A Suggested Way to Use Your Lab Time Existential Paper A Suggested Way to Use Your Lab Time

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is Not an Option Decide on Your Focus Title/ Author/ Location Emphasis on Individual Action Moral Perfection Freedom to Choose Dread is Natural and Omnipresent The Observer not Important James Thurber, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, Katherine Anne Porter, pp 775-782 William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily" pp 876-883 Eudora Welty, "A Worn Path" pp 890-896 Flannery O'Connor, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" pp 915-923 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is Not an Option

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is Not an Option If you are going with any of the thematic foci, you may wish to start by apprising your reader of the theme and key question/s asked of the text to determine the presence of the theme in the text Title/ Author/ Location Emphasis on Individual Action Moral Perfection Freedom to Choose Dread is Natural and Omnipresent The Observer not Important James Thurber, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, Katherine Anne Porter, pp 775-782 William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily" pp 876-883 Eudora Welty, "A Worn Path" pp 890-896 Flannery O'Connor, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" pp 915-923 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is Not an Option

Mini Lesson on Major Themes of Existentialism Moral Perfection The highest ethical good is the same for everyone. As a person approaches moral perfection, one resembles other morally perfect individuals. Suggested Reading Questions/Prompts to determine the presence of this element in the text: Determine what is the moral imperative for the central character. What ideals are most important to the character? Does he fee l courage and attractiveness are most important, or freedom, or the perfect home life? Note: In order to perfect this aspect of their life, their choices and actions may take a path that is surprising and seemingly immoral to you as the reader. Freedom to Choose Humanity's primary distinction is the freedom to choose. Choice is therefore central to human existence, and it is inescapable; even the refusal to choose is a choice. Freedom of choice entails commitment and responsibility. Because individuals are free to choose their own path, existentialists have argued, they must accept the risk and responsibility of following their commitment wherever it leads. Determine a choice that the protagonist is forced to make that is important to the further development of the plot of the story. It does not necessarily need to be a question of good or evil. Remember even the refusal to choose is a choice. What ever you identify, without this choice by the protagonist, the plot would stop. Emphasis on Individual Action All existentialists have stressed the importance of passionate individual action in deciding questions of both morality and truth. Personal experience and acting on one's own convictions are essential in arriving at the truth. Suggested Reading Questions to determine the presence of this element in the text: Who appears to be the central person/ protagonist in this work? Where/ what is the moment in which they must act on their own and not with the aid of others in the story to make an important decision? Dread is Natural and Omnipresent Existentialists believe it is spiritually crucial to recognize that one experiences not only a fear of specific objects but also a feeling of general apprehension, dread. Kierkegaard interpreted it as God's way of calling each individual to make a commitment to a personally valid way of life. What character or element in the plot serves as a gloomy or dreadful foil to the protagonist? This may not necessarily be the main antagonist in the story. The Observer not Important The understanding of a situation by someone involved in that situation is superior to that of a detached, objective observer. This emphasis on the perspective of the individual agent has also made existentialists suspicious of systematic reasoning. Existentialist writers have been deliberately unsystematic in the exposition of their philosophies, preferring to express themselves in aphorisms, dialogues, parables, and other literary forms. Whether jumping for internal to external monologue, from things imagined / memories / past events to current events in the plot, identify places in the story line of any given text where the reader can be confused by lack of narrator’s guidance or traditional punctuation.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is Not an Option If you are going with any of the title / close read foci, you may wish to start by apprising your reader of the story in whole in other words a quick summary of the whole story before you start analysis. Title/ Author/ Location Emphasis on Individual Action Moral Perfection Freedom to Choose Dread is Natural and Omnipresent The Observer not Important James Thurber, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, Katherine Anne Porter, pp 775-782 William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily" pp 876-883 Eudora Welty, "A Worn Path" pp 890-896 Flannery O'Connor, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" pp 915-923 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is Not an Option

Peer Review At least 7 out of 10 of the mistakes I commented on for the previous paper could have been caught if a peer reviewed your paper so. . . Save a draft of your paper before the peer review. (Label it) Have the peer reviewer sign the peer review sheet, after reviewing your paper. On the same document, make a copy of the essay and them make peer suggested changes to the essay. (Label it) You should have a ‘rough draft’ and a ‘final draft’ on the same document that you submit it to the appropriate Blackboard window.