PHIL 253
FINAL PAPER

The final paper for this course should make use of the texts, theories, themes and ideas from the course to examine Richard Wright’s Native Son. The paper is 5-7 pages and must make use of at least TWO of texts in addition to Wright’s novel. The texts are:

• Aeschylus, The Oresteia
• Plato, Republic
• Aristotle, Poetics
• Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
• Kierkegaard, “Ancient Tragedy’s Reflection in the Modern”
• Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
• Kafka, The Trial

You are responsible for developing your own topic. However, some of the themes that you may consider include:

• Tragedy and Native Son as tragic drama
• Bigger Thomas: Tragic heroes ancient and modern
• Society, the Absurd and tragedy
• Habit, choice and expectation in Native Son
• Art and lived experience
• Tragedy as trial: Joseph K. and Bigger Thomas
• Morality and Tragedy
• Apollonian and Dionysian elements in Native Son
• Fate and responsibility in Native Son
• Native Son and catharsis

These are suggestions: you can choose any topic as long as it applies to Native Son and involves two other texts from the course.

The final paper is due to be submitted to Blackboard by noon on Thursday December 15th — no paper copy is required for this submission.