select one of the four prompts:
I.) An overarching theme developed throughout l-lomby’s novel is the acute difficulty in
cultiv sting meaningful relationships in modem society. In short. this novel examines the division
between the individual and the concept of community. This is well exemplified in young
Marcus‘s helplessness to lit in amongst his peers in school and Will‘s inability to overcome his
phobia of long-term interpersonal relationships. Please write an essay exploring how both Will
and Marcus make profound transformations in learning to nurture simple but deep connections
that form the complex network of the human community.
2.) In the French novel. Madam Bovary. Gustave Flaubert masterfully dramatizes the world of a
Fictional mid-nineteenth century provincial village in Normandy. In crafting the social panorama
of characters and landscape of French bourgeois life. his lictional world historically plays out
what will be the gateway to proper modernity; a world entering mass consumption and the human
subject as the consumer. While Emma Bovary is caught in a cycle of retail therapy, l-lornby’s
egotistical Will Freeman eerily echoes his predecessor’s creation, as the English novelist
critically points to an individual who defines his self-worth through the material world.

Please
write an essay that analyzes how Will Freeman becomes this exaggerated caricature of the
modern person whose life is based on materialism and consumption, and how that it may have
interfered with his problem with establishing lasting relationships.
3 Our first text this semester, The Consolation: of Philosophy, dealt with six philosophers that
shaped the discourse of Western thinking. Many of the philosophic teachings we discussed are
expressed in the contemporary novel, About a Boy. Please write an essay that connects some of
the important themes and issues raised in de Botton‘s book with that of Homby‘s modern novel.
The fourth option takes on a more creative flavor. Imagine you are Nick Homby and your job
15 to fictionally revive and create a sequel to About a Bay. where l-lomby left off in the end of his
novel. Please write a four to five page narrative that imaginatively continues on what may have
been the outcome of his eclectic North London characters. You may continue the story
employing the voice and structure that reflects your own prose and style. For thou who feel
timid in challenging themselves in an inventive project like this, please take some consolation 1