You can choose one or more of the following stories/films to answer one of the prompts below:
Akutagawa’s “In a Grove”/Kurosawa’s “Rashomon”
Auster’s “Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story”/Wang’s “Smoke”
Choose one of the following topics and write a well-developed essay with an introduction, supportive paragraphs, and a conclusion.
1) Elaborate on or contest the following premise: The Slippery Nature of Truth”
The truth remains elusive, relativistic, partial, and always incomplete; it cannot be learned in totality. Even when we believe we have encountered the truth, changes in perception or events that follow often distort the believability of that truth, and make us question if truth exists.
2) How do one or more of the films/stories consider characters’ motivations, reference the self-serving nature of humans, and the subjectivity of their moral values.
3) Auster has Paul stating in “Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story”, “As long as there’s one person to believe it, there’s no story that can’t be true.” Reference our films/stories to agree or disagree.