8th Annual WML Academic Symposium

Time: 12:30
Room: 303
Presenter(s): Reiley McLaughlin
Title: Paz and Eliot: The Impact of the Human Opinion
Developed under the guidance of Prof. Shirley Jefferds , English

This research paper has the intent of further exploring the human condition through the work of T.S. Eliot’s "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" and Octavio Paz’s "I Speak of the City." Although these two authors share their messages in exceedingly different manners, the impact of the human ego on decision-making is both debilitating and ludicrous given the ever-changing nature of society. I assert that more damage is done through the lack of action than in failure due to Paz’s claim that nature is destroying and recreating in an infinite circle that erases all the mistakes of the past.