I have a big paper to write and i can choose any topic in the humanities or english field?

answers1: well you could write about history such as the slave trade,
you could tell a story where you may be a slave and telling the
horrific conditions, thats part humanities and english.
answers2: Everyone says, "write about something that interests you" or
"write about what you know." <br>
<br>
I don't. <br>
<br>
If you knew what interested you, I don't think you'd be here asking
for help, and it doesn't sound like you're confident that "what you
know" will be interesting to your teacher. <br>
<br>
Time for a new approach! <br>
<br>
Rather than writing about something that's interesting to you, I
suggest you pick something at random and research why its interesting
*to others.* This is a tad like being a lawyer, who may or may not
actually care about the topic, but can convincingly and passionately
argue about it. <br>
<br>
In general, you have two possibilities: <br>
<br>
1. Write about the underlying controversy of the apparently mundane.
For example, a number of literary critics think that video games are
destroying literacy in America. What if it's the opposite? Perhaps
this generation is developing a visual literacy instead of a print
literacy, etc. Another example is in analyzing the roots of something
like dating, the 40-hour workweek, the development of minimum wage,
etc. Each of these are part of everyday life and are generally
accepted without question, but who decided that 8 hours / day was an
ideal schedule? How do they determine the fair "bare minimum" wage for
day labor? <br>
<br>
2. Pick something that you've seen in class and take a new approach to
it. If you've read the Great Gatsby this semester, apply a critical
lens to it. For example, what might a Marxist say about Gatsby's quest
to reinvent himself by using (and exploiting) loopholes in capitalism?
What might a feminist say about Daisy's clinging to Tom? Are Nick's
actions particularly heroic? Is Meyer Wolfsheim a trickster-figure,
etc. Sources can add a LOT to a literary text. I once read an article
by Donald Palumbo where he used Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a
Thousand Faces" to analyze Terminator 2, and it was COOL. <br>
<br>
One more idea: people in the Humanities are about the uplifting of the
human spirit and the elveation of mankind's efforts, which means that
no topic is really out of reach. Think about something really off the
beaten path and ask if it's making our world a better place. For
example, the national HALO championship team (I know, but there
actually is a tournament) recently appeared on ESPN. During the
interview, they *demanded* to be called "athletes" and insisted that
the interviewer refer to them this way, (i.e. "how does it feel to be
an athlete of this caliber?"). Is this kind of thing uplifting to the
human condition? Does the amount of screentime that an American
teenager and HALO champion demand equate to the athletic
accomplishment of the best football (sorry, "Soccer") players
globally, many of whom are from countries we consider to be in the
"third world"? Is it audacious to demand recognition for a mediocre
accomplishment in comparison to the lack of coverage afforded to a
major one? <br>
<br>
Best of luck, <br>
<br>
TKO12
answers3: Anything that really interested you in class that you wanted
to learn more about. Maybe about some literature that you read or a
favorite period that you would like to research.