The Research Paper:
For this assignment, please produce an essay that considers at least two of the literary works examined this semester. Unlike past essays, this assignment asks students to support their assertions through academically-based research.
This means students must locate and analyze the opinions of scholars. Sources may include: books, scholarly journals, web-sites, interviews, etc. The essay must include a minimum of three and a maximum of seven secondary sources. Additionally, the essay must include a works cited sheet. Please select ONE of the questions below for your research paper.
1. Throughout the semester we have examined various works that directly or indirectly analyze religion and its function in society. For this essay, please consider how these works portray religion. That is, how do characters interact with religion and how much social importance is assigned to religious ideals? Also, students may want to examine how religion is similar or dissimilar to other institutions of social significance. Finally, what if anything is said about religion and human freedom? Do the two concepts share a symbiotic or antithetical relationship?
2. In one form or another all of the works from this semester analyze the role of hierarchy and power in society. In your essay, examine how select works offer insight into the shape and social role of hierarchy. How does hierarchy afford a group or individual power? Also, please consider why these authors seek to challenge or eliminate a hierarchical existence. What would a world look like without hierarchy and power?
How would such a world change the daily reality of several characters?
3. One does not have read too far into any of the works from this semester to realize that political struggle and authority are central themes. For this essay, critically analyze the value of political struggle and how various characters take different paths toward freedom and personal autonomy. From an early age, many Americans are taught that challenging authority is problematic.
Does conjoining the concept of immoral behavior and resistance to authority (at a micro or macro level) somehow serve the status quo?
Do we think more or less of characters that fight social injustice? Also, students may want to contemplate how some works suggest that not only is authority problematic, but that such figures or institutions often enwrap themselves in a self-protective mask of righteousness.
4. For this essay, please examine the depiction of men and women in the works from this semester. How can their interactions and/or social roles offer insight into the political environment of each text? What opportunities do they share and what duties belong to each specific sex? Why is the world of each work structured in this manner? While the answer may seem obvious, why are the sexes treated so differently? What, if anything, are some authors communicating about sex and its powerful influence on behavior, identity and autonomy?
