- In Flush, Virginia Woolf gives an account of how Flush comes to a new kind of love for both Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning (see the paragraph Chapter Three beginning “After two and a half hours of miserable confinement” and ending at the conclusion of the chapter for the details); in Call of the Wild, Jack London describes the love that Buck comes to feel for John Thornton (Chapter VI, For the Love of a Man). This topic asks you to compare the two accounts—not from the perspective of how a dog loves, but from the perspective of what each author wants to get across about the love of an animal for a human being. What is Woolf’s account trying to say about pet dogs like Flush, about pets in general, about love itself—and why? What is London trying to say about dogs and love and why? The important part of this essay is exploring the why in its different forms across the two texts.
Instructions. You will write a 4-5 page essay on one of the following topics. You must write on an assigned topic—writing on unrelated topics will result in a failing grade. Your essay will be evaluated on the following criteria: 1. Quality of the argument or representation of a position; 2. Your use of the textual material to support your claims (quotes, analyzing passages, etc); and 3. Quality of prose (mechanics, grammar, style). You should read and think carefully about the topic you choose before starting to write—each one is potentially a very complex issue to explore.