No+Exit

For the past few weeks we have been examining the tenuous relationship(s) between the individual and the society or community within s/he resides. For your first paper assignment you must further examine this relationship in a manner that addresses some BUT NOT NECESSARILY ALL of the following questions: What responsibilities does the individual hold in relation to his/her society? To what extent can the individual attain an identity or selfhood within a society? From where or from whom does morality and responsibility come?

Choose ONE of the following essay prompts for your assignment:


 * 1) Discuss the “supernatural” aspects of Sartre’s “No Exit” and the film “Groundhog’s Day”. How do the circumstances of each help represent a specific philosophy concerning the self, responsibility, our relationship to community and a higher order of being (God, the afterlife, etc)?


 * 1) Using “No Exit” and “What the Gossips Saw” OR “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World”, discuss how our relationships with others (gossiping, care, desire, hatred, etc.) serve to either form and/or disrupt our sense of individual self-hood. In other words, how do others make us more or less than we think ourselves to be?

For next week (2/28) write the “beginning” of your paper followed by an outline of the major points of interpretation you would like to make throughout the paper.

Rough Drafts are DUE for conferencing on March 7th


 * Final Drafts are DUE March 17th NO EXCEPTIONS

MARLENA'S DRAFT (PLEASE PRINT OUT AND READ FOR CLASS ON THE 7th)

[|Marlena Draft.doc]**