Literary Analysis and Criticism Final Paper Assignment
Write a four-to-five-page paper (1000 to 1250 words, double-spaced, in MLA format) on one of the topics listed below. You must include a bibliography of the works cited in your essay. General reminders: present a strong, original thesis based on your reading of the texts (or film) and demonstrate the validity of your claim by providing direct evidence from the works in question (use textual evidence to support your claims instead of citing your own life-experience).
Also, provide appropriate page numbers for all quotations or background descriptions of specific passages, and include a works cited page to your paper (refer to the MLA Handbook for guidance on how to do both). If you choose to consult secondary sources from the
Library or Internet, you must cite them appropriately.1) Freud’s “The Uncanny” and Hoffmann’s “The Sandman”: Reread Freud’s “The Uncanny” and Hoffmann’s “The Sandman” taking the following questions into consideration: What is “the uncanny” and how does it function in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short story “The Sandman”?
What explanation does Freud give for his emphasis on eyes and how do eyes, or vision, function in Hoffmann’s story? What implications does the story’s focus on vision have in terms of the act of reading the story itself? In other words, how do Hoffmann’s words in the story manipulate the reader’s vision?
2) Gender, Race and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: rescreen Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and reread Judith Butler’s “The Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire” and Frantz Fanon’s “The Negro and Recognition” taking the following questions into consideration: In what sense and on what grounds does Butler call gender a “performative” and Fanon call “the negro” a “comparison”?
How do these issues of gender and race arise in Scott’s Blade Runner, even if only implicitly? What does this film suggest about human subjectivity when it is rendered almost indistinguishable from an automaton (i.e. the replicants)?