Use How Will the World End? by Herbert C. Fyfe
Consider your text like a conscious brain. It has attitudes, prejudices, viewpoints, and arguments. (These can be discerned by close reading.) Now imagine that your text is “alive” in today’s world. Our historical context has changed a lot, but your text’s opinions about human nature, technology, religion, class, fate, etc., remain the same. Figure out what your text’s biggest fears and concerns are. And then ask your text: how do you think the world will end now? Given the world we’ve made as of 2019, what apocalypse does your text think we’re headed for? It might be a different one than the text originally imagined—or it might be exactly the same. But it must be something that a.) reflects your text’s concerns, and b.) is at least a somewhat reasonable fear to have today. (Climate collapse, nuclear war, and disease are all reasonable apocalypses in 2019; giant lobsters from the sea are not.)
In your introduction, explain the modern apocalypse your text would be worried about. In your paper, do close readings of the text that show why it would imagine this particular apocalypse. Assume your reader already knows all about today’s world, so you do not need to explain it. Focus your essay on analyzing your text.
Sample Solution
