Fiction Essay

Length: 500 words (about 2 pp)
Due Date: Sept. 28

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. Note: you must devise a thesis by limiting the topic.

1. You may again choose a character (including a dragon) to write on, but instead of considering traits that make that person or animal engaging, you might consider how the person or animal is a hero. For example although Lessa is not without her moral failings, one might argue that she is very much a hero like those of Tolkien. F'lar shows heroic traits although you might argue more for him as learning to be a lover.

2. Setting is even more important in Dragonflight than it is in the two earlier novels. You might argue that setting creates the characters in this particular work. For example, Lessa's travels through time seem to have impacted her history as much as the orbit of the Red Star impacts the history of Pern. Choose any element of setting and argue for how it shapes the story.

3. McCaffrey's story is part of a trilogy. Whether you have read her books or not, argue for what might be the plot of the next story. Such a story would have to include the logical development of characters, including dragons, and would probably reflect the same theme as Dragonflight.

Format: Papers must be wordprocessed on clean, white, letter-sized pape. You may submit a clean photocopy if you wish, but a draft must always accompany an essay. Please keep an extra copy of each paper that you submit. Use 1-inch margins, double space, and do not leave an extra space between paragraphs. Put my name, the class, and the date at the top of the first page. Print your name on the reverse side of the last page. Please staple the pages of the final copy together and attach these to the draft with a paper clip. Please refer to this format when writing all other out-of-class papers.