GHUM 200

Great Works of Literature in the Western Tradition

Kevin L. Harter, Instructor
Spring 2014
Topics and guidelines for Essay Two, due Tuesday, April 29:
Address one of the topics below in an essay of three to four pages (double-spaced, 12 pt. font).
Please follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) style for quotations, citations, and
identification of sources. For specific format guidelines and examples, as well as links to very
helpful information about plagiarism, what it is, and how to avoid it, please see
<http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/citation.htm#MLA>, which is linked to the JMU Honor Council
webpage. For all topics, define terms, explain concepts and support your points with frequent,
brief quotations or citations of our works by standard reference number (for Plato), canto and
line numbers (for Dante), or page numbers in parentheses in the body of the text. Page numbers
should correspond to the specific editions of the works listed on the Works Cited page following
the essay.
Be as creative as you wish in addressing the topic and composing the essay, but do so in a way
that supports, rather than supplants, careful attention to the texts.
Please submit an electronic copy of your essay through SafeAssign on Blackboard, AND submit
a paper copy in class.

1. Compare the Utopian civilization described in Thomas Mores Utopia with the critique of
human nature and civilization embodied in the Children of Crake as described in Margaret
Atwoods Oryx and Crake. Try to identify issues that are pointedly addressed in both works.
How do the Crakers differ from normal Homo sapiens sapiens, and what problems of human
nature and/or civilization are thereby avoided? How do the Utopians deal with the same
problems, given the nature of human nature?

2. One may suppose that the founding of families was connected with the fact that a moment
came when the need for genital satisfaction no longer made its appearance like a guest who
drops in suddenly, and, after his departure, is heard of no more for a long time, but instead took
up its quarters as a permanent lodger. (53).
So says Sigmund Freud in Civilization and Its Discontents, but, of course, Freud never knew of
the Children of Crake. With additional, specific text references, explain what Freud means by
the above quotation, and compare his points with Crakes critique of human sexuality, marriage,
family, and civilization as developed in Margaret Atwoods Oryx and Crake. This critique is

closely linked to some of the special features of the Children of Crake. How does sex and
society among the Children of Crake differ from normal Homo sapiens sapiens? With which
aspects of Crakes critique might Freud agree and why?

3. Compare the development of Platos city-in-speech, which begins in section 369 of Republic,
with the description of the Utopian civilization in Thomas Mores Utopia. Consider both the
healthy and true city, as well as the feverish and luxurious city of Platos description.
Given the many references to Plato and Republic in Book One of Utopia, how might one best
understand and explain the precise relationship of these two famous dialogues?

4. . . . we speak of beauty itself and good itself, and so in the case of all the things that we then
set down as many, we turn about and set down in accord with a single form of each, believing
that there is but one, and call it the being of each. (507b)
Compare Platos Theory of the Forms (as articulated in Republic, Books 5 and 6) with Crakes
rule of Margaret Atwoods Oryx and Crake. Explain the key features of the kind of knowledge
sought in each case, why Plato and Crake stress such contrasting features, and how they propose
to use that knowledge. Who is Maddaddam, and why did they first incorporate this rule? How
do they seem to have used this rule, both before and after Crake joined them?
It was one of Crakes rules that no name could be chosen for which a physical equivalent
even stuffed, even skeletalcould not be demonstrated. No unicorns, no griffins, no manticores
or basilisks. But those rules no longer apply, and its given Snowman a bitter pleasure to adopt
this dubious label. (7).
5. I declare justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger.
Compare Marx and Engels critique of capitalism in the Communist Manifesto (or in any of the
readings included in the Marx-Engels Reader) with Thrasymachus troubling view of justice as
enunciated in Book I of Platos Republic. Cite and quote the works to bring out the strongest
parallels or sharpest differences possible. How does Socrates respond to Thrasymachus? Can
Socrates emphasis on professional skill (techne) apply just as well in rebuttal of the Bourgeois?
The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the
whole Bourgeoisie.