English
11 -- "Global" Novel
Fall
2001
Amardeep
Singh
Paper
#1
Due
Wednesday, September 26
Length:
4 pages, double-spaced
Topics:
1.
Why
do people go out, into the world? How
does the act of leaving home and traveling to distant horizons help a person
define him or herself? Is it an escape from one's responsibilities or something
else? What does traveling have to do with concepts like imperialism and
colonialism? In either Heart of Darkness or
Dark Princess (but not both), explore
the protagonist's use of traveling as a vehicle for self-definition. I strongly
encourage reference to one or more of the keywords we have begun to talk about
in the course. Since both Marlow and Matthew Towns have relationships of one
sort or another to imperialism, think about how their respective voyages of
self-discovery might relate to this political dimension.
2.
Open
topic. If you follow this route, keep in mind that your paper must respond
substantially to one of the two novels we have read (preferably not both).
Moreover, I would strongly encourage you to keep in mind the primary issues we
have discussed in the course so far. Here are a few suggestions in skeletal
form:
--Civilization/Savagery. How are these two terms
defined in Conrad's novel?
--European Racism vs. the "darker
peoples." Is the reverse 'racialism' in Dark Princess empowering? Or is it a mistake?
--Is Dark
Princess a sexist book? How does the theme of gender in the novel overlap
with its critique of racism?
--Are the women in Heart of Darkness really "out of it," as Marlow suggests
at one point? What is the meaning of the two women characters in the novel?
--Worldliness/Globality. Images of the
"whole" world are important in both of these novels, but in quite
different ways. What is the nature of the image of the world in Conrad or
DuBois?