Overview
Writing Instructions:
For this Exam Essay, choose one of the possible questions below and prepare a thorough essay of at least 1200 words.
For this assignment , write a well-organized essay that is clearly written with well-polished prose, grammar, and mechanics. Watch the 2 films Apocalypse Now, Directed by Francis Ford Coppola And Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Directed by Werner Herzog (you can see this one for free on YouTube )
You must write on a broad variety of the works assigned for this unit in the essay. Essays that don't reflect these guidelines will be marked down. Make sure your essay has both a strong central thesis around which your essay is focused and well-organized paragraphs that support and develop your main idea. Be as specific as you can when referring to the literature and films, but do not substitute plot summary for analysis.
You must incorporate at least six quoted passages into the 1200-word essay as evidence to support any claims or observations you make. Quoting dialogue from the films does not count toward this requirement. You may quote dialogue from the films to support and develop your ideas, but that will be supplemental to the requirement for quoted material for this Essay. The quoted material you incorporate will come from a variety of the readings that have been assigned for this unit (including critical readings on the films, critical readings or introductions on the literary work, and the literary work itself).
For the essay, at least two quotes must come from the literary work (not including the introduction), and four quotes must come from at least two different reading assignments from the assigned selection of Course Readings (these are the readings listed in the previous sentence). Thus, you will have six quotes from at least three different sources to support the arguments in your essay. This is the absolute minimum requirement—you may incorporate more quotes and/or a broader variety of quotes than this, but do make sure you are not just listing quotes and adding them as filler. Quoted material will function to develop and support an argument you are presenting.
You are not allowed to use any additional secondary sources on this exam. You must use the sources assigned for this unit as the material for your quotes. The point of incorporating these citations is both to develop your argument and to indicate to me that you have read and understood the assigned readings for the assignment . The more variety you incorporate in terms of quoted material (quoting from a broad variety of sources that were assigned for the entire unit), the better you will demonstrate your mastery of the material
Remember: when writing about literature and film, always use present tense except when specifically referring to the historical past (for example: "In her essay, Smith writes, "blah, blah, blah...'" when referring to information presented in literature or a critical essay—the verb is always in present tense. And, also for example: "Sophocles was a very important writer" when referring to something in the historical past the verb is always in past tense).
Essay will be graded on clarity and completeness of responses, grammar and mechanics, and overall organization, length (including a clear notation of the word count), and, most importantly, the effectiveness of your use of quoted material.
Do not hand in an essay that reads like a draft. Instead, make an effort to carefully revise and polish your work.
Formatting Instructions:
Make sure that you double-space your Essay. Also, please do not re-type the question since this creates an excess amount of text to engage. I'll know which question you are answering based on your essay, so you do not need to re-write the question out for me.
For full credit, count the number of words for your Essay and write the total on a separate line at the end of your essay.
Essay with no word count (or with inaccurate word count) will be marked down.
Choose one of the following questions/prompts for your Essay:
- Discuss the significance of the role (or the absence) of woman in Heart of Darkness and in the films Aguirre:
The Wrath of God and Apocalypse Now. - Discuss the representation of the Other and/or the issue of racism Heart of Darkness and in the films Aguirre:
The Wrath of God and Apocalypse Now. - Discuss the issue of doubling in the Heart of Darkness and in the films Aguirre: The Wrath of God and Apocalypse Now.
- Discuss the significance of death in the Heart of Darkness and in the films Aguirre: The Wrath of God and Apocalypse Now.
- Discuss the issue of insanity and its relation to colonialism/imperialism the Heart of Darkness and in the films Aguirre: The Wrath of God and Apocalypse Now.
- Analyze some aspect of Heart of Darkness and its development in the films Aguirre: The Wrath of God and Apocalypse Now.