Humanities 202 - Long Essay Option

For those of you chosing to write one 5-7 page paper instead of two 3-4 page papers, I have included a couple extra topics. Of course you can play off of the first two topics offered as well, but because the paper is supposed to be more developed and involved you will have to do a much more thorough analysis of the thesis which you choose.

Please see the paper writing comments at the end of the Short Essay Option page for some tips on how to write effectively.

1. In general terms, the Enlightenment is seen as introducing reason to overcome superstition and advance European society. How do Swift and Voltaire differ on the importance of reason? How do the authors propose limiting reason? Swift and Voltaire write fictional satires about the impact of reason, but Kant, Sieyes and Diderot see reason being applied in practical terms. Is there a relationship between practically applied reason and their depiction in the fictional works? Where does Shelley see the need to limit reason?

2. Gulliver's Travels and Candide are both travel narratives involving a utopian scene - the Houyhnhnms on the one hand and El Dorado on the other. Are they, in fact, utopias? What do the two utopias say about the authors' visions of the nature of man? Are Voltaire and Swift really so far apart? What is the function of the travel narrative in this effort? Related to question two, how does this relate to the problem proposed by the monster in Frankenstein in terms of what makes someone, or something, human?

3. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is seen as being part of the Romantic literary tradition. In what ways does Frankenstein seem to reject the ideas of the French Revolution and the Enlightenment? Can a correlation be made between Burke and Shelley? How does it approach questions such as education, science, family and morality? Are there, in fact, some links between Enlightenment ideas and Shelley's?

4. Shelley's Frankenstein is seen as the progenitor of science fiction and also the debate on the relationship between man and science. How does Frankenstein's message apply to contemporary debates on this relationship? Where does Shelley see limits being placed on science?