Paper Topics

Hi Everyone,

I will hand out the paper topics tomorrow in class, but I am also posting them here in case you would like to start thinking about your paper this weekend.

Jane

Second Paper Topics

You may write your second paper on Notes from the Underground or on Hadji Murad.
As always, you may choose your own essay topic, but please let me know what it is before the rough draft due date. Your own essay topics may involve comparing.

Length: 1000+ words

Rough draft due date: Monday, November 17.
Final draft due date: Monday, December 8.

Notes from the Underground Topics

1. In the concluding section of Notes from the Underground, the Underground Man writes, “[A] novel needs a hero, and here are purposely collected all the features of an anti-hero, and, in the first place, all of this will produce a most unpleasant impression, because we’ve all grown unaccustomed to life … ” (129). What do you think the UM means by this statement? Do you agree with him? Do you think that the UM characterizes himself appropriately in the novel? (This of this question as a character study of the UM.)

2. Why does the Underground Man reject Liza?

3. What is the relationship between Parts I and II of the novel? How do the Underground Man’s beliefs in Part I reflect his past, described in Part II? What is the effect if the reversed chronology between Parts I and II?

4. Explain how the Underground Man uses symbols and metaphors to put forth his argument about human nature. Focus on several symbols or metaphors, such as “piano keys,” “a stone wall,” “the crystal palace,” “the chicken coop,” “2x2=4,” and “2x2=5.”

Hadji Murad Topics

1. What perspectives on death does the novel present? Use specific examples and analyze passages in your response.

2. How does the novel present Hadji Murad, as a savage and barbarian, as a noble warrior, or as neither? Which characters are foils to Hadji Murad?

3. What is the effect on the reader of the structure the novel uses when it shifts from one setting to another again and again?

4. Does Hadji Murad put forth a moral message? If yes, explain what it is.