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Essay Topic 1

Consider the epigraphs from Ellison, Melville, and Nabokov. Typically, epigraphs suggest one or more of the themes of the works they introduce. Do the epigraphs of We Cast a Shadow effectively suggest one or more of the novel’s themes? If so, how? If not, what purpose does the epigraph serve, and how does it achieve it?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the effects of the narrator’s refusal to name himself in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Early on, the narrator notes the contents of Octavia’s library, which include Eyes without a Face, The Hip Hop Ontologist’s View of Leda and the Swan, and Blackstone’s Law; Octavia notes that the books are “real, but mainly for effect” (8). What effect are they likely to have, and why?

Essay Topic 4

The narrator relates the following anecdote: “Last year one of the transactions shareholders had died cradling a...

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