Research-Essay-Watchmen-writing-homework-help
Research-Essay-Watchmen-writing-homework-help
ENG 102
Watchmen
For your final paper in ENG 102, you will write a research paper answering a simple question:
In a 1952 ruling, Supreme Court JusticeLearned Hand gave a simple definition of the superhero.Hand, in writing of Superman and Wonderman, claimed the superhero “at times conceals his strength beneath ordinary clothing but after removing his cloak stands revealed in full panoply in a skintight acrobatic costume.â€Hand further noted that the superhero uses his “sufficient strength†as “the champion of the oppressed,†“battling evils and injustice.â€Hand’s definition can be simplified to include only four major aspects: a selfless, pro-social mission; powers; costume; and identity.If Alan Moore’s Watchmen is a story of superheroes, given Learned Hand’s definition or other definitions of the heroic, who, by the end, is the story’s hero?
The structure:
Hopefully, by this point in your education, the structure of this kind of paper
is obvious.You will need to have a thesis statement that answers the
question posed, and you will need specific and clear ideas that support
the thesis and explain how it works.
The Research:
You will need absolutely no fewer than three secondary sources.Watchmen
is not a secondary source; it is the primary source.At least one of these
secondary sources must be specifically about the Watchmen.You may find
criticism of the book through the college library’s databases or by searching
the stacks (if you get stuck, the librarian Tiger Swan knows all the research
on graphic novels and will be glad to help you).To make things easier for
you, I’ve done a lot of this research for you and posted some of the research
on Blackboard.
The other research can be just about anything you need to prove your
thesis.You may use sources from political science or from philosophy or
you may want to look up something like Joseph Campbell’s writing on hero
stories..The only rule is that you must explain why the author of your quote
has the right to comment on the topic.For any author I have given you on
Blackboard, you can simply call the author “critic.â€For example: In Alan
Moore’s America: The Liberal Individual and American Identities, the critic Michael J. Prince states, “While all of the characters in Watchmen exhibit some agency panic, most of them are possessed by a personally driven vigilantism that manifests the autonomy and purposeful action attributed to the liberal individual.â€
The Rules
You will need to cite your sources using MLA citations.
You will need to print and hand in a hardcopy of your paper.Email submissions will
not be read.A student who emails instead of submitting a hard copy WILL FAIL THE
COURSE
Any instance of plagiarism (here defined as using sentences or parts of sentences
without identifying the sourceor using ideas with acknowledgement of where they
came from) WILL FAIL THE COURSE.
The paper is due the day of the scheduled final (or earlier).If you plan to sit for the
FINAL EXAM, you must tell me before the end of the semester.
I include the following to help with your research:
|
Character |
Ethical/ PhilosophicalPosition |
Political Philosophy |
|
Rorschach |
Kantian/ Existentialist/ Retributivists |
Conservative/ Libertarian ???? |
|
Dr. Manhattan |
Relativist |
Statist/Nihilist ??? |
|
Ozymandias |
Utilitarian/ Act Utilitarian |
Radical Liberal??? |
|
Comdedian |
Hedonistic Nihilist/ Absurdist |
Authoritarian Conservative??? |
|
Nite Owl II |
Rule Utilitarian/ Virtue Ethicist |
Romantic Liberal????? |
Silk Spector IIFeminist?Compassionate
Liberal???
Keep in mind:
