For essay 2, you will compare and contrast two works:
1) Brokeback Mountain (either the film or the story)
and
2) either The Great Gatsby or The Tortilla Curtain
Choose ONE of the following numbered topics below.
As with the previous essay, this essay should argue a specific, debatable interpretation on the topic and not be merely a factual survey of that topic.
Compare and contrast the marginalizing of stigmatized group(s) in Brokeback Mountain and either The Tortilla Curtain or The Great Gatsby. How is stigmatizing expressed? What are the “justifications” for this stigmatizing, and what are the consequences?
Compare and contrast how setting has meaning in Brokeback Mountain (rural) and either The Tortilla Curtain (suburban and urban) or The Great Gatsby (East Egg vs. West Egg, the East vs. the “Middle West,” the Valley of Ashes). How do the settings help define the societies and affect the characters in the works?
Compare and contrast how economic factors (jobs, money, and their lack) and class categories affect main characters in Brokeback Mountainand either The Tortilla Curtain or The Great Gatsby. How do these factors offer or restrict opportunities in their lives? Which factors do characters have control over–and which control them?
Analyze main characters in Brokeback Mountain and either The Tortilla Curtain or The Great Gatsby through the lens of toxic masculinityLinks to an external site.. In what ways are characters powered and disempowered via patriarchyLinks to an external site.?
