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Essay Topics:1. “Rip Van Winkle” is an early work that casts the American woman as the cultural villain. Analyze the character of Dame Van Winkle in the story and discuss the significance Irving attributes to her death. 2. Given that Personal Narrative, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and Walden can be literally classified as autobiography, what are the general chracteristics that make them autobiographical? Are there any similarities and differences in between each? 3. Though alone and lonely, Dickinson is said to have loved intensely. Through a selection of her poems, discuss her treatment of love. 4. Discuss Whitman's poetry as a culmination point in the development of American identity. How does Whitman contribute to the ongoing evolution of self-reliance? of human freedom? of concepts of democracy? 5. Walden is a record of Thoreau's two year experiment of living at Walden Pond, and can be approached from different perspectives. In your understanding, does Walden impress you as a satirical criticism of modern life and living? If it is (or not), use examples from the book to support your argument. 6. “Nature” plays a big role in the works written by Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson and Thoreau. Do they all have the same attitude toward “Nature”? And how is “Nature” handled in each of their works? Please discuss the issue in relation to at least three writers. 7. What views of male-female relations, or family relations, or community relations are reflected in any TWO of the following works, The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, The Portrait of a Lady, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?8. What role does Carrie's unsatisfied desire play in the novel? Consider the nature of the consumer society, the distinction between imitation and the genuine, and the book's portrayal of conventional social attitudes toward women's sexual desire.9. One of the most important themes of the naturalist novels is that nature is indifferent to human life. How does the book you read as The Red Badge of Courage, McTeague or Sister Carrie convey this theme? What are some of its most important symbols? What does it mean for the universe to be “indifferent”? 10. Discuss James's use of geography as an object of symbolism in the novel. How do particular places take on thematic qualities? What symbolic trajectory does James chart, for example, by having Isabel travel from Albany to London to Florence to Rome?11. How does Gatsby represent the American dream in the novel of F.Scott. Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby ? What does the novel have to say about the condition of the American dream in the 1920s? In what ways do the themes of dreams, wealth, and time relate to each other in the novel's exploration of the idea of America?12. What kinds of imagery does Eliot use? How do these sets of imagery change from "Prufrock" to Four Quartets? 13. Critics often discuss Hemingway’s fiction as a celebration of a specific type of manhood. What kind of man does A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea celebrate, and how does Hemingway achieve this effect?14. Compare and contrast the three major narrators of the novel Sound and Fury by W. Faulkner: Benjy, Quentin, and Jason . How are their sections alike? How do they differ? What are the consequences of Faulkner’s decision not to introduce an easily readable chapter until the second half of the novel?15. Discuss the development of Tom Joad as a character in John Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath. How does he grow throughout the book? What effects do Jim Casy's imprisonment and death have on his development?任选一题皆可英语专业的同学们应该有不少写过的吧 拜托借用一下马上就要交了非常感谢ORZ |
