Problem
A. Using two of the Dickinson poems, analyze how imagery and metaphor allows the poet to celebrate the beauty and vigor of nature.
B. How are Hedda's sadistic behaviors an expression of her inward frustrations at the social limitations imposed on women during the nineteenth-century? (You will want to persuasively show cause and effect in this essay. Can you point to specific moments that precipitate Hedda's behavior? How do her feelings of suffocation during those moments impact her behavior?)
C. How and why does Chekhov characterize the landowning classes of a former feudal Russia as he does in The Cherry Orchard? (Mme. Ranevskaya, Gayev, Pishchik...)
D. Explain the significance of the nightmarish imagery in "The Metamorphosis" in terms of psychological repression. How can it be the result of Gregory Samsa's repressed thoughts and feelings?
E. Magical realism is a form of storytelling aimed at turning traditional ideas upside down, shaking up stereotypes, and creating questions about the nature of reality as we know it. How does magical realism aid a writer in communicating a key message or theme?
F. How does Carlos Fuentes use plot, setting, and/or irony to convey the hardships of economic repression in "The Cost of Living"?
G. How does Chen Rong use irony to ridicule the ineffectiveness of government bureaucracy?