Novel Analysis

Using your ideas from initial class essay, develop more fully and completely, assuming readers from future classes. Your readers, then, will have read a number of the same short stories, will have also read Le Guin's critical article, and will have watched The Matrix, but might not have read your particular novel. So while it may be safe to assume they have understood the "gist" of the common materials, they also might benefit from your closer analysis. You might also spark an interest in others to actually read your novel if they have not done so before. You are not, however, required to give an extended plot summary.

Compare and contrast your novel and one of the articles you read. What are those societies like: their values and beliefs? In what particular ways are those societies similar to or different from society in The Matrix?
Focus on a particular theme or character from the novel you read. Show how either reflects (or doesn't reflect) Le Guin's assertion about what science fiction ought to do. Have the writers been able to focus on any important trend or trends that you see occurring today?
OR choose one of the following statements. Identify the speaker, explain what the statement means, first in terms of the movie, then compare to theme, scenes or character/s in your novel. Finally, articulate the significance for our lives.
- "We never free a mind once it has reached a certain stage."
- " ...residual self image.."
- "We lacked the language to describe utopia."
- "Never send a human to do an AI.s job."
- "Welcome to the desert of the real."
- "The matrix cannot tell you who you are."
- "Most people are not ready to be unplugged."

Further Topic Suggestions:

If, upon reflection, you do not like the topic you chose to write about in class, feel free to change your topic. Constraints are: you must use your novel and The Matrix (or one of the other movies) in some intelligent fashion.

What is the "matrix" in your novel? Compare and contrast your novel to the movie The Matrix, (may also use any of the material we covered in class), in terms of a specific critical framework as a "matrix." How is that matrix the same as or different from the matrix you live in?
Discuss a character, theme, feature, or anything else you find especially compelling. Follow your bliss, but remember, your essay should still be focused, organized, and well developed.
If you are at a loss for possible topics, go down the rabbit hole:
- utopia / dystopia
- gender roles
- politics
- economics
- emergent, visionary or dangerous technologies
- myths
- environment
- belief systems - plugging into / unplugging from?

Final draft will be 5-6 pages, double spaced in MLA format with a works cited page.

Due dates:

May 4: Rough draft -development / organization
May 9: dev/org workshop
May 11: editing draft / review MLA format and citation
May 15: Final draft due on mahara in a collection including an early draft, final draft and self evaluation.

Due dates for late start class:

May 2: Rough draft -development / organization
May 4: dev/org workshop
May 9: editing draft / review MLA format and citation
May 11: Final draft due on mahara in a collection including an early draft, final draft and self evaluation.

Return to syllabus

Return to late start syllabus