Possible Topics for Final Paper

 Here are some ideas that might help you in your search for a topic. Many can be applied to a number of works that we have read in class. Remember in some way you want to relate your topic to the theme of death and dying.

Compare different genres (poetry, prose, drama). What are the limitations and advantages of each? What techniques do each employ?  

Analyze the use of symbols, metaphors and imagery in a work/s. How is death and dying depicted? Meaning of titles to works? 

Relation of the writer to her/his works. How does the writer’s situation (religious beliefs, personal loss, philosophy, attitude toward death) influence/are given expression in his/her work/s? You could examine other works not read in class such as Abel Sánchez by Miguel de Unamuno and the Cain and Abel theme, or death in the poems or plays of Federico García Lorca.

Analyze the narrative voice in a work/s. Is it first, second third person? Does it change? Are their other voices? How does the writer use them? 

Analysis of temporal or structural aspects. How is time marked in the work/s? Is it chronological? Circular? How does this contribute to the work? 

What is the role of nature in a work/s? How does nature contribute to the meaning of the work? 

Aspects of the work’s historical or cultural background and influence (Mexican Revolution, Spanish Civil War, the Dirty War, machismo, beliefs about life and death, immortality, etc.) 

Character analysis. How does death and dying relate to the characters in a work/s? The relationships between characters? How do they express grief? Remorse? Guilt? Face death? 

Other broader themes: 

Love and death

The individual and society 

Honor 

The function/role of memory and/or forgetting 

History and fiction. How does a writer blend real experience with fictional material? 

Role and attitudes toward women 

Family relationships