English 220:  Fiction into Film (Fall 2004)

Topics for the out-of-class essay portion of the Final Exam

The final exam consists of two parts, which together will be worth 125 points -- an out-of-class essay and an in-class exam designed to take about an hour to complete.  You may elect to have either part count for 75 points, in which case the other will count for 50 points.  The document you are now reading tells you how to prepare for the in-class portion of the Final.  Be sure, however, to appear for the in-class portion of the exam as well!  (For that, you'll want to exploit the prep sheet for the in-class portion of the final exam.)

The purpose of the out-of-class essay is to demonstrate

  1. that you have a fresh acquaintance with the work of fiction you write upon;
  2. that you can carry through an analysis of how a particular feature of the work (highlighted by its absence or alteration in a film adaptation of that work) contributes to the understanding of the overall theme of the story as a whole; and
  3. that you can present your analysis in a way that is clear and convincing to a reader

For more on the qualities of mind of the reader for whom your essay has to be clear and convincing, see Writing with the Appropriate Reader in Mind.

You may also want to review the detailed and short statements of criteria for evaluating essays.

Format

Your essay should be at least a page long, single-spaced, in 12-point type, with standard 1-inch margins.  (More is welcome, but if you're short of this, you need to figure out how you might extend or deepen what you have.)

In the upper right-hand corner, in a single line, put your name, section, and e-mail address.

Devise an appropriate title for your essay -- one that indicates something about the angle of approach you took to the story, or about what you ended up with.  The following titles, for example, are not appropriate:

Here are a couple of different formats:

an informative noun phrase a title that turns on a subordinating colon
  • The Theme of Lying in Hemingway's "Soldier's Home"
  •  Defense of Authenticity in "Soldier's Home"
  • Krebs' Relations with Women in "Soldier's Home"
  • Nausea and Self-Respect:  The Theme of Lying in Hemingway's "Soldier's Home"
  • Hemingway's critique of American conformism:  coercion and autonomy in "Soldier's Home"
  • Mother, sister, girls:  Krebs' relations with women in Hemingway's "Soldier's Home"

 

A note on titles

Submitting your out-of-class essay:  Deadline / Manner of submission

Your essay is due, at the latest, by 6:30 p.m. on the last day of Finals Week — that is, Friday, December 17 — under my office door (English/Counseling Services Building, Room 127).

Of course I welcome submissions earlier.  For example, you could bring your essay with you when you appear for the in-class portion of the Final Exam.  Or you could slip it under my office door earlier.  (This is better than putting it in my mailbox in the departmental mail room.)  You could even hand it in before Dead Week!

I much prefer that you provide me with a paper copy of your essay.

Topic Options

Recall that there is a study guide for Slaughterhouse-Five and also a 3-part study guide to Heart of Darkness.  You might want to make use of theme in refreshing your acquaintance with the work you write upon.  You can access them either through the links just given or by scrolling down in our list of course materials at K-State Online to the section on Study Guides.

Topic Option One:  the "author" as a character in Slaughterhouse-Five

One of the striking features of the novel is that the author includes "himself" (along with other historical personages — his old war buddy Bernard V. O'Hare, the latter's wife Mary, for example) as a character in the novel, and not only in the opening chapter, but now and then throughout.  One of the striking features of George Roy Hill's film adaptation of the novel (for those who have a prior acquaintance with Vonnegut's original) is that it eliminates this element of the novel.

Explain the various ways in which the author character contributes to the overall meaning of Vonnegut's novel as a whole.  You might conclude your essay with an observation as to whether the film ends up being changed in its overall meaning, or whether it conveys this meaning by some other means.

You'll need to read carefully the opening chapter.  But you'll also need to skim quickly through the novel to locate other places where the author shows up.  Be sure to discuss how what happens in a couple or three of these, and how these connect with the theme of the novel as you see it — something that you won't be able to make clear without referring to other episodes in the novel (where the author is not a presence).

Topic Option Two:  form and theme in Slaughterhouse-Five

The organization of the novel differs sharply from that of a traditional novel.  (In Chapter 1 the author draws attention to some of the characteristics of traditional narrative fiction — the kind he describes himself [at the time] as "a trafficker in.")  When Billy Pilgrim goes to Trafalmadore , he learns (in Chapter 5) about Trafalmadorian art.  (Interestingly, the topic of Trafalmadorian art is never taken up in Hill's film adaptation.)  These works of art are also radically different from traditional Earthling fiction — and in ways that give them some resemblance, at least on the face of things, to Vonnegut's novel itself.

Write an essay in which you explain how, despite superficial appearances, Vonnegut's novel is not a "Trafalmadorian" work of art. 

Suggested strategy:

  1. Summarize in your own words what Trafalmadorian works of art are like in their structure and content.  (You can quote some well-chosen snippets, but don't just copy a chunk.) 
    1. Give an illustration of a Trafalmadorian work of art. 
      • Of course Trafalmadorian works of art could be large-scale (quite extensive) or small scale. Give an approximation of a minimal Trafalmadorian artwork by composing a 4-line "poem" in which each line encapsulates a suitable distinct moment from your own personal history. 
  2. Explain the purpose of Trafalmadorian works of art by showing how these features of form and content relate to the Trafalmadorian world view — that is, to the Trafalmadorians' ideas about how the universe is constructed, and how rational individuals would behave once they become aware of these facts.
  3. Explain what features of Vonnegut's novel seem similar in form to Trafalmadorian works of art.  Be sure to give some illustrations of what you say.  (You should have several.)
  4. Then explain what it is about the content of the novel (the scenes & episodes that find a place in it) that make it deviate from what Trafalmadorians would find acceptable in their works of art.
  5. Conclude by explaining how this connects with Vonnegut's purpose in writing and publishing this novel, according to what he tells Mary O'Hare (Chapter 1).
    • Explain how his dedication of the novel to Mary O'Hare indicates Vonnegut's rejection of the Trafalmadorian world view.  (Important here might also be something at the end of Chapter 4.)
    • You might add your assessment of whether the film invites a viewer to think of the film as a Trafalmadorian work of art, and thus as conveying (how?) a quite different outlook on the catastrophes of history.

Topic Option Three:  the antihero protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five

Here is a definition of the term "antihero":  A protagonist who is lacking in one or more of the conventional qualities attributed to a hero.  Instead of being brave and strong, for instance, the antihero make be weak and cowardly.  The anti hero is often considered an essentially modern form of characterization, a satiric or realistic commentary on traditional portrayals of idealized heroes or heroines.  (Dana Gioa and R.S. Gwynn, eds., The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction. New York:  Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001 [p.1911].).  Gioa & Gwynn go on to point out (p. 1916) that "when a critic terms the protagonist a hero, the choice of words often implies a positive moral assessment."  Note that the attitude that we are invited to adopt toward a particular antihero will depend on the particulars of his or her behavior (action) and personal qualities (character):  amusement, pity, compassion, contempt, scorn, empathy, even grudging admiration  — antiheros are by no means all cut from the same cloth.

The heroic, however, is still very much with us.  It is in fact the staple of Hollywood films, since the box office has discovered its success so importantly depends on the hunger of its clientele for fantasy identification with the protagonist.  (See, for example, Shawn J. Wittmier's "The Archetypal Hero In Modern Mass Media".)

Explain how Vonnegut's characterization of Billy Pilgrim serves what you take to be his purpose in writing the novel.

Suggested strategy:

  1. Show how Billy Pilgrim functions as a sympathetic antihero.  (You should have something to say about Billy in various stages of his life -- at least 3, possibly 4.)
    1. Say to what degree you think Vonnegut invites us to identify with Billy.  (Explain.) 
    2. In what respects does he count on our detachment from him?  (Explain.)
  2. Say what you take to be Vonnegut's purpose in writing this novel.
    • Be sure to explain how the novel invites us to see this.
    • Add any explanation required for your reader to understand how this purpose is served by Billy Pilgrim's being as you've described.
  3. You might conclude your essay by noting how the portrayal of Billy Pilgrim in George Roy Hill's film conveys, or does not convey, the qualities you've stressed in your account of the characterization of Billy in the novel.

Topic Option Four:  upper-class European women in "Heart of Darkness"

Marlow describes a couple of important encounters with two well-off European women —his aunt (instrumental in his getting the appointment as a steamboat captain on the African River [which we identify with the Congo]) and Kurtz's fiancιe (the "Intended"). 

Explain the significance of the scenes in the novella in which Marlow interacts with highly-cultured Belgian ladies.

Suggested strategy:

  1. Describe the beliefs these women hold about the nature of the enterprise in Africa that Marlow finds himself in the middle of.  (A couple of quotations from Marlow's narrative might be in order here.) 
  2. What is Marlow's attitude towards this enterprise?  (Show me in some detail what he thinks of it, with specific reference to the text.) 
  3. What attitudes can we detect on Marlow's part towards these highly cultured ladies?  (Explain.) 
  4. How do you think Conrad invites us to evaluate Marlow's views in this regard?  (Explain.)
  5. If you wish, you could conclude with your thoughts on the way in which one of the film adaptations of the novella either conveys or does not convey an equivalent set of implications about its protagonist.

Topic Option Five:  the role of the frame story in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

Conrad's novella is structured as a story within a story:  Marlow's narrative of his African adventure (including how he got there, and what happened upon his return) is situated within a "frame narrative" by an anonymous hearer of his tale, who tells us of the situation within which it came to be told (along with his own, and presumably his companions', experiences on that occasion).  Certain points in Marlow's narrative are punctuated by returns to this "outside" situation, and the story concludes by returning us to this context as well.  (The study guides — parts 1, 2, and 3 —will offer you some help in locating these quickly.)

Write an essay in which you explain at least two ways in which Conrad's frame story contributes to the overall meaning of Marlow's narrative within the novella as a whole.  For example:  how does it deepen our appreciation of the issues that are involved in colonial enterprises in general? OR:  how does it direct us to understand how this story goes about generating its meaning?

Suggested strategy:

  1. Describe where and when the frame story takes place:  what is the specific occasion for the gathering at which Marlow tells his story?
    • You might also consider what is the natural setting on this occasion.  Is there anything about what this is, as pointed up by the way in which it is described (what's emphasized, and how), that is suggestive of possibly significant themes?
  2. What topics are raised during the conversation that leads to Marlow's narrative?  You should follow at least one of these through in detail.  Here are a couple of possibilities.  You could pick one and develop it in detail.
    1. How do these relate to the judgment of Kurtz that Marlow's narrative will eventually invite us to?
      • At some point, you'll need to provide your analysis of what has led to Kurtz's ending up as he has.  What does Marlow mean when he remarks (in telling of the journey from the middle to the inner station) that "all Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz"?
        • What does this have to do with the theme whether or not a person is equipped with the inner resources to exercise "restraint" (as opposed to being "civilized" by subjection to various forms of "external restraint"), and what factors might conduce to one's developing (or not) these internal resources
    2. What are we to make of the anonymous narrator's description of how Marlow differs from ordinary sailors, and how this relates to the difference between the kind of how the kinds of stories he tells?
      • You'd need to point out some ways in which this actually applies to Marlow's narrative.
    3. What might be the point of the several references (where, exactly?) to Marlow's sitting "apart,...silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha," or like a [particular kind of] "idol"?
      • You'd have to develop some notion of what this "attitude" on Marlow's part entails, and specifically how some specific parts of his experience (related in his narrative) might have contributed to his being capable of adopting, or disposed to adopt, this attitude (this posture signifying a psychological and/or philosophical stance towards something).
  3. If you wish, you could conclude your essay with some remarks on the way in which the overall effect or meaning of one of the film adaptations of the novella is affected by the way it deals with the frame story of Conrad's novella.

Cautions

One of the purposes of this essay is to enable you to demonstrate a fresh acquaintance with the work you write upon.  Remember:  you're writing about the novel, so you've got to illustrate what you say with specific references to the novel.

I encourage you to make use of discussions on the course message boards and other discussions you might be able to arrange with your classmates.  (Remember:  contributions to the message board contribute independently to your final course points.  This is a good opportunity to enhance your ultimate score in the course.)

To make sure you know what this pledge means, consult the explanation at the K-State Honor System site.