EN 12                                                                                                                     Draft due: February 23 (4 copies)
Essay #2                                                                                                                 Paper due: February 25
                                                                                                                                Word count: 500

Write an essay on one of the following topics:

1.     Consider the last line of Cather's "Paul's Case": "Then, because the picture making mechanism was crushed, the disturbing visions flashed into black, and Paul dropped back into the immense design of things" (216).  The sentence provides a summary of the narrator's tone about Paul's fate.  He is a "case" to be examined by doctors, social workers, or policemen.
       Write an essay that examines the possible reasons why Paul's life ends tragically.  In particular, sensory imagery emphasizes the disparity between Paul's imagined, ideal life and his actual, sordid existence.  Compare the patterns of imagery associated with the concert hall, theater, and New York with those associated with his school, Cordelia Street, and home.
What kind of "case" do you believe the narrator is making for Paul's life?

2.    Explore the idea of manhood in either Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" or Erdrich's "The Red Convertible: Lyman Lamartine."  How do the family's these men grow up in affect their ideas of what it means to be an adult?  How do their ethnic or racial backgrounds affect their understanding of who they are?  What are young men in both worlds expected to be when they grow up, and how are their lives shaped by the perceptions of others?  Give at least a couple of concrete examples in the course of your argument.

        Begin to prepare to write in the following way: start by drawing a line down the middle of a sheet of paper.  For "Paul's Case," list all the references to locations or characters on one side, and all of the images used to describe them or Paul's feelings on the other.  Choose three important locations or images to discuss.  Then write a thesis that explains what these images tell us about the reasons for Paul's tragedy.