Comparison essay for cloud atlas

Please write an essay of 1600-2000 words in length on the topic given below. This essay is due in hard copy at the beginning of class on the day listed in the course schedule. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. If you cannot submit your paper to me directly, please place it in the drop box which is located outside of room A3030. Remember that there is a 5% per day penalty for late assignments. This essay is worth 25% of your course grade.

Topic:

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Choose TWO of the six stories that compose David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and compare the way in which those two stories depict and explore ONE concept from the following list:

  • The will to power
  • The relationship between the self or soul and the body

These two concepts are very abstract and their meaning will likely not be immediately apparent, but they will be defined and discussed at length in class during the weeks focused on Cloud Atlas. That class information will be important to your success in this assignment.

Additional Stipulations:

  • This essay, like any academic essay, should contain a strong thesis statement at or near the end of the opening paragraph. Each supporting paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that makes a claim about the book and then proceed to give evidence for that claim and to discuss that evidence.
  • This essay is a comparison essay, and comparison essay outlines will be briefly discussed in class. Please remember to avoid spending half of the essay talking about one of your chosen stories in Cloud Atlas and the other half of the essay about the other story that you have chosen from the novel. Instead, think about placing the two stories metaphorically “into conversation” with one another throughout your essay. In other words, draw frequent connections or contrasts between them.
  • Your evidence should include a good balance of direct quotation from the text and paraphrase. Remember to integrate direct quotations in the way you were taught in class (and in MLA style).
  • Avoid plot summary altogether, even in your introduction. Focus on argument and analysis.
  • No reading of secondary material is required or expected. This is not a research paper.
  • Do not rely on ready-made online analyses of the book for your ideas. The best essays result from making your

own observations and developing your own opinions.

  • If you do use secondary sources, please cite your sources fully in both in-text citations and a works cited list.

Failure to do so is plagiarism, even if you are only drawing on the ideas, not the actual words, of the sources you

have consulted.

  • Your essay should be formatted in MLA style (this includes both the layout of the paper as a whole as well as the

format of the in-text citations and works cited list). Good online resources for MLA style may be found at the OWL Purdue website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu
/owl/resource/747/01/. The Douglas College Learning Centre also provides an excellent handout on MLA style, and information about MLA style will be distributed in class.