The Life of Pi - the Pi’s Beliefs of the Religions

English 2110

Essay 1

Points: 100

Length: 3 full pages minimum

Instructions: Write an un-researched essay in which you provide an argument or unique interpretation of Life of Pi, Lord of the Flies, or The Hunger Games. The prompts are listed below. You may pair two works together. You must choose one or more of the following critical approaches: archetypal theory, Marxist theory, psychoanalytic theory, feminist theory, or ecocriticism. Your paper should center on a clearly articulated, concrete, and tightly focused thesis related to theme and approach. Your evidence to support your thesis must include at least three correctly documented quotes derived directly from the primary text.

Length: At least 3 full pages and no more than 5 pages.

Audience: A group of interested, intelligent readers of literature who are interested in your unique approach. These readers are already familiar with the novel; therefore, a summary of the work is inappropriate.

Cautions: Do not use any secondary sources – either print or electronic – for this paper. Use concrete examples from the primary text only to demonstrate that your interpretation is accurate, without indulging in speculation that is not supported by the text. Also, do not summarize.

Style: Analytic, academic. Make sure your essay follow logical order rather than chronological story.

Evaluation Criteria: I will be posting a rubric handout.

Format: Use MLA format when writing your essay: Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced with page header in the upper right corner. You must include a wok cited page (on its on page), documenting the work you analyzed.

Prompts: Choose one of the following prompts and respond to it in your essay. The literary theories/criticisms/approaches that apply to each prompt are in parentheses—choose one or more of these theories from the parentheses. If you decide to write about something else within the three novels ( Life of Pi, Lord of the Flies, or The Hunger Games) you must email me and get my permission. Only write about The Hunger Games if you have finished it or have read it before. You may include the other two books in The Hunger Games trilogy if have read them already.

• What is Martels’ argument in Life of Pi regarding one or more of the following: religion, zoos and confinement? You may want to explain the following quote in your essay: “I know zoos are no longer in people’s good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both” (19). (psychoanalytic theory, ecocrticism, archetypal criticism)

• In what way does Life of Pi breakdown (or fail to breakdown) power positions and speciesist hierarchies that place humans above other animals? You may refer to William Blake’s The Tyger to help you shed light on your interpretation. (ecocriticism)

• Pi argues that Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba of the Japanese Ministry of Transport should take the “better story” as the true story. Argue that either the first (the one with animals) story or the second story (the one without animals) is the “true story.” (psychoanalytic theory, ecocrticism, archetypal criticism)

• Write about the concept of man’s inner