A New World
Final Essay Assignment 12-point font, Times New Roman! Choose one of the following topics to orient your final essay. Refer to the last paper prompt for a general statement on how papers will be evaluated. The topics below are broad on purpose. It will be your task to redefine your thesis as your research progresses, but the topics below are designed to provide a general point of departure. Choose ONE of the following topics. Your first task in developing a paper is to articulate a thesis statement. Your thesis does not necessarily have to address every question included in the topic (better if it doesnt, in fact). Instead, you should use these questions to first motivate your own thesis and then test its scope and focus. Your paper should incorporate AT LEAST THREE (and no more than five) secondary sources.(Must be cited in MLA format) Chosen Topic 3. Mary Shelleys novel Last Man contemplates the possibility of a (human) apocalypse, a moment when humanity might no longer exists on the Earth. What does the novel suggest are the effects on human society, morals and politics when whole societies are forced to confront the possibility of their complete/ imminent collapse? How does the plague described in the novel transform the ideals of the period (i.e. conceptions of democracy, notions of universal humanity etc.)? What consequences does the novel suggest follow from contemplating a landscape without man, an Earth totally devoid of human life? Make sure you ground your interpretation in a close readings of specific passages from the novel. If there are any questions don’t assume just ask me.
