Culminating Activity Topics English 4U1 This is a complete and extensive list of possible ENGLISH 4U1 Culminating Activity Topics. Availability and suitability of the topic is up to the individual teacher s discretion. 1. By referring to two plays (one play can be chosen from plays already studied), illustrate Shakespeare s portrayal of evil characters. Are they entirely cruel, lacking the common feelings of humanity? 2. Discuss the role and treatment of women in two Shakespearean plays. (One play may be chosen from plays already studied.) 3. Discuss the dramatic function of minor characters in Shakespearean drama. Refer to at least two plays, one of which may have already been studied. 4. Discuss the role of the supernatural in any two of Shakespeare s plays. (One play may be chosen from plays already studied). 5. Apply Aristotle s writings on the literary convention of tragedy in drama to one Shakespearean play. 6. Illustrate and discuss the use of the appearance vs. reality motif in Romeo & Juliet and in one other Shakespearean play. The choice of this play may be one already been studied. 7. Illustrate and discuss the technique of humour in Shakespearean drama. Refer to two of Shakespeare s plays to determine the nature and purpose of the humour. (One play may have already been studied.) 8. Read N. Frye s Archetypes of Literature about archetypal patterns in literature. Analyze the use of archetypal patterns in one Shakespearean play in light of Frye s criticism. 9. George Orwell wrote an essay entitled Politics and the English Language in 1946. Two years later, he published 1984, a novel that translates his concerns about the dangers of political language manipulation into fictional terms. Read 1984. Develop a project that assesses the accuracy of Orwell s prophetic vision. Consider to what extent we live in a world of newspeak.
10. Read Graham Greene s The Heart of the Matter. Using Bertrand Russell s definition of the good life, found in his essay entitled The Good Life, consider Scobie s failure to live or die well. 11. Read James Joyce s Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man. Stephen Daedalus epiphanies help define his quest as an artist. Decide whether the life Daedalus chooses for himself is in harmony with Russell s view of the good life. 12. Leslie-Ann Hales, in her essay Spiritual Longing in Laurence s Manawaka Women, mentions that Dostoyevsky and Margaret Laurence pose deferent but, perhaps related question about spirituality. Read one novel by Dostoyevsky or one by Laurence. According to what is learned in the say, explain the spiritual condition of the protagonist and the validity of the above quote. 13. Read E.M. Forster s The Machine Stops and a major science fiction classic such as A.C. Clarke s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Discuss the writers themes about the effects of technology on the human spirit. 14. Read Aldous Huxley s Brave New World and one of his essays. Explain, through the novel and the essay, how Huxley is concerned with the loss of human values. 15. Read Thoreau s Walden. Would Russell agree that the simplicity Thoreau sought was a key ingredient for the good life? Refer to the novel and the essay The Good Life for proof. 16. Read Leslie-Ann Hales essay Spiritual Longing in Laurence s Manawaka Women and one novel by Margaret Laurence. According to Hales, Laurence s women portray the idea that our relationships with others derive from our views about ourselves and our place in the universe. Argue this idea using the novel and the essay. 17. Trace T.S. Eliot s spiritual quest as it is reflected in one of his poems ( The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Wasteland, Ash Wednesday, or the Four Quartets. ) and in his later work, Murder in the Cathedral. It may be a good idea to consult some biographical information as well. 18. Read one of Albert Camus reflective essays such as The Myth of Sisyphus and one of Margaret Laurence s novels. Analyze the novelists depiction of spiritual needs as reflected in the protagonists and their relationships with the opposite sex.
19. Read Margaret Hatcher s essay Whole Brain Learning and Aldous Huxley s novel Brave New World. The more we know about the human mind, the more possible it becomes to control it. Explore the world of mind control in the essay and in the novel. 20. Read Howard Gardner s essay Review of the Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit and Alvin Tofler s The Third Wave. Analyze the writers views about the impact of technology on the individual and society. Consider the implications for future generations. 21. George Orwell (1903-1950) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) were contemporaries who spent at least some of their lives in Britain working as professional writers. What similarities, if any, do you see in the issues they present? Base your research on Orwell s essay Politics and the English Language and one novel written by Virginia Woolf. You may choose to use Virginia Woolf s essay Professions For Women and one novel written by George Orwell. 22. Read The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1851-1904), an American contemporary of Woolf. In her essay, Professions for Women, Woolf claims that women artists are impeded by the extreme conventionality of the other {male} sex. Weigh the extent to which this factor helps to explain Edna Pontellier s suicide. 23. Read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Woolf s essay Professions for Women. Is Hester s silent acceptance of her punishment a tribute to her character or an indictment of the society in which she lives? Refer to Woolf s essay for support for your answer. 24. Read Hedda Gabler or A Doll s House by Henrik Ibsen. Also read Virginia Woolf s essay Professions for Women. Explore Ibsen s depiction of women in light of Woolf s views found in her essay. 25. Artists sometimes feel alienated from society. Read Woolf s essay Professions for Women and Emily Carr s novel Klee Wyck. Explain the reasons for this alienation as portrayed by Woolf and the isolation and loneliness of Carr s experiences. 26. A theme in Canadian literature is struggle. Read Sinclair Ross s As For Me and My House and One s a Heifer and compare this theme of struggle through each of the protagonists.
27. Read one novel by Emily Carr such as The Book of Small, The House of All Sorts, Klee Wyck, or Growing Pains, and the Forward to Klee Wyck by Ira Dilworth. Using the topics listed here, write an essay explaining its significance. a) The Loneliness of Emily Carr b) The Life of the Female Artist in Canada c) Emily Carr s relationship with Nature 28. Read Jonathan Swift s essay A Modest Proposal and one of his novels. Show how each is a satire of the world as he saw it. 29. Read Farley Mowat s essay Dear Fellow Canadian and one of his novels. Create a thesis which will examine the Canadian identity using both the essay and the novel. ***The Essays listed below are located in the Library. Ask for the English 4U1 Binder at the Circulation Desk. ENGLISH 4U1 ESSAYS INDEX SEPTEMBER 2010
AUTHOR TITLE NO. ARISTOTLE ON POETICS 1 CAMUS, ALBERT THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS 2 DILWORTH, IRA FOREWORD TO KLEE WYCK 3 ELIOT, T.S. TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT 4 FORSTER, E.M. THE MACHINE STOPS 5 GARDNER, HOWARD REVIEW OF THE SECOND SELF:COMPUTERS AND THE HUMAN 6 SPIRIT HALES, LESLIE-ANN SPIRITUAL LONGING IN LAURENCE S MANAWAKA WOMEN 7 HATCHER, MARGARET WHOLE BRAIN LEARNING 8 HUXLEY, ALDOUS SHAKESEARE AND RELIGION 9 HUXLEY, ALDOUS OVER-POPULATION 10 HUXLEY, ALDOUS QUANTITY, QUALITY, MORALITY 11 HUXLEY, ALDOUS OVER-ORGANIZATION 12 HUXLEY, ALDOUS PROPAGANDA IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY 13 HUXLEY, ALDOUS PROPAGANDA UNDER A DICTATORSHIP 14 HUXLEY, ALDOUS THE ARTS OF SELLING 15 HUXLEY, ALDOUS BRAINWASHING 16 HUXLEY, ALDOUS CHEMICAL PERSUASION 17 HUXLEY, ALDOUS SUBCONSCIOUS PERSUASION 18 HUXLEY, ALDOUS HYPNOPAEDIA 19 HUXLEY, ALDOUS EDUCATION FOR FREEDOM 20 HUXLEY, ALDOUS WHAT CAN BE DONE? 21 MOWAT, FARLEY DEAR FELLOW CANADIANS 22 ORWELL, GEORGE POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 23 ROSS, SINCLAIR ONE S A HEIFER 24 RUSSELL, BERTRAND THE GOOD LIFE 25 SWIFT, JONATHAN A MODEST PROPOSAL 26 WOOLF, VIRGINIA PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN 27 FRYE, NORTHROP THE ARCHETYPES OF LITERATURE 28
English 4U1 Resources http://stjb-lib.hwcdsb.ca 1) DESTINY: Brebeuf s Library Catalogue Select: Internet Explorer then Library Resources Library Catalogue 2) Maroon Binder of Essays at the Circulation Desk 3a) Bloom s Literary Reference http://www.fofweb.com/subscription/ Select Databases: Home use: password: brebeuf password: braves b) Literature Resource Centre http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=litrc&u=ko_pl_portal&authcount=1 Select: Databases Select: Gale Home use: Login: trillium (located on the bottom of the Gale list) 4) Reference Collection REF 800 s * Secondary sources and Author Biography 5) Encyclopedias select Britannica Home use: Username: hwcdsb Password: home 6) For proper citation and Works Cited: Select: Library Web Page Select: Inquiry and Research Page MLA Referencing is located there http://citationmachine.net