Paper 1 Topics (DUE MONDAY, 10/15)
IN ALL CASES, support your arguments with specific examples from the readings or (if you choose) outside sources.

1) Using one story we've read, discuss what types of closure are used throughout and describe how those approaches affect the narrative. Alternately, you can focus on the ways in which words and pictures are combined to enhance the story.

2) Do the superheroes of the 1930s reflect the mindset and behavior of the children who read their adventures or are they an adult's idea of how a child thinks?

3) Were the EC horror stories of the 1950s in bad taste? Were they inappropriate for young readers? How do you reconcile the juvenile, over-the-top gory humor of EC's most famous stories with the social consciousness evident in stories like "In Gratitude" and "The Reformers?"

4) How do the early American comic book stories from the 1930s-1950s that we've read reflect attitudes toward a woman's real or perceived place in society? Alternately, what does the portrayal of women in comics like Archie as well as the romance and horror stories say about the era in which they were released or the people who created them?

5) How does Maus utilize a real-world historical setting to tell a personal story? Can comics effectively present historical information in a dramatic setting? Could you see comics teaching history well, or does it all get lost in the translation?

6) Art Spiegelman chose to tell his Holocaust-set tale with animals. On what levels does the cat/mouse metaphor operate? Is it successful? Would the graphic novel have suffered or benefited from representing Vladek and the others as humans instead of animals?

7) According to Scott McCloud, children have an affinity for comics and cartoons because they identify with the characters and put themselves in the story. Discuss whether or not you agree with this theory.