Modern Fiction Final Paper

In a well-written paper in MLA format, write about what you have learned this semester.

Things you may want to consider when writing your essay:
• How do the author’s styles, forms, and themes register the impact of major events and developments of the times?
• How are they informed by changing concepts of the self, the nature of reality, the possibilities of human knowledge, and our place in the universe?
• How did your understanding change about yourself as a literate citizen of the world, as a student of literature, as a person in general?
• How have the books we have read helped to inform you about a given time, culture, concept?
• How has the literature changed you, effected you, pushed you to see something differently?

You need to use at least three novels that we read in class to help demonstrate what you have learned. Use specific examples from the text. You can check the books out with me, but they must be returned on the last day of class. You can also use your journals as a resource.

This paper must be at least three pages, but no more than 6 pages, long. (Think about it as one to two pages per book—although you should integrate the texts within the given point you are addressing.) It must be thoughtfully written and carefully edited. It must be in MLA format. I am very particular about this!

It is due the last day of the semester, but I would appreciate getting it as soon as you are finished writing it. (The sooner you get it turned in, the sooner I read it, the fresher my eyes, and mind, are in grading it.)

God of Small Things Journal Topics

1. Roy says about her book “…my book is not about history but biology and transgression. And the fact is that you can never understand the nature of brutality until you see what has been loved being smashed.” Do you think this true in terms of the book? Of life? Does this statement apply to the whole book or just to some incidents?

2. Various dwellings are important to the unfolding of Roy’s story. How is each described? To what extent does each embody or reflect the forces and burdens of history, social order, and custom?

3. Is Time as destroyer the novel’s most insistent theme? How are the blue Plymouth, the pickle factory, Rahel’s toy wristwatch (which always reads “ten to two”), the children’s boat, and other objects related to this theme?

4. What importance does Roy ascribe to story, storytelling, and playacting, including the Kathakali dances and stories? To what extent is the telling of a story more important than the story itself?