HUM 2052: Civilization II
Final Essay
4 double-spaced pages
MLA format
due Thursday, May 3
emailed or in hard copy and to www.turnitin.com
You may choose one of the following questions to work on. In this essay, you will
draw on both the critical and fictional texts that we have read to construct your
argument. Outside research is not encouraged; if you do any outside research, please
submit copies of the sources you use. In this essay, do not be satisfied with simple
summary, surface evaluation, or a “book report” approach. Take a stance and make a
case for a critical perspective about the texts you are discussing. For each essay, you
must focus on at least two texts that we have read in this course (from the Norton
Anthology, Frankenstein, or Slaughterhouse-Five) as the basis of your argument. Make
certain that you use Perry’s Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society as a critical
text to support your argument, citing passages to set up the history of ideas and
historical contexts that shape your reading of the texts.
MAKE SURE YOU:
Define all terms
Provide a clear thesis/focus
Stay with that focus throughout your essay
Support your argument with specific examples (yes, you must include quotes)
Write clearly and with correct grammar
Paraphrase and cite source material accurately (with parenthetical citations)
Provide a Works Cited page
TOPICS:
1. The film Serenity represents a futuristic world that offers a critique of the
evolution of civilization. Using this film as a frame, choose at least two texts
that we have read in this course and explore ideas about progress as well as
regression within a history of western civilization from the Renaissance to the
twenty-first century. How do these works represent progress? What are the
threats of industrialization and progress to society? Following Freud, is
civilization an illusion? How is the line between civilized and savage
constructed within the texts and even reconstructed? What ultimately does
the film and, by extension, the works say about these issues?
2. The film Donnie Darko represents the crisis of the self in the late twentieth
century. It could be argued that Donnie represents man’s attempt to define
himself in a world that has become overwhelmingly complicated by science
and theory. Using this film as a frame, choose at least two works that we have
read in this course and explore how man attempts to define himself within a
landscape of new scientific theories and philosophical ideas. How do these
works represent the relationship between the individual and the modern
world, its changing perspectives?