Film

The test consists of you writing two essay responses to the following themes. Essays should each be approximately 1,500 words, or approximately 3,000 words in total. As you will see, the themes are broad, so a big part of your response involves you creating a clear, specific thesis about your themes and discussing them in relation to two of the works that we have discussed in class. And so, I would like you to discuss two works per essay, and you can choose from the short stories by Zweig, Threepenny Opera by Brecht and The Trial by Kafka. When it comes to Zweig I would like you to discuss a different work for each of the two essays, if you choose to discuss him twice; in other words, you might discuss money and the abuse of power in ‘Fantastic Night’ and Threepenny Opera for one essay, and self-abasement ‘Letter From an Unknown Woman’ and The Trial in another. Those are just examples, but hopefully they suggest the approach that I’m looking for.
Here are the themes:
Power and Powerlessness
Self-confidence and self-abasement
Perspective and Narrative
The Corruption of Society
Love and Hatred
Love and the Abuse of Love
The Role of Class
Morality and Immorality
The Role of Irony
Justice and Injustice
Literature and History
Learning and Failing to Learn from Experience
Again, For example, you might look at the themes of power and powerlessness in The Trial and in “Letter From an Unknown Woman” or you might look at corruption in Threepenny Opera and The Trial, etc. Some of these responses will inevitably become compare and contrast in structure; when it comes to such essays, structure your paper in terms of ideas instead of discussing one work for half the essay and another work for the other half. As with your previous essays, you must use proper essay structure: a clear introductory paragraph that closes with a specific, strong thesis; paragraphs organized around topics that support your thesis and that are structured in a clear, logical way; a sense of transition from point to point; evidence from the text that supports your thesis and/or illustrates your supporting points; and, finally, a strong conclusion. While you do not need to use critical, peer-reviewed material for this exam, I do want you to make use of the primary text for evidence. You are also allowed to cite from the lectures for additional support.