Assigned Readings
EPICAC by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Cockroaches by Bruno Schulz
Axolotl by Julio Cortázar
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Optional Readings
"Introduction to Absurd Drama" by Martin Esslin (online)
"The Imagery Museum of Samuel Beckett" by Raymond Federman (online)
"Essay on Waiting for Godot" by Michael Sinclair (online)

Directions: Develop your own specific topic based on either an expressive, objective, or persuasive approach to the assigned readings. Your paper should engage both of the assigned readings in some depth. Research to supplement your own commentary is strictly optional, but if you do include researched material from a source other than our textbook, you are responsible for documenting it correctly using MLA style parenthetical documentation.

Topic Approaches
These notes are meant to be suggestive, not exclusive.

EXPRESSIVE
Write a commentary that substantively explores your response to the unconventionality of Waiting for Godot. You can discuss the ways in which the play met or defied your expectations, as well as how you understood the purpose or "meaning" of the play. You can discuss the impact or relevance of the play's dialogue, characters, situations, or imagery. You can explore the significant ways in which Waiting for Godot either does or does not resonate with your understanding of the human condition.

OBJECTIVE
Develop a paper that analyzes or interprets the meaning of one or more works assigned.

• Write a comparative analysis.
• Trace the development of a common theme through both works.
  
• Present an objective interpretation of one or both works.
• Write a thematic analysis of one or both works.
• Write a critique of one or both works.

PERSUASIVE
Identify the ambiguity in at least one of the works on the reading list and then argue for a particular interpretation. Acknowledge other interpretations but prove, by your close analysis of details in the text, that your interpretation is a strong one. Argue for a particular reading of one or more of the works we studied.

CREATIVE

• Write an interior monologue from the point of view of something not human.
• Write a dramatic scene based on at least two of the characters from the readings. You can use the same characters or invent new ones, as long as they're inspired by or related to the characters we observed in the readings. Include set description, character description, dialogue, and stage directions.

Objective and Persuasive Topic Suggestions

Objective

• Compare/contrast Waiting for Godot to traditional drama. How is Waiting for Godot "unconventional"? In what ways does it frustrate audience expectations?
• Read Martin Esslin's essay on "Absurd Drama" (online). Analyze the ways in which Waiting for Godot fits his description of absurd drama.
• Trace the existential elements in Waiting for Godot.
• Compare/contrast the theme of suffering in Waiting for Godot to "Axolotl" and "Cockroaches."
• Compare/contrast the anthropomorphic elements in "EPICAC," "Axolotl," and "Cockroaches."
• Analyze the mythic overtones in Waiting for Godot. What do you infer from the various biblical references in the play?

Persuasive

• Define "nihilism" and "existentialism" and argue for an interpretation of the play based on your understanding of these concepts.
• Define "postmodernism" and argue for an interpretation of the play based on your understanding of this concept.
• Define "abstract expressionism" and argue for an interpretation of the play based on your understanding of this concept.