Choosing a title for your WL1 paper:
Most of these titles have been used for past WL1 (and WL2 comparative) papers; some are better than
others. Personally, I like the format of #’s 2 & 6: (Catchy topic stated briefly): (Topic stated more directly +
book titles), so I’ve made up a few others like it (#’s 7 – 9). I placed in bold all of the titles that I think are
strong.
1. Gabriel García Márquez’s and Emily Bronte’s Use of Male ‘Outsider Characters’ to Generate the
Plot’s Conflict in Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Wuthering Heights
2. The Rich and Famous – A study of the authors’ use of wealth to characterize and develop themes
in García Márquez´s Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Allende´s The House of the Spirits
3. A House is a Man´s Kingdom – An in depth study of how each man’s house, those in Allende’s The
House of the Spirits and García Márquez´s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, reveals the pride of
Esteban Trueba and Bayardo San Román.
4. How is the concept of love demystified by Durrenmatt in The Visit and Lorca in The House of
Bernarda Alba through the characters Claire and Adela, respectively?
5. How does the quality of sophrosyne, or self control, contribute to the difference between Greek
comedy and tragedy in Lysistrata and Medea?
6. The Necessary Manipulation: Magic Realism in The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea and
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
7. The Strong Consume the Weak: Modes of oppression in Animal Farm and Things Fall Apart
8. Upstairs, Downstairs: Differing modes of speech in servants and masters from The Cherry Orchard
and Hedda Gabler
9. Peaches and Wine: The consumption of food in Invitation to a Beheading and The Corrections
10. How Frank McCourt and Euripedes Use the Deaths of Children as an Element of Pathos in their
Works
11. The Economic Dependence of the Samsa Family in The Metamorphosis and the McCourt Family in
Angela’s Ashes
12. The Importance of Unity of Time and Unity of Place in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and A
Doll’s House
13. The Importance of Setting to Reveal Themes in A Doll’s House and The Metamorphosis
14. The Sacrifice of the Children in Medea and Mother Courage and Her Children
15. Sources of Power and Burdens: The Secrets Between Characters in A Streetcar Named Desire and A
Doll’s House
16. The Use of Animal Imagery in Lord of the Flies and All Quiet on the Western Front
17. How the Past Affects Present Relationships and Decisions in Medea and A Doll’s House
18. The Effects Children Have on the Mothers in A Doll’s House and Medea
19. The Use of Money in Madame Bovary and A Doll’s House
20. The Role of Obsession in Mother Courage and Her Children and Medea
21. The Impact of the Past in Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
22. A Comparison Between Two Disillusioned Husbands in Literature: Torvald Helmer and Charles
Bovary
23. The Role of Children in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Euripedes’ Medea
24. The Role of War in Bertoldt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children and George Orwell’s 1984
25. The Use of Female Characters Who Defy Social Norms in Euripedes’ Medea and Gustave Flaubert’s
Madame Bovary
Note: Your final draft will have a separate title page, but at this point, you may simply place your title at
the top of your essay, centered.