ENG 101
10/1/2002
Rasmi Sporny

About Men.

Question:
Do you think the title "About Men" is misleading? Does it justify the content of the essay?

Themes:
Stereotypes of Cowboys
Man's value measured in physical courage
Hard working individuals
Compassionate and selfless cowboys
Survivors

Ideas for Research:
Try and watch some of the following movies : The Covered Wagon, the Iron Horse, High Noon, Hondo, the Man of The West and Unforgiven.
Find out whether the characters in these movies relate to Gretel Ehrlich's stereotypical behavior between 'cowboys' and women.

Ideas for Presentation:
Create a Cowboy's 'shopping list', with all the stereotypical items that a cowboy would need. Make it amusing.
example:
2 horses
3 pairs of boots
1 wife
28 packets of beef jerky

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ENG 101
10/1/2002
Rasmi Sporny

Work Labor and Play

Question:
Auden mentions the period when aristrocracies had ample amounts of free time for leisurable activities. What about the lower-class citizens? Wren't the majority of them laborers? Does this mean that the term 'work' didn't exist back then?

Themes:
Labor as an unenjoyable job
Work as an enjoyable job
Play as a mode of happiness and relaxation
Influence of society on what we do for a living
Interpretation of 'leisure' according to one's job

Idea for research:
Interview a few people of different ages and gender. Ask them if they enjoy their jobs and what they consider as 'leisure'. Then compare your results with Auden's ideas and see if there is a match.

Idea for Presentation:
Write a two voice poem about the same person, but with one in a 'parallel world'. One of the people has a 'dream' job and the other has quite the opposite.