Fiction Essay

Length: 500 words (about 2 pp)
Due Date: Sept. 17

This paper will be on some aspect of the novels we have read and especially how these novels tell us something about what fiction is and how it works. Choose one of the following topics for your essay. Be sure to form a well thought out thesis, narrower in focus than the topic given. Some of the topics are expressed as questions (rather, I've given you some specific tasks to perform), but keep in mind that good essays always seek to solve some problem or answer some question about the text. Note: you must devise a thesis by limiting the topic.

1. Which of the characters in The Hobbit or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe are most memorable? Choose either one or two characters from one book and explain why these characters are interesting and memorable. Or compare or contrast Bilbo and Lucy as heroes. How has the author succeeded in the portrayal of these characters? As you look for a thesis, find personality traits that mark the characters, as well as a common thread linking them. (See my web sheet on character for more help.)

2. Setting is obviously important in The Hobbit or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. How does each author evoke a sense of place and atmosphere? How does setting supplement or complement other aspects of the story: character, theme, or plot?

3. Just as happened in The Hobbit, strange forces seem at work in various parts of The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe. Where do you see the "magic" working in one or the other of the stories? Is it accidental? Why or why not? (The answer to this could come from a sense that the prophecies indicate a guiding force in both stories or that, being Christian, Tolkien and Lewis posit the existence of God working in the world of both stories.)