Discuss Lolita as the last document of a condemned man. Compare this to The Stranger. In both of these novels the main character is a morally compromised man, who ends up in prison for his actions.
Compare the prose style of The Stranger with that of Lolita. How does this difference in prose style reflect upon the characters and their crimes. Both are post-war books. How does the difference in the prose style reflect the author’s differing post-war experience.
Compare Lolita is in some ways an American Road story such as Kerouac’s On the Road, or William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways, or Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie. Road stories are generally picaresques and often involve a quest theme, although not always. Discuss Lolita and how it fits into the picaresque or quest category, if you think it does.
Lolita is sometimes considered an aesthetic novel. In other words the luxury of the prose, the philosophical and psychological attitude taken by Humbert towards his life seems to illustrate the aesthetic philosophy. Is this true? You might want to make comparisons to Dorian Gray.
Discus the idea of social alienation, i.e. not fitting into the culture in which you find yourself. Social alienation of plays a role in both Lolita and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. It is also a theme in The Stranger. In either of these cases how does the alienation experienced by the character reflect that of the author?
Do a research project on Lolita in which you focus on one aspect of the story and research the background through references and critical material. Some possibilities would be the relationship between Lolita and Nabokov’s personal life, his aesthetics, his influences, his own research on the novel, themes of his other novels,
Compare the written novel Lolita to the two different film versions of the story: Stanley Kubrick and Adrian Lynn. How does the film version alter the “message” of the story? What aspects are changed? What is lost or gained in the editing process? Can film do justice to literature?
Lolita has a number of gothic elements in it. Compare the use of the gothic in Lolita to other novels we have read, such as Frankenstein or Dorian Gray.
Discuss the idea of social complicity in Lolita, and compare it to Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold. In both of these novels, and even in Dorian Gray, the society is in some ways complicit in the crimes that take place.
Compare the social criticism that takes place in Lolita with that of Dorian Gray. Both novels have a character who is particularly disdainful of the society they live in.
Discuss the concept of “honor” in relation to murder. In Lolita and Chronicle of a Death Foretold the murders might is some sense be related to defending the honor of another character. This topic could also be discussed in relation to The Stranger. When is honor an appropriate excuse for killing?
can be any i dont really care i need 2 different ones 8 pages each
Possible Paper Topics The Stranger and Waiting for Godot
3-5 pages
Compare The Stranger with Waiting for Godot on one of the following issues. Be sure to formulate your Thesis so that you are stating a problem or controversy and that you are taking a position in relation to it. Outline how you will make your point. Then gather your evidence from the texts and present it in an ordered fashion.
1) Consider the relationship between Mersault and Raymond in The Stranger: Comparing it to Waiting for Godot, is this relationship more like the relationship between Pozzo and Lucky or that between Vladimir and Estragon? Make a case for one or the other. Be sure to explain how the relationship is significant to the meaning of the work as a whole. Give examples from each text as evidence for your opinion.
2) One of the tenets of existential philosophy is that the universe is indifferent to human desires. Is this true in both stories? Compare the actions of Mersault, to those of Gogo and Didi as they face this indifference. How do they justify their actions? How do they find meaning? Be sure to compare actual statements made by the characters.
3) Discuss the idea of “time” in the The Stranger and in Waiting for Godot. Some of the concepts you may want to include in your discussion are: circular time, linear time, time as duration, the present vs. the past and future, the eternal vs the temporary, time and death, dream time vs. waking time. Is one form of time more “real” than another? How does the character’s concept of time influence their actions? Specifically you might want to address Mersault’s conception of time in comparison to Pozzo’s or Vladimir/Estragon. Be sure to use examples from the text to illustrate your opinion.
4) Discuss the nature of concrete existence, in The Stranger and in Waiting for Godot. How do the characters relate to, or exemplify a reliance on “concrete existence”? What is it about “concrete existence” that makes the characters lives miserable or pleasurable? Put your discussion in the framework of existentialism: existence precedes essence, etc. Use examples from the text.
5) Both The Stranger and Waiting for Godot are illustrations of the concept of Absurdity, the absurdity of existence and humanity’s quest for meaning in relation to it. What elements of each work seem to illustrate this absurdity to you? How do the characters deal with it? Is there any way of overcoming absurdity? Should one even try? Use quotes from the text to illustrate how each of the characters think about this issue.
6) Compare the character Mersault from The Stranger to Dorian Gray from The Picture of Dorian Grey. Pick one specific quality on which to compare them, such as 1) the sense of responsibility for their actions, or the feeling of guilt.
10) How do morality and responsibility come into play in The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Stranger. Both novels have a peculiar take on the individual’s engagement with moral codes. Pick specific instances, passages or events and compare the two.
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