Online pre-discussion

For your pre-discussion online activity, post your idea for Paper 1 by 5pm Monday (Oct 4).  I will post quick constructive feedback for every item that was posted by the deadline. (And you are welcome to follow up by email.)

Things to think about:

Are you starting with the text, and then using it to support the meaning that you find in a specific passage? (Good!)
Are you starting with an interpretation, and looking for text to support what you already believe? (Not so good!)

Remember your thesis should be about the work, rather than about "people" or "love" or "dreams."

• People can be closed-minded. One example of closed-minded people are the Puritans in The Scarlet Letter.
  (This is a claim about "people," not about The Scarlet Letter.)

• Hawthorne uses the flaws of the Puritan community in The Scarlet Letter in order to [do what?]
  (The first part is an observation; to make it a paper topic, you would need a claim that's complex enough that it's worth defending.)
  

• Just as the flaws of the Puritan community make Hester into an admirable character, the flaws of Hester as a mother (as Hawthorne describes them) provide Pearl with the independence, strength, and sensitivity that prepare her for her role as a new Romantic heroine.
  (This thesis is about the work, not about the Puritan faith, "people," or "motherhood." You can see what structure the paper would take -- one brief section on how Hester is shaped by the Puritan community, another brief section on Hester's weaknesses as a mother, and then longer sections on independence, strength, and sensitivity, and a conclusion that argues Pearl is a romantic heroine.)