Assignment: Making Connections
Why do we continue to read literature from past centuries? One of the reasons is that literature often addresses themes (life lessons) that are universal to the human experience. These lessons were pertinent when the literature was written, and they are still pertinent enough to keep people reading today.
1. Consider the theme of the literary work you wrote about in your Close Reading earlier this semester.
2. What events, attitudes, movements or phenomenons in our modern world relate in some way to that theme? Make a list of at least 5 possibilities.
3. Choose 3 of the 5 and write a brief paragraph for each that describes the topic and how it relates to the theme of the literary work.
4. Be creative in your selections. You are looking for connections to the theme, but these will not necessarily relate to the subject matter of the literary work. For example, the theme of "Death Be Not Proud" is that power over others is often an illusion. Modern examples of this could include:
- the way terrorists have failed to truly alter Western civilization
- how powerless a child feels when being bullied by another child
- what the "celebrity effect" can and cannot actually accomplish
- fatal accidents with "trained" wild animals.
Attachment:- Charisma-Steele-Close-Reading-Essay.pdf