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Great Works - OPTIONAL EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT
James Madison University
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Instructions:
This is an optional assignment. IF you choose to do one of these options, you must submit your work no later than the the start of class on midterm day. An acceptable effort on one of the choices below will earn you FIVE points extra credit on the midterm. (Note that you don't get more credit for doing more than one, so just pick one!) Type your work, doublespaced, normal margins, no bigger than 12-point font.
- Read Anthony Boucher's short short story, "Rappaccini's Other Daughter" and write a 1 full page response paper examining how Boucher plays with Hawthorne's original story. This story should now be available in the readings folder on our Blackboard site. Some possible issues are whether or not Boucher addresses any of the same thematic issues or motifs and how the style of narrative changes with the transformation into a work of modern science fiction.
OR
- Research Sumerian religion/mythology/gods and examine the extent to which the information in the materials you find is similar to what Stephenson says in Snow Crash. You don't have to cover everything covered in the novel on this subject. For example, you can choose to focus on one god. Use at least one reputable source(s)(ie. not a random google search or "Marvin's Mythology-orama Website." Library references or subscription online references through your library are good bets.) Cite all sources used. Write a 1 full page paper summarizing what you conclude. As an alternative, you could look at some other religious/mythical element of the novel in a similar way (such as what scholars say about the origin of the Tower of Babel narrative in the Bible).
