Write a reflection or philosophical commentary on one or more philosophical themes propsed by Tolkien in The Return of the King.

Write a reflection or philosophical commentary on one or more philosophical themes propsed by Tolkien in The Return of the King.

Your response papers give you a chance to develop your thoughts on the readings and lectures in more depth. Your goal is to articulate a particular philosophical theme in the book, to tell us why it’s important, to show how Tolkien articulates this point in the text, and to then say whether the point is right or wrong or somewhere in-between. You want your reader to 1) understand the nature of the philosophical argument, 2) see how Tolkien articulates this argument through the novel, and 3) be persuaded as to the rightness or wrongness of the philosophical point under discussion.
Don’t worry about outside sources, but you are welcome to use them if you are making a specific point from a specific author. Generally, points about various philosophical theories (moral theories, metaphysical ideas, etc.) don’t need citations. Just use what we’ve talked about in the lectures and discussion posts. Obviously, if you directly quote the Tolkien text, cite the page number, but otherwise don’t worry about citing Tolkien.
I don’t care specifically about MLA or whatever. Those are perfectly good formats, but whatever you do, I just want something consistent. If citing, use can use parenthetical or footnotes. Work on writing a persuasive paper. Think structure, structure, structure.
You can go over the word count, but don’t be under the word count. I’m happy to read however long of a paper that you want to write. However, there is, generally speaking, a virtue to writing to the assigned word count. But don’t let that discourage you from further unpacking thoughts, if you need to.

Single space.
Use a not-crazy font.
Make sure you add a shnazzy title.

Last Completed Projects