English 209: Paper Topic #4

Spring 1999

As I've mentioned in class, I encourage you all to come up with your own topics.  The best way to write is to take on something in which you are interested.

For those who would like some direction, however, I've provided the following topics.  Look to the "tips" from the second paper topic to guide you through the writing of this paper.  As always, feel free to run ideas and questions by me as you write.  And, finally, be sure to give yourself enough time to revise.

Several of these topics are presented as questions -- but do not simply write the paper as an answer to these questions: you still need to come up with a compelling introduction and an argument of your own.  These questions are simply meant to guide you into an argument.  Remember: anchor your readings in close readings of the text.

Invisible Man

  1. Examine two of the narrator's speeches.  How do his speeches clarify his relationship to others and the institutions of which he is a part -- or from which he is excluded?  Do the speeches change?  If so, what do we learn about the narrator from those changes?  As you come to your conclusion, you should say something not only about the speeches you've examined, but speaking -- or language-- more generally.
  2. Examine the prologue and the epilogue of the novel.  In light of the rest of the novel, what do these sections suggest about the future of the Invisible Man?  Why does it matter that the text begins and ends the way it does?
  3. What do you think of Ellison's portrayal of women in the novel?  Does the text seem to make them secondary to men?  Are they to blame for the problems in the Brotherhood, for instance?  You might examine Trueblood's wife and daughter and Sibyl, for instance.  What are the implications of representing women this way?

 
Beloved

  1. Paul D asks Stamp Paid "how much is a nigger supposed to take?" and Stamp Paid answers "All he can" (235).  Paul D says "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" What does Stamp Paid mean?  How is his answer supported by the text?  Is there an answer to Paul D's question provided by the text?
  2. Examine the epigraph of the novel ("I will call them my people, / which were not my people; / and her beloved, / which was not beloved.").  How do these lines from Romans 9:25 illuminate the book?
  3. Can you reconcile the ending of the book -- the last chapter -- with the rest of the book?  What is the text suggesting about storytelling?  What is the significance of telling stories?  Look closely at a few sections where stories are told -- or not told-- and examine what the effects of their telling are.  Then reexamine the ending.  What does the ending suggest about storytelling?