Directions:
- Choose one of the topics and approaches provided for you.
- Write a working thesis statement for the topic and approach you chose. Your thesis statement must be an analysis, not just a statement of fact about the novel.
- Your professor must approve your thesis statement. If you did not receive at least a 70, you need to revise. You are permitted three attempts in this assignment, and the highest grade will be recorded.
Topics/ approaches (Focus on only one of the following, though some may overlap):
- Topic 1) Analysis of one of these characters: Lucy Lurie, Melanie Isaacs or Petrus.
Example: Analyze not only the chosen character's personality, but also what roll they played in advancing the overall theme of the novel.
- Topic 2) The protagonist's understanding of the nature of the conflict to be resolved and the hurdles to be overcome.
Example: It could be hope for change, both in South Africa and in David Lurie. OR: the disgrace David Lurie has suffered over the affair with a student and how that matches the disgrace South Africa has suffered through apartheid.
- Topic 3) The function of setting to reinforce theme and characterization
Example: post-apartheid South Africa is a setting arguably more important than anything else in the novel. Your outside sources would be bit of history concerning apartheid.
The use of literary devices to communicate theme: imagery, metaphor, symbolism, foreshadowing, irony