Topics and Questions We Can Help You To Answer:

Paper Instructions:

Choose any two of the assigned stories from the fiction unit, and write an analytical essay of 750-1000 words that uses a comparison/contrast pattern. Determine which literary elements you want to analyze, and focus intensely on those, using evidence from the story, as well as your own logical reasoning, to make your case. Here are a few topic ideas: · The murderers (the Misfit and Montresor) in ″A Good Man Is Hard to Find″ and ″A Cask of Amontillado″ · Or alternatively, Arnold Friend (killer from “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”) and the Misfit · The women and the contrasting imagery of freedom and imprisonment in ″The Story of an Hour″ and ″The Yellow Wallpaper″ · The minimalist style of “Popular Mechanics” and “Hills Like White Elephants” · The conflict between couples in any two stories (“The Yellow Wallpaper,” “Pop Mechanics,” “Hills”) · The settings of any two stories (historical, geographical, physical) · The Vietnam-era “The Things They Carried” to Ernest Hemingway’s World War I-era story, “Soldier’s Home” · The Southern Gothic of “A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” · The symbolism in any two stories (“Young Goodman Brown”; “The Yellow Wallpaper”; “Hills”; “Popular Mechanics”; “The Things They Carried”; etc.) · The irony in any two stories (“Story of an Hour”; “Yellow Wallpaper”; “Cask”; “A Rose for Emily”; etc.) Remember to discuss theme somewhere in the essay. You must make it clear to your reader why your comparison is helpful in understanding something important about the two stories you’ve chosen. We read stories to apply them to our own lives and the real world, so make sure that you identify and discuss a universal theme. For example, one universal theme of “The Things They Carried” is this: More important than the physical burdens of a soldier at war are the psychological and emotional burdens that weigh upon him. This statement of a theme does not mention a specific soldier but instead makes an observation about soldiers in general—in other words, it states a “universal” truth. Use a point-by-point pattern of development. In other words, the first body paragraph will discuss the first point of comparison or contrast between the two stories. The next paragraph will discuss the second point of comparison/contrast, and so forth. Each body paragraph should begin with a strong, clear topic sentence to guide the reader (e.g., Both stories have a similar child narrator who seeks to please a parent). After you do some pre-writing activities (listing points of c/c) to help you get started, develop a tentative thesis and a scratch outline to organize your ideas. Once you′ve completed a draft of this essay, consider using the Writing Lab (TC313 or online writing lab) to get some feedback and advice for improvement. See my online notes the Fiction Unit for some suggestions about revising. Before you submit an essay to me, carefully revise your draft. Be sure to take the Revision Quiz by the deadline listed on syllabus. Every point you make in the body of your essay must be immediately, clearly, and specifically supported by evidence and reasoning. The evidence comes from the story, in the combined form of keyword quotations and succinct summary of important events. You must do more than merely tell your reader about a particular element in a story, you must SHOW us how you drew your conclusions. The “showing” part comes in when you sprinkle ample quotations drawn directly from the stories you’ve chosen. The quotations should be logically chosen to illustrate your analysis, and each must be followed by a parenthetical citation in correct MLA style, like this (Chopin 73). The citation always goes at the end of a sentence, immediately before the period (regardless of where the quotation appears in the sentence). You will end your essay with a Works Cited page listing the stories in proper MLA citation format. See pages 70+ for information about citing the stories you use. • An effective comparison has some overall coherent point • In other words, a reason—beyond the fact that you’ve gotten an assignment—for bringing together two different stories • That reason might be a shared theme, shared effects (both have surprise endings), shared moods, or shared styles. Look at the brainstorming below for a comparison-contrast paper: The Yellow Wallpaper • Style: rambling, repetitive, suggesting monotony of housewife’s life • Protagonist (trapped in attic, without control) • Protagonist (fantasy life) • Protagonist: sacrifices her sanity • Theme: Both are concerned with individual freedom, but the former focuses on the emotional and mental burdens of marriage and society’s expectations for women Here’s a model outline. Tentative thesis: Both Gilman and O’Brien use similar styles expectations of society; however, Gilman’s focus is on intimate relationships while O’Brien’s is on duty to country. I. The stories share a similar rambling style that reflects the protagonist’s reality. II. The main character in each story lacks control over his environment. III. Both protagonists are highly imaginative. IV. Both the unnamed narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Jimmy Cross are forced to make a substantial sacrifice. V. In each story, the theme involves carrying a mental and emotional burden that comes from the expectations and obligations imposed by society. A comparison-contrast must do more than list similarities and differences. It must elaborate on the significance of these similarities and differences, telling the reader what these things mean or why they are important. For example, what is the significance of the imaginative protagonists in the outline above? We might say that their tendency to fantasize is what makes each one vulnerable. Gilman’s narrator is perhaps more vulnerable to delusion because of her rich imagination, while Jimmy Cross is more apt to ignoring his responsibilities because he prefers the comfort of his imaginary romance. The essay should also move beyond simple comparison of superficial details (one woman has a name, the other does not) and into interpretation of the details you choose to mention (for example, why does Gilman’s narrator go unnamed?). To make a literary analysis thesis significant, the thesis must make some observation of the “bigger picture” or meaning of the story. Here’s a tentative thesis suggesting a comparison: Both stories have protagonists that are unhappy wives suffering from an illness, and both have a bedroom as the primary physical setting. To improve this thesis, the student would want to answer the question “So what?” Here’s a possibility for revision: While imagery of freedom in one story contrasts sharply with imagery of imprisonment in the other, Chopin and Gilman use similar protagonists and settings to convey a shared theme: in any marriage, if one spouse dominates, the other suffers. Alternatively, this thesis would work: While imagery of freedom in one story contrasts sharply with imagery of imprisonment in the other, Chopin and Gilman use similar protagonists and settings to convey a shared outcome: both women experience a tragic end—one finds freedom only in death, the other in total insanity. Your thesis should clearly suggest a comparison/contrast approach to your topic, list several points of comparison and contrast, and give us a reason to care about your analysis. The first or second sentence of each body paragraph should be a clear, concise topic sentence, or main idea of the paragraph. Think of writing body paragraphs as a repetition of these steps: 1. Make a point (topic sentence) 2. Provide evidence or an example to support that point (details from the story, poem, or play) 3. Explain how the evidence supports the point and how the point is related to the thesis. 4. “Wrap up” your paragraph with a sentence that reminds the reader of your point or connects back to the thesis. The Things They Carried • Style: rambling, repetitive, suggesting monotony of soldier’s life • Protagonist: trapped in war without control • Protagonist (daydreams of Martha) • Protagonist: sacrifices his romantic worldview • Theme: Focuses on emotional and mental burdens of soldiers at war, and on society’s expectations of warriors and protagonists to develop a theme about the burdensome Good points about the above thesis: · It clearly lists the literary elements that will be analyzed (protagonists and physical settings) · It clearly suggests that the essay to follow is a comparison Bad points about above thesis: · Doesn’t offer significant insight into the stories’ meanings · Doesn’t connect to a shared theme or outcome · Doesn’t analyze differences Writing an Introduction to a Literary Analysis. You already learned to write introductions in Composition I, but while similar in concept, an introduction to a literary analysis is slightly different (be happy: in some ways it is much easier than a ″regular″ intro). A literary introduction MUST contain the following information: The author′s full name (don′t use ″Mr.″ or other title). After naming an author completely in the introduction, we simply refer to him/her by last name in further references throughout the essay. For example, in the introduction we write ″Edgar Allan Poe″; in subsequent paragraphs we say ″Poe.″ The title of the story/poem/play about which you are writing. The title of a short story or poem should be indicated by quotation marks. The title of a play or longer work is underlined or italicized (NOTE: underlining and italicizing are equivalent for purposes of format). A brief summary of the plot(s). This summation is meant to refresh the reader’s memory about the literature you will discuss in the body of the paper. It should be perhaps 2-4 sentences long, not lengthy, and it should get to the heart or importance of the story/poem/play. A clear, concise thesis statement that suggests the emphasis of your essay. Your thesis statement must refer to the meaning(s) of the story, but it will almost certainly contain references to one or more formal elements of literature.