Writing Question
Choose ONE topic to discuss:
- Some of the characters from the readings in this unit have withdrawn from life. Write an essay in which you examine the reasons for their withdrawal, the ways in which they withdraw, and the consequences of their withdrawal. Are these characters be praised or condemned for their withdrawal from humanity?
- Some of the readings in this unit include a character who refuses to conform to societal expectations or who rebels against society. Write an essay in which you explore whether the reading suggests that these characters are simply objects of scorn or whether they deserve sympathy and perhaps even respect. Explain how the attitudes and actions of these characters constitute an attack on the status quo. What is being protested? How is the protest being transmitted to the rest of the world? Why is it important? Is this protest contagious?
- Some of the readings in this unit deal with characters who have abdicated responsibility. Write an essay in which you explore the causes and effects of their irresponsibility. Can the reading be construed as a call to social irresponsibility? How so?
- Some of the characters in this unit perceive themselves or are perceived by others as invisible. How are these characters invisible? How do they know that they are invisible to others? What are the effects of this invisibility?
- Some of the readings in this unit contain judgmental narrators. Examine the extent to which the author seems to share or oppose these judgments? Discuss the distance between what the narrators say and what you think the stories themselves say.
- Some of the characters from the readings in this unit conform to societal you characterize the range of these conformities? What do you think are the reasons for this conformity?
- Some of the characters from the readings are alienated by those around them or are perceived as “others.” How does the alienation of the characters contribute to the theme? Does the reading make a powerful and effective case on behalf of the oppressed, or does it support this ostracization? What does the reading say about “difference”?
- Some of the readings address the themes of conformity and rebellion as they relate to work, examining what we do to support ourselves economically. How does the reading make economics a central concern? Can you read the economics behind a reading that implies the issue of work without foregrounding it? How do the characters in the reading feeling about work? How to the readings characterize the role of work in our lives? How do the readings portray the limitations or privileges of social class? Why do the characters in these readings conform to and/or rebel against economic pressures?
- Some of the characters in the readings from this unit are viewed by society as mentally ill or insane. How might it be argued that these characters exhibit the “divinest sense”? Consider both the actions taken by and against the characters and also the behaviors and attitudes of “the people” generally.
- Write an essay in which you examine some of the representatives of established order in the selected reading. Discuss what attitudes they possess and how they effectively function as spokespeople for law and order. Evaluate the kinds of order that each represents.
