James Joyce Araby Richard Wright Big Black Good Man

Literature and Culture

LENGTH: 4 pages (full pages- excluding heading and works cited page), Standard MLA Formatting (12 point Times New Roman, 1 margins, etc).

RESEARCH: 5 critical sources (quoted or paraphrased) are required. These sources may be in the form of literary criticism or articles and materials on topical issues from the databases or other reputable, authoritative, critical sources (i.e no Cliffs Notes, Shmoop, Wikipedia, etc). These should help frame your argument.

PROMPT: For this essay, you will write an essay looking at what you consider to be a significant theme in any of the optional short stories listed below and demonstrating how that fictional account is replicating, reflecting, or refracting the real world. Theme is larger than the plot points and characters. It is the way the story connects to the world outside of it and what it says about that convergence. This intersection between the imagined and the real is the focus here.

That real world aspect can come from another college course you are currently enrolled in or be taken from current events.

You will formulate an original thesis and support that thesis by using primary source material (passages and paraphrased information from the story, works of history for example) and secondary material in the form of literary criticism or other critical sources. The materials used as research must come from library resources (online databases, catalog, etc). Any outside web sources should be approved (acceptable ones are governmental websites, major health organizations, noted reputable news sources, etc).

As with our first essay, this is not simply a comparative essay, this is an argument where you explore a contemporary issue through the lens of short fiction.

GUIDELINES:

1. Please include a title for your essay. Within the introduction paragraph the name of the story and its author should appear.

2. The thesis statement for this paper is, as in any essay, the central focus of the entire paper. Please make certain that the thesis is specific, clearly worded, and factually accurate. It is typically stated near the end of the introduction. This should be the start of a valid argument that you develop via literary analysis and critical thought.

3. All quoted material from the stories should include a parenthetical notation per MLA standards following the direct quotation. A works cited in MLA format should be placed at the end of the essay.

4. Secondary materials should be introduced with an attributive tag (According to Dr. Chip Arnold, a literature scholar and McCarthy critic) within the text. For the sake of your own credibility as a writer, an attributive tag allows your reader to understand precisely why you have selected the material and why they should take it seriously. As is the case in all academic work, the quality of a secondary reference may positively or negatively impact your message. Choose critical work most carefully.

5. Please feel free to see me personally for draft review and/or assistance.

EXAMPLE: Here is a brief example of an introductory paragraph which responds to this assignment.

This example focuses upon the theme issue of inequalities within the public education system and the negative effects children (and ultimately adults) suffer as a result of such a system, a theme present in the short story Everyday Use.

The featured story is Alice Walkers Everyday Use. Here is the opening paragraph which includes the thesis:

A decade ago Jonathon Kozols landmark book Savage Inequality shed a light on inequities faced by poor children in American public schools. Since then, numerous writers, journalists, and researchers have reiterated Kozols idea that inequality in education can rupture the National fabric, ripping communities, neighborhoods, and families apart. One such family thus affected by inequities in education faced by the poor are the Johnsons of Alice Walkers Everyday Use. One fortunate member of the Johnson family is anointed as worthy of an educationthe others, however, are denied. The immense difference in these characters leads to a less than harmonious family. The interaction among the Johnson women in Everyday Use does indeed illustrate savage inequality in education.

Another timely option could pair William Faulkners A Rose For Emily to the current cultural conflict over removing Confederate monuments. Raymond Carvers Cathedral and the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Short Story Options

Shirley Jackson The Lottery Ursula K Le Guin Those Who Walk Away From Omelas

James Joyce Araby Richard Wright Big Black Good Man

Kate Chopin The Story of an Hour William Faulkner Barn Burning

Eudora Welty A Worn Path David Michael Kaplan Doe Season

TC Boyle Greasy Lake Tobias Wolfe Bullet In The Brain

Flannery OConnor Everything That Rises Must Converge Amy Tan Two Kinds