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EN2201 Final Essay Assignment

The length of the final essay is 1700-1800 words. At the end of your essay, indicate the
“word count” for your essay. If you need an extension of the word limit, you can have an
extension to 2000 words. You do not need to ask me for this extension to 2000 words. If you
need an extension beyond 2000 words, just drop me a simple email me to ask (I will most
likely agree if it is not excessive, say, up to 2200 words).

You should present your essay in MLA format. You can follow either the 7th or 8th edition of
the MLA Handbook. For the 7th edition, see MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
(available in the RBR; catalogue no: LB2369 Gib 2009). For the 8th edition, see either the
Purdue OWL website (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/) or MLA
Handbook (available in the RBR; catalogue no: LB2369 Gib 2016).

As with the midterm essay, your final essay should incorporate at least two secondary
readings.

Use 12-point font and double-spacing. Times New Roman font is preferred.

Give your essay a title. You can give a clever or witty title 

Do feel free to consult me about your essay.

The essay is due by midnight on 29 April, Friday (i.e. Friday midnight). Submit your essay
by uploading it into the submission folder on Luminus.

For every two days of lateness, your essay will be penalized by half a grade. For example, an
essay that gets an original grade of A-/B+ will drop to a final B+ grade after the penalty.
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Essay question

Important note: For the final essay, you are free to formulate your own topic, while
adhering to the guidelines below.

1) For the final essay, you can do any of the following:

a) Greek texts
If you are writing on a Greek text, you must compare it with another text in the module.
In other words, you cannot write on just a single Greek text alone (for example, you
cannot write on just Oedipus the King alone).
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You can compare (say) Odyssey with the Abraham story, or Oedipus the King with John.
Or you can compare Odyssey with Oedipus the King.

b) Biblical texts

If you are writing on the Biblical texts, you can write on just a single Biblical text.
Specifically, this means that you can write on any one of the following:

Gen. 1-11
The Abraham story
The Jacob story
John

You can also compare the Biblical text with another Biblical text or with another Greek
text.

For example: comparing the Abraham story with the Jacob story; or comparing the
Abraham story with Oedipus; or comparing the Jacob story with the Odyssey; or
comparing John with Oedipus.

Note that when you discuss, for example, Gen. 1-11 or John, you can focus on certain
segments within these texts only. You (obviously) do not have to write on all of Gen. 1-
11 or all of John.

c) The Flannery O’Connor short stories

You can write your essay on the O’Connor stories. Your essay needs to be on two
O’Connor stories. The essay questions on O’Connor are at the bottom of this document.

It is also possible to write on one O’Connor story and one other text from the module, e.g.
one O’Connor story and Oedipus the King. Recall that, like Oedipus, O’Connor is also
interested in fate (i.e. mystery), violence and enlightenment.

Important Note: For this semester, I am allowing students to write on just one O’Connor
story. If you wish to do this, you should email me to briefly discuss your essay with me
before you proceed.

2) You are asked to formulate your own argument for the essay. This means that your
essay must present an argument about the text(s) you have chosen.

Suggested topics are given further below.

As with the midterm essay, your final essay will be assessed on the following qualities:
originality, insightfulness, depth, substantiality and/or thoughtfulness. Having a few of
these qualities will make your essay a strong one.

Further points to note

3) I hope that you are now aware that an argument is not a loose listing of related points.
Rather, all the points in the argument should be well integrated together; further, they
should all relate to the main argument you are making. Take a look at the sample essays
in the workbin to see how these essays present a single cohesive argument.

4) The Odyssey, Genesis and John are all “big” texts. When you write on them, you do not
need to cover the entire text! You can choose just one aspect of the text to write on.

For example, you can write an essay that compares the climax of the Abraham story and
the climax of the Jacob story.

Or you can write an essay that mainly explores how the opening prologue of John re-
writes the creation story in Genesis, and the implications of this re-writing.

5) If you are writing on the Biblical texts, please note that you should not be presenting a
“standard” or routine argument you have heard at church. Rather, your discussion of the
Biblical text should show a sense of how you are reading, analysing, working through and
engaging with the Biblical text (in contrast to imposing a standard, pre-given argument
about the text). If you run into questions with regard to this matter, just email me to
check.

Here are some possible topics to consider:

Below I am just giving you suggested topics. It is understood that for whichever question
you choose, you need to formulate your own specific argument. If necessary, you can
discard the “question” below after you have formulated your argument (i.e. the questions
here are just a way to help you formulate your essay argument.)

Also, note that I have marked out the suggested essay questions that I feel have
more potential using three asterisks (***). In the past, students have written good
essays based on these questions. But do go ahead to consider also the other questions or
formulate your own topic.
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Questions on the Abraham story

6) Write an essay that relates Abraham to the ideas of humanity, heroism and/or totality.

7) Write an essay on totality in the Abraham story, drawing upon other segments of Genesis
if it is helpful.

8) Write an essay that examines the importance of Gen. 22 (the sacrifice of Isaac) in the
Abraham story.

Questions on the Jacob story

9) “Spirituality is not just about the otherworldly realm.”

Write an essay that explores how the Jacob story invites one to consider the Abrahamic
covenant in relation to the physical and/or human realm(s). You may further wish to
relate your discussion to any of the following: the body; human agency; begetting;
community; the nation; totality. (Of course, you need to present a specific argument for
this essay.)

Questions on Genesis

10) Write an essay that focuses on the idea of begetting in Genesis.

11) Write an essay that examines the idea of totality in Genesis.

12) ***Write an essay that discusses how the Abraham and Jacob stories in Genesis
complement or relate to each other.

13) ***Compare the Abraham and Jacob stories in terms of human agency and man’s
relationship with God. For instance, can Abraham also be said to “wrestle” with God?
Which character’s “wrestling” strikes you as more tremendous? How does God relate to
man in these two stories?

14) Write an essay that discusses any one or more of the following in any one or two stories
in Genesis: human agency; humanity; heroism.

Questions on any Biblical text

15) “In Hebraism, God and man too are partners.” Discuss with reference to one or two
Hebraic texts.
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16) “Hellenism may thus actually serve to further the designs of Hebraism.” (Matthew
Arnold)

Explore how a selected Hebraic text actually accommodates or needs “Hellenism.” (You
may, for instance, argue how Hebraism and Hellenism are interdependent. Or how
Hellenism exists in a Hebraic text.)

Questions that involve comparison of texts

17) A comparison of God’s relationship with man in one Greek text and one Biblical text.
(For example, is there “partnership” between man and God in Hellenism and Hebraism,
and how do these “partnerships” compare?)

18) “While Hellenic texts have a central focus on humanity, it is the Hebraic texts that
arguably offer a more authentic and convincing conception of humanity.” Discuss.

(This question invites you to look at humanity in one Hellenic and one Hebraic text.)

19) A comparison of human agency in the two Greek texts, or in one Greek text and one
Biblical text.

***For example, you can compare human agency in Oedipus the King and the Abraham
story.

20) Write an essay that compares epic heroism and tragic heroism in the Odyssey and
Oedipus the King.

21) Write an essay that compares the Odyssey and Oedipus the King as communal texts.

22) In his essay, Auerbach observes how, in both Homer and Genesis, the representation of
the everyday is integrated with the sublime. Nevertheless, he argues how this integration
is more profound and extensive in Genesis than in Homer (see p. 22). Of Old Testament
narrative, he comments: “The sublime influence of God here reaches so deeply into the
everyday that the two realms of the sublime and the everyday are not only actually
unseparated but basically inseparable” (22-3).

Use some of Auerbach’s thoughts as the basis to discuss the representation of the
everyday and the sublime in Homer and/or Genesis. For instance, is there the implication
that Genesis is socially-speaking more “democratic” compared to the Odyssey?

23) ***Compare the use of irony in John and Oedipus the King.
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Questions on John

24) “Revelation is therefore never ‘complete.’ One does not collect the requisite information
about God and then go on to live one’s Christian life accordingly. Rather, Jesus’ self-
revelation is his ongoing and progressive opening to his disciples of his own inner life,
the life of divine filiation, which is infinite in its depth and breadth and richness.” (Sandra
Schneiders 49)

Discuss this statement in relation to John.

25) Write an essay that examines the idea of totality in John.

26) Write an essay that discusses the trope of “the word” in John.

27) “John’s gospel might well be called ‘the gospel of the deeper meanings.’” (John Gabel)

Write an essay that discusses this statement in relation to John.

28) “And the Word became flesh . . .” (John 1.14)

John is a text that contains a multitude of signs. Write an essay that examines this key
aspect of John and include a discussion of how the text’s galaxy of signs might be geared
towards the reader. If you wish, you can consider the quotation above.

29) “[T]hese are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20.31)

Write an essay that discusses the idea and image of “life” in John, possibly examining this
image in relation to other images and symbols in the text.

30) Is it useful to consider “human agency” in relation to John? Write an essay that focuses
on human agency in John. You could look at the relation between divine revelation and
human agency, the idea of a partnership between God and man in the text, as well as how
human agency is exercised in relation to the diegetic characters and the reader of the John
text.
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31) Lastly, this is not an essay question but just Culpepper’s quotation on sacramentalism.
You may wish to consider if this quotation is useful for your essay on John.

“Paradoxically, however, the symbols drawn from ‘this world’ (below) show that it is not
inherently evil or opposed to the realm above. There is a profound relationship between
symbolism in John and its affirmation that Jesus is the logos, the creative agency. The
creation is inherently good, and the created order eminently suitable for revealing the
nature of the creator. As Erich Auerbach observed in another context, ‘ . . . the two realms
of the sublime and the everyday are not actually unseparated but basically inseparable.’
This affirmation, as it is reflected in John, is the gospel’s most profound sacramentalism.
Everything in the world is capable of ‘re-presenting’ the realm and the reality of its
creator” (Culpepper 200-1).

A final note on John: Remember that you need to do the Culpepper and Scheniders readings
on John in the coursepack.
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EN2201 Flannery O’Connor: Essay Questions

1) Write an essay that compares a story by O’Connor with any other text in the module,
making sure that your essay presents an argument based on your comparison. If you
wish, you can relate the two texts instead of comparing them.

***For instance, you can consider comparing “The River” (or another suitable O’Connor
story) and Oedipus the King. Both stories are concerned with (redemptive) violence, human
agency, the influence of the divine (gods or God) and mystery.

Oedipus was a favourite text of O’Connor 

***You can also consider writing on mystery in one O’Connor story and John. Mystery and
the anagogical are present in both O’Connor and John.

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Note: The questions below are on O’Connor’s stories. All the questions require you to
discuss two stories by O’Connor. You can compare your selected stories or relate them to
one another. Your essay must also present a single integrated argument regarding your
selected stories.

2) “O’Connor’s work plumbs the depths of mystery—which she defined as ‘the Divine
life and our participation in it’” (Ralph Wood 7).

With or without reference to this statement, write an essay on “mystery” in two stories
by O’Connor, making sure that your essay presents an argument on this subject.

Note that you can also conceive “mystery” in other senses, e.g. as a puzzling event
that provokes thought from the reader.

3) O’Connor writes: “All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is
not very willing [or able] to support it, but most people think of the stories as hard, hopeless,
brutal, etc.” (qtd. in Richard Giannone).

With or without reference to this statement, discuss the idea or portrayal of grace in
two stories by O’Connor, making sure that your essay presents an argument on this
subject.
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4) Discuss how any two stories by O’Connor engage with evil, making sure that your
essay presents an argument on the subject of evil in these stories.

5) With reference to two stories, discuss O’Connor’s engagement with the child and/or
family relations, making sure that your essay presents an argument related to children and/or
family relations.

Note that family relations can, for instance, refer to the relationship between a parent
and a child.

6) Discuss how any two stories by O’Connor engage with the body, violence and/or the
grotesque, making sure that your essay presents an argument on this subject/these subjects.

7) Finally, you can also write an essay that compares or relates any two O’Connor
stories of your choice, formulating your own argument for these stories. However, if you do
this, you must first clear your argument or topic with me. (Just drop me a quick email, for
instance.)

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