Each of the works by Rush, Hawthorne, Poe, Irving, and Melville address conscious and/or subconscious fears common to people. This can be fear of death, fear of loss, fear of discomfort, or fear of the unknown. Choose two works by separate authors and analyze what fear is at work in a central character (this does not have to be the main character, but a major character in the work). Rather than a simple compare/contrast, you should be looking at how a common fear manifests itself in characters across authors and even genre.
Issues to consider:
How do the culture, structure, characterization, or setting contribute to the fear and eventual outcome?
How does this fear manifest in today’s culture?
Requires the use of 2 primary sources (works from Rush, Hawthorne, Poe, Irving, and Melville) and 2 secondary sources.
