English 368 Dr. Campbell Optional Paper 3
Length: 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages (750-1000 words, but can be longer if you wish) or as listed below.
Deadline: November 8. Due in class (paper version) or in Angel by 9 p.m. Note: Be sure to follow the filename conventions and other requirements if you upload a written text. If you are doing a video as part of the assignment, send me the link to it (on Vimeo, YouTube, etc.).
Paper 3 is an optional paper; you don't have to write it. Also, you'll notice that there are creative options for this assignment in addition to the traditional literary studies paper. Since this assignment is optional, if you complete all 3 papers, only the top 2 short paper grades will be counted and the lowest short paper grade will be dropped.
The same basic guidelines apply to this paper: Content is very important, but good organization, sentence structure, and editing skills are also important. Citations and the Works Cited page should follow MLA format. More guidelines for turning in papers in this class are here: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/format.htm. You can find good information on citing sources online here: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch04_o.html
Literary Studies Options.
1. Read another Twain novel, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, or The Prince and the Pauper, and write a paper in which you analyze and compare this novel with one that we've read. You might want to compare the characters of two novels, for example, in light of their bad (or good) choices, or analyze them in light of a theme such as anthropology or evolution.
2. Analyze and compare a story or novel we've read with another related story that we haven't read, such as another novel or story by the same author. For example, The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, and The Custom of the Country all feature female protagonists, but their actions and their fates are quite different.
3. The Glimpses of the Moon is often considered to be a rewriting of The House of Mirth. What parallels do you see? How does the era in which the novel is set affect the outcome, including the happy ending of The Glimpses of the Moon?
4. Look up the original publication context (magazine, etc.) for one of the works we’ve read. What stories surround them? What kinds of advertisements, news, notes, or other information would her original readers have seen in looking at her work? (Note: This and some other topics can be expanded for Paper 4, too.)
5. Choose a novel by another naturalistic author (such as Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets or The Monster) and compare it with one of the novels we’ve read.
5. Analyze in depth a pattern of imagery, symbolism, theme, or feature of one or two works (such as architecture or music).
6. Your own topic.
Creative Options. These options will probably be a little longer than 3-4 pages. As above, you can put your own spin on these ideas, shifting genre and other features as needed.
1. Write a short story in which you rewrite a situation from one of the novels we've read from a different character's point of view. For example, how would Pudd’nhead Wilson be different if told from Tom’s or Chambers’s point of view? Your story should remain true to the basic ideas and some details of the original, but you can invent whatever you need to make an interesting story.
2. Write "brief encounter" story: what would happen if Twain met James Weldon Johnson, Frank Norris, or Edith Wharton, for example? What would their conversation look like? Or what would happen if a character such as Lily Bart or the narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man wandered into McTeague’s San Francisco milieu?
3. Write your own screen treatment and at least one scene from a screenplay in which you envision what a movie from one of the works we've might look like. Along with the screenplay and brief treatment, write a brief (1 page) explanation of why you made the choices that you made, as if you were going to pitch the story to a producer.
4. Write an analysis of a work we've read that has been adapted into a film (Greed and The House of Mirth are two film versions of works we’ve read.) What choices did the director and screenwriter make? How did the film interpret the story's themes visually?
5. Write and illustrate a graphic novel (or extended web comic) using one of the texts we’ve read as your basis.
6. If you are a game designer, design (or plan; you don't have to write the code right now) a game that illustrates or encapsulates the experiences of a novel or a character.
7. Your own topic. You need to check with me before going ahead with this.
