Lockwood and Nelly Dean in Bronte’s novel. Explain why you think Lockwood is given the first and last words framing the narration of the novel. Explain the reason(s) why you think Emily Bronte created Nelly Dean as the principal narrator of this story. In so doing, analyze specific examples from Dean’s narration that best demonstrate how Nelly Dean influences readers’ responses to the characters and actions portrayed in Wuthering Heights.

7. Thesis focus: Understanding and applying the concepts of protagonist, conflict, and antagonist in the novel.
Definitions: Protagonist is usually defined as the chief character in a literary work, the one on whom the reader’s interest centers (and a "mixed" character in realistic novels). Plot, in Western narratives, generally turns on conflict, and the chief conflict is generally presented as a struggle between the protagonist and an antagonist—which may take the form of an opposing character, opposing desires/values within the protagonist him/herself, and/or a battle against fate or other external circumstances that stand between the protagonist and her/his goal(s).
Method & Development: Given these definitions, identify the protagonist(s), major conflict(s), and antagonist(s) in Wuthering Heights. Explain and support your choices, and offer specific illustrations from the novel. Also consider the outcome of the main protagonist-antagonist-conflict you identify: what message or theme do you think Bronte uses the conflict(s) to offer her readers?

8. Thesis Focus: Understanding Wuthering Heights in the literary contexts and traditions of its time.
Method & Development: Do you consider Wuthering Heights primarily as a Romantic or a Realistic work, or both? As you respond to this question, be sure (a) to define the key elements of Romanticism and/or Realism that apply to Wuthering Heights, and (b) to offer specific illustrations from Wuthering Heights to support your interpretation.

9. Thesis Focus: Understanding the character of Heathcliff at a key moment of crisis in the plot of Wuthering Heights.
Method & Development: Imagine you are young Heathcliff sitting out of sight near the fire and chancing to overhear at least part of Catherine’s conversation with Nelly Dean regarding her decision to marry Edgar Linton -- to the point where you can stay to hear no more and then disappear. Adopt the persona of Heathcliff and rewrite that scene in Chapter 9 (pp. 722-725) from Heathcliff’s point of view--perhaps using a 1st person interior monologue--to reveal Heathcliff’s thoughts, motivations, and reactions. Present Heathcliff’s state of mind from the incident just preceding with Hindley and Hareton, record Heathcliff’s emotional reactions to Catherine’s dialogue in light of their past relationship, and clarify just how much of Cathy’s conversation with Nelly Dean that your Heathcliff overhears—at what point he would stay to hear no more. Then use your monologue as Heathcliff to explain his subsequent disappearance and the future plans that will shape his later actions in the novel.

Discussion Paper #2 Topics
See current Eng 109 Course Plan for deadlines. Sample Discussion Papers: StudentWriting

Review the handout "English 109 Discussion Paper Directions." Then choose one of the following topics for Discussion Paper #2.

1. Thesis focus: Defining Nineteenth-Century Literary Realism
Method & Development: Identify and explain 2 or 3 of the defining characteristics of literary Realism which are illustrated in Flaubert’s "A Simple Heart." Bring in to your discussion relevant information about the nineteenth-century historical context to help explain why these characteristics of literary Realism became dominant in the fiction of this period. Illustrate your points by analyzing specific examples from "A Simple Heart."

2. Thesis focus: Interpreting Flaubert’s "A Simple Heart"
Method & Development: As demonstrated in Seminar #2 and the accompanying class handout offering Critical Views of "A Simple Heart," Flaubert’s short story has generated (sometimes sharply) different critical interpretations of its meaning. Identify one or two aspects of Flaubert’s short story which have generated critical disagreement, and briefly summarize key difference(s) in critical interpretations of the selected aspect(s) of the short story. Then present and support your own interpretation of the selected aspect(s) of "A Simple Heart." In so doing, be sure to (a) cite and analyze specific examples from the short story which illustrate/support your interpretation, and (b) explain why you find alternative interpretation(s) unconvincing.

3. Thesis focus: Understanding the narrative structure of Heart of Darkness
Method & Development: Describe and analyze the function(s) of the "narrative frame" of Heart of Darkness. That is, describe the narrative situation on board the Nellie, including the setting, the two narrators, and the fictionalized audience for Charlie Marlow’s tale, as presented in the opening of Conrad’s novel. Consider also the closing of the novel, and those moments in between when Marlow’s tale is interrupted and we are returned to the "narrative present" of the story telling situation on board the Nellie. In analyzing the function(s) of the narrative frame, consider why you think Conrad chose to create this narrative frame for his novel, and what the unnamed Nellie narrator and the other listeners contribute to our understanding of Marlow and the meaning of his tale.

4. Thesis focus: Understanding methods of narration (story telling) in two Eng 109 works of fiction.
Some Definitions: Methods of narration—or the ways that stories are told—can shape readers’ experience and understanding of those stories in important ways. Authors create story tellers, or narrators, to tell their stories. Narrators may be dramatized as characters who participate in and/or witness the stories they tell. Authors may even fictionalize a "narrative frame" or story-telling situation, as in Wuthering Heights and Heart of Darkness. In other cases, as in "A Simple Heart" and Things Fall Apart, the narrator is not characterized, but seems a disembodied "voice" who speaks for the implied author; and the storytelling situations are not explicitly identified. But in all these literary works, narrators control the points of view from which stories are told, narrators act as mediators or filters between us (the readers) and the stories, characters, and events; and thus narrators influence our reading experience and understanding of the stories.
Method & Development: Compare the narrators or methods of narration used in two of the following works of fiction: Wuthering Heights, "A Simple Heart," Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart. Limit your discussion to two differences, two similarities, or a combination (e.g. one difference and one similarity), so that you can develop your points in some detail. Choose differences or similarities that seem significant--to understanding of the stories’ meanings and/or the impact of your reading experience. Be sure to explain why/how the differences and/or similarities seem significant. Support your points by analyzing specific examples from the literary works.

5. Thesis focus: Heart of Darkness and "The Second Coming" as Modernist Works
Method & Development: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Yeats’s "The Second Coming" are both identified with the literary movement known as Modernism. Explain why, by identifying at least one Modernist characteristic of Conrad’s novel, and at least one Modernist characteristic of Yeats’s poem. (The Modernist characteristic[s] identified may be the same one[s] or different ones.) Illustrate and explain the selected Modernist characteristic(s) by analyzing specific examples from the literary works. (Limit the number of Modernist characteristics you address so that you can develop your points in some detail.)

6. Thesis Focus: Understanding Marlow’s relationship with Kurtz in Heart of Darkness
Method & Development: Use your discussion paper to explore and try to better understand the nature of Marlow’s relationship, or the reason(s) for his feeling of kinship, with Kurtz. Identify and analyze two or three key passages in the novel which seem to "shed a kind of light" into the nature of that relationship and/or Marlow’s feeling of kinship with Kurtz. Then consider how your interpretations might contribute to a better understanding of the ending or overall meaning of the novel.

7. Thesis Focus: Exploring the continued relevance of Heart of Darkness for our times
Method & Development: (Re)View the videotaped version of Apocalypse Now!, film director Frances Ford Coppola’s 1979 adaptation of Heart of Darkness, reset during the Vietnam War. Coppola’s film implicitly proposes that key aspects of Conrad’s novel are still relevant to parallel situations of the later 20th century, like the American involvement in the Vietnam War. Test this proposition in Discussion Paper #2. Identify two or three aspects of Heart of Darkness that you recognize at work in Apocalypse Now! Explain and illustrate how the identified aspects of Conrad’s novel are adapted to the Vietnam War-era story of Capt. Willard’s mission. In so doing, consider whether your comparison of the selected parallel elements in Conrad’s novel and Coppola’s film (a) has helped you understand one or both of these works better, and/or (b) has convinced you that Heart of Darkness still has something relevant to say to us in the late 20th century.

8. Thesis Focus: The Empire Writes Back to the West: What Things Fall Apart has to teach Western readers
Background: Achebe has himself described his purposes in writing works such as Things Fall Apart—e.g., in the videotaped interview with Bill Moyers we saw in class, and in published essays excerpted in the Things Fall Apart Study Guide handout. In another essay "Image of Africa," Achebe has publicly accused Heart of Darkness of being racist, and of helping to create and reinforce Western racist stereotypes of black Africa and Africans. Thus, Things Fall Apart can be approached as one (and very influential) example of the colonized "Empire" writing back to the West: to "correct" reductive Western racist stereotypes, and to educate Western readers with an insider’s view of a traditional African culture and people like the Igbo. Black Africans are "people, just people," neither "angels" nor "devils," Achebe states in the Moyers’ interview; he urges the West to "listen to the weak."
Method & Development: Use the references in above introduction to help you summarize key writing purpose(s) that Achebe says he wanted to achieve with international/Western audiences in writing Things Fall Apart. Then use your discussion paper to respond to the following questions. (1) How has your reading of Things Fall Apart corrected any stereotypes you may have held about Africa and Africans, and/or educated you about Igbo culture and people from Achebe’s indigenous insider’s perspective? And (2) what of value can a Western reader (like you, and like the rest of us in Eng 109) learn from reading Things Fall Apart—or as Achebe put it, from "listen[ing] to the weak"? Support your points by citing and analyzing specific passages from Things Fall Apart.

9. Thesis Focus: Understanding the protagonist Okonkwo and his people in Things Fall Apart
Method & Development: Analyze the character of Okonkwo and interpret the reason(s) for his downfall and eventual suicide. In the process, review the defining features of European tragedy and the tragic hero as explained in Study Guide handout on Things Fall Apart, and respond to this question: To what extent does Achebe seem to follow the Western formula for tragedy and the tragic hero in depicting the protagonist Okonkwo and his downfall in the novel?

10. Thesis Focus: Understanding how/why "Things Fall Apart" for traditional Igbo culture and its people
Method & Development: Achebe’s novel tells not only the individual story of Okonkwo, but also the collective story of how/why "things fall apart" for traditional Igbo people and their culture. Adopt the persona of Obierika, a "man who thinks about things"—a man who can recognize some weaknesses in his own culture and in his friend Okonkwo, as well as the destructive effects of the coming of the white man to Igboland. Review Obierika’s known speeches in the novel to understand how he might explain why "things fall apart." Then dramatize Obierika’s explanation in a first-person monologue, trying to imitate his "African English" voice..

Discussion Paper #3 Topics
See current Eng 109 Course Plan for deadlines. Sample Discussion Papers: StudentWriting

Review the handout "English 109 Discussion Paper Directions." Then choose one of the following topics for Discussion Paper #3:

1. Thesis focus: Understanding creative responses to human crises & war
Method & Development: Interpret one or two of the following World War II era literary works as creative responses to their historical/human contexts in times of war and crises: Akhmatova’s Requiem, Wiesel’s "The Death of My Father," Takenishi’s "The Rite." Establish the historical context/human crisis to which the work(s) respond(s). Then analyze the theme(s) and/or literary form(s) of the work(s) as creative responses to that context/crisis. Be sure to support your points with specific examples from the literary work(s).

2. Thesis focus: Continuity and/or Change in Twentieth-Century Literature
Method & Development: As they create ways to express contemporary experiences, twentieth century authors respond to past literary traditions, whether they choose to continue, break from, or recombine in new ways elements from past literary movements. Interpret one or two of the following literary works as illustrating continuity and/or change compared to past literary traditions/movements/works we have studied in English 109: Akhmatova’s Requiem, Wiesel’s "The Death of My Father," Takenishi’s "The Rite," Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis," Garcia Marquez’s "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," Kundera’s "The Hitchhiking Game." Demonstrate how the chosen literary work(s) draw(s) upon elements of Romanticism, Realism, and/or Modernism to express later 20th century experiences.

3. Thesis Focus: Why Study Western World Literature?
Method & Development: What has been the value for you—as an individual and a student of Western world cultures—in studying Western world literature this term? Respond to this thesis question using two literary works from two different literary periods that we have studied this term. Choose works which you found most meaningful or significant, and be sure to explain why and analyze how these works have made English 109 valuable for you.

4. Thesis Focus: Women (Re)Writing Western World Literature
Method & Development: Choose two works by women writers that we have studied this term: e.g. Wollstonecraft’s Introduction to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Chopin’s "Story of an Hour," Woolf’s excerpt from A Room of One’s Own, Akhmatova’s Requiem, Takenishi’s "The Rite." Analyze themes and/or perspectives representative of women’s experiences in the selected works, and consider how Western world literary traditions benefit from including such women’s voices.

5. Thesis Focus: Understanding Literary Genre
Method & Development: Compare similarities and/or differences in the form of two literary works from the same literary genre to arrive at a better understanding of the possibilities of a Western literary form. You may choose to focus on:

  1. Short Stories: Flaubert’s "A Simple Heart," Chopin’s "Story of an Hour," Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis," Takenishi’s "The Rite," Garcia Marquez’ "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," Kundera’s "The Hitchhiking Game."
  2. Autobiography/Memoir: Equiano’s excerpt from The Interesting Narrative . . . and Wiesel’s "The Death of My Father."
  3. Poetry: Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, and Akhmatova’s Requiem

Identify core similarities of the two works to establish why they are both classified as "short story" or "autobiography/memoir" or "poetry." Also consider one or more significant differences in the two works which suggest the flexibility and diversity of the genre.

6. Thesis Focus: Interview with the Author(s)
Method & Development: Script an imagined interview with one or two of the authors we have studied this term. Choose author(s) of literary work(s) that have intrigued you, and use your imagined dialogue with the author(s) to explore key points of interpretation and/or critical disagreement of the literary work(s) in question. Draw upon background material on the author(s) and work(s) to help you bring them to life. Use the fictionalized interview to help you and others better understand the literary work(s) and author(s).


Extra Credit Options
As announced in class on Wed., 4/7/99 . . . .plus some more mentioned since then....
You can bolster your Eng 109 course grade by up to 3% @ "A" by doing up to 5 extra credit assignments/activities,
an endeavor that would be helpful to students whose grades are on "borderlines"

1. We decide upon an appropriate source related to English 109 course themes, periods, & other content - Cora's suggestions so far:

2. You write up at least a one-page report on the English 109-related source that you consulted, which includes:

3.  TWO READING EXTRA CREDIT OPTIONS:  Read one of the two other reading selections (other than the required Flaubert) originally assigned for Wed., 4/21 (see also Engl 109 Course Plan), but which we won't have time to study in class.  Then write a one-page response to the discussion topic on that reading given below:

NEED HELP WITH WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

E-mail Cora with questions: cagatucci@cocc.edu

English 109 SyllabusCourse PlanLinks

Cora'sClasses

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