Long Reading and short writing

Sample writing assignment: Desire in “The Prussian Officer.” As always, in this assignment, I will be looking for a clear argument, strong textual evidence, and a well-formatted and written response. Please be sure to provide a Works Cited. This can be in any form you are most comfortable with (AP, MLA, Chicago, Oxford, etc.), but should make it clear what is being referred to and where that item can be found. Please note: the 250-word limit (plus or minus 10%) applies only to the text of your argument. It does not include the works cited or the heading information. Sample question: What do we learn about the working of desire in Lawrence’s “The Prussian Officer”? A. Student Writing Assignment, Module 6 Desire plays a disruptive role in “The Prussian Officer,” ultimately revealing that individual consciousness is an illusion. The story centers on the relationship between an officer and his orderly. The officer seeks to repress his homosexual desires by occasionally taking a mistress, but this only makes him “more hostile and irritable” (19). He develops, however, something of an attraction for his orderly, whose “young, vigorous, unconscious presence” (19) captivates him. He has, however, no way to express this desire, preferring instead to torment his orderly by questioning him about his sweetheart. This does not, however, satisfy his desire and his frustration builds until it explodes in violence and he kicks the orderly repeatedly. This violence is then reproduced by the orderly when he attacks the officer. The sexually-charged language of the passage—“ Heavy convulsions shook the body of the officer” (31)—makes it clear that the orderly himself experiences some level of desire for the captain, but that he too is unable to process this in a non-violent manner. Both men are unable to handle their desire and the result is a death scene that reads almost like a sexual act. The orderly escapes and sets off on the run, but the disruptive effects of desire continue to break down his consciousness. Indeed, he seems to black out for a period. His thoughts gradually dissociate: his thirst “seemed to have separated itself from him” (35). Desire, in other words, has disrupted his sense of himself as a coherent individual, showing that consciousness is just a temporary alignment of separate drives. [261 words] Works Cited. D.H. Lawrence, “The Prussian Officer,” Module 6 Readings: English 220.01. Summer 2017.