What is the attitude that O.Henry/Jack London/Maupassant (choose two) take toward money? Is it a force for good? Is there a morality to wealth in these stories?
Compare the writing styles between one Romantic story and one Realist story. How is the writing different? Make sure you look at language, grammar, syntax and/or rhetorical devices.
How are Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne Romantic authors? To what extent are their stories Romantic?
How do two or three Romantic authors or poets demonstrate their departure from the Enlightenment ideals of Reason? (Or how do they retain some ideals of Reason?)
