Usher Case

Eng 1120 Y Short Essay

Short (Second) Essay Due Wed. March 14, 20% at the end of class

Long (Final) Essay Due March 30 30% at the end of class

For the Pot Assignment. Due a week after we take the work up in class 5%, see Sign-up sheet for exceptions.

Final Exam 30%

Short Essay guidelines: 20% (15% Content and Style. 5% Mechanics: good title and title page, proper use of quotations, Works Cited page, pagination, thesis underlined.)

(800 words) words, 2 pages, excluding title page and Works Cited Page

Double-spaced 12 font Times New Roman.

No e-mail submissions.

This essay is based on a close reading of a text. Your essay will be graded using the following criteria: content (the clarity of the thesis, the soundness of the arguments, details from the text used to substantiate your arguments), style (written expression including clarity, grammar, syntax and diction), and mechanics (which includes the proper use of quotations).

All Faculty of Arts Regulations apply to this assignment, including regulations on plagiarism and academic fraud.

You must have a title page, page numbers in the top right hand corner, and a Works Cited Page (even if it includes one text).

You MUST underline your thesis.

Note: Choose one of the topics below or create a topic that interests you and your essay will be interesting! Create a dynamic thesis; it's the "engine" of your paper. See #15 if you want to devise your own topic. You cannot write on the same work as you did in the "For the Pot" assignment.

Second Note: Your final essay must be on either "Heart of Darkness" or Jane Eyre. If you choose "Heart of Darkness" for your short essay, then you cannot write on it again for your long essay.

1) Art and evil in "The Fall of the House of Usher."

2) "The Fall of the House of Usher"--crime in the making.

3) Phantasmagoria in "The Fall of the House of Usher." (Phantasmagoria means "a fantastic sequence of haphazardly associative imagery, as seen in dreams or fever. A constantly changing scene composed of numerous elements. Fantastic imagery as represented in art.)

4) Life as it is and life as if should be in "The Death of Ivan Ilych."

5) "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible."

A reflection on this, the opening statement of Section 11 in "The Death of Ivan Ilych."

6) The role and character of Ivan's Ilych's wife in "The Death of Ivan Ilych."

7) The individual and social norms in "The Death of Ivan Ilych."

8) Marlow's inner journey and how it is shaped by his experiences in the jungle.

9) Cannibalism in "Heart of Darkness."

10) Adoration and moral culpability in "Heart of Darkness."

11) The jungle and its influence in "The Heart of Darkness."

12) Kurtz and the natives.

13) "The horror! The horror!" Discuss.