Ode on a Grecian URL

Explain the thesis, evidence, analysis and conclusion of your second essay in a single 300-word paragraph-long abstract. This is not the same thing as an introductory paragraph: I'm asking you to give me a sense of what passages you will be closely reading, what your close readings will be, how you will analyze those close readings, and how you will suggest something about the significance of that close reading. Consequently, this hebdomadal should aggressively pursue the central argument of your essay.

If you are collaborating on your essay, then you may collaborate on this hebdomadal as well.

(Note: I have not yet finished Tess; I reserve the right to rewrite this prompt when I do. Any essays submitted before then will be perfectly valid, of course.)

What does it mean for a novel that emphasizes the importance of cycles to come to an ending? You might want to compare the end of Tess to the end of Great Expectations -- in discussing the end of GE, Prof. Ortiz-Robles asked what it meant for a novel about change and progress to come to an end. How does Tess, a novel also about change and progress, negotiate its cyclical argument and its truncated linear form?