Topics for Final Paper, Module 2

Having reached the end of the term, and finished all other requisites, you are now ready to write the final paper for Module 2. Below you'll find a list of possible topics. In all cases, considering you're close to the end of your undergraduate career, in most cases we have asked for comparative essays: you will choose one of the texts we read in class, and then you will read extensively another one, which suits comparison with the intensive reading. "Promocionales" will choose one topic; "No promocionales" will choose 2.

The final paper should cover 3-5 pages, 1.5-space; Times New Roman/Arial 11. In all cases, you should make reference to the texts through quotations. You may consult critical bibliography, as long as you acknowledge the sources. Try not to use gradesaver or sparknotes, but more academic sources instead, which can be found in www.googlescholar.com
You may consult a dictionary of literary terms if you feel you need it. There is one in the library, in Spanish, whose SID (Sistema Integrado de Bibliotecas UNCuyo, www.sid.uncu.edu.ar) file I have copied here; there are others, in English, on line.
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ubicación: 155-5A Ref D
autor: Ayuso de Vicente, María Victoria; García Gallarín, Consuelo; Solano Santos, Sagrario
título: Diccionario de términos literarios
fecha de publicación: 1997
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Absolutely no plagiarism will be allowed (if it is detected, there will be no chance to write a second version).

The papers will be accepted ONLY IN PRINT (not via e mail). You may bring them to office 226 on Wednesday, August 8th, before 10 a.m. No papers will be accepted AFTER that time and date. If you cannot come on Wednesday, you can leave them BEFORE in the box for American and British Literature. The second paper, for No Promocionales, is due a week later (Wed. August 15th) same time, same place.

We hope you have enjoyed the Modules, and hopefully this will be the beginning of a lifelong relation with literature that will enlighten your existence and free your midns and souls! Nothing better to wish this than Emily Dickinson's words, which we read in her poem:

He ate and drank the precious Words --
His Spirit grew robust --
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was Dust --

He danced along the dingy Days
And this Bequest of Wings
Was but a Book -- What Liberty
A loosened spirit brings --


TOPICS FOR FINAL PAPER

- Analyse deeply the symbol of the fish (marlin) in The Old Man and the Sea, by Hemingway.
- How does Faulkner build and present contrasting characters and social worlds in As I Lay Dying and "Barn Burning"?
- Compare and contrast the role of Nature in The Old Man and the Sea and "The Short and Happy Life of Francis Mc Comber" By Hemingway.
- Analyse in depth the type of society Fitzgeral presents in "Babylon Revisited" and The Great Gatsby.
- Analyse the theme of WAR porttrayed in Bierce's short stories: "Two Military Executions" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
- Compare the protagonits' feelings ad reactions to war and what society expects from them in "How to Tell a True War Story" by O'Brien and "Soldier's Home" by Hemingway.
- Prepare a compilation of 10 (ten) poems by any of the authors included in the anthology of contemporary poets we saw in class. Study the 10 poems in depth and write about the author's main themes and style.
- How does Amy Tan deal with the issue of identity in "Half and Half" and "Two Kinds"? (you may read this other chapter from The Joy Luck Club in http://www.angelfire.com/ma/MyGuardianangels/index9.html (remeber to click on "Next" after each page; the story covers several pages)
-Read the poems "Indian Boarding School: The Runaways" and "Family reunion" by Louise Erdrich, and compare the treatment she makes of the issues of family bonds and ethnic identity in these texts and in "The Red Convertible". You may read the poems in http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/louise-erdrich