Download 3 Questions in Suggested Topics Essay 2 | ENGL 301 and more Papers English Language in PDF only on Docsity! English 301-04 Suggested Topics for Essay #2 Below are some suggestions for the first paper. It should run 1500-1800 words, or five full pages in most type fonts, but your chief concern should be to make sure you have an argument, stated in a thesis, developed logically in paragraphs, and supported by evidence from the text(s). This assignment is due in class Tuesday, March 24. There will be no opportunity for a formal revision before your portfolio is due, so plan carefully. Because I require you to pledge your papers, I will not be accepting them electronically. Like Essay #1, this assignment should also produce a close reading, in which you advance an argument that persuades your reader about the way you have interpreted some aspect of our texts. Again, no outside reading is either required or expected. The topics suggested below are just that: suggestions. You are not only allowed, but in fact encouraged to pursue any topic that interests you. Please do run your idea by me before you start writing, though. 1. In his opening monologue, Tom describes Jim as "a symbol." We remember this term from among our Words of the Day back in January. Using, but not abusing, the Bedford's criteria for symbols, test the validity of Tom's claim. For instance, how does Jim compare to the play's more conventional symbols, such as glass, rainbows, the unicorn, roses, and so on? An effective essay is unlikely to recite a litany of symbols or quote at excessive length from the Bedford. Instead, an effective essay will state and develop a compelling argument that helps its reader to understand the play better. 2. Choose a minor character in Hamlet—one who figures in one or two scenes at most—and analyze his or her role. What does this character add? As you know well, your explanation must be arguable. 3. Neither Hamlet nor The Glass Menagerie is a comedy, but both abound with moments, however brief, of comic relief. Choose one brief comic passage—no longer than two hundred lines—and explain how it functions, beyond comic relief.
