English 1B, Introduction to Literature

Dale T. Jensen, Instructor

A Fully Accredited Online Course Offered By Barstow College

Short Story Paper

Your first literary paper will be on the short story. You may select any short story from the list of fiction in the weekly outline; the link is on the class homepage. It does not matter if we have read and discussed the story already or if it appears in future lessons. HOWEVER, IT MUST BE A SHORT STORY THAT WE WILL COVER AS A CLASS.

Do not write on a play or a poem. Those genres will be the subjects of papers later in the session. 

You need to say something intelligent about the story you select. PLEASE DO NOT JUST SUMMARIZE THE PLOT! You will analyze and interpret the story or you may focus on some literary element that the author uses. Here are some possible topics from the stories we have already covered:

1. The use of vernacular in Bambara’s "The Lesson"

2. Social, economic, and racial elements in the "The Lesson"

3. The use of character names in O’Connor’s "Good Country People"

4. Character deception in "Good Country People"

5. Existential philosophy in Hemingway’s "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

6. The dichotomy of age and youth in "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

7. Point of view in Cisneros' "The House on Mango Street"

8. Images of poverty and hope in Cisneros' "The House on Mango Street"

9. Color symbolism in Hawthorne’s "Young Goodman Brown"

10. The use of Salem witchcraft allusions in "Young Goodman Brown"

11. Religious imagery in Joyce’s "Araby"

12.The religious and erotic paradox in "Araby"

These are just a few topics that came to mind as I looked at the titles. You may use one of the above topics or you may come up with one of your own. Don’t forget the other short stories listed on the weekly outline.

You need to read "Responding to Literature," specifically pages 6-11, and "Writing about Literature," pages 54-59. There is a sample student essay on Harlan Ellison’s "‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman." The focus is on theme, characters and setting.

Here are a couple websites that have posted essays on stories that we have already covered:

"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

http://www.storybites.com/hemingwayclean2.htm 

"Young Goodman Brown"

http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/Hawthorne.htm

These essays are just to give you ideas about the writing. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! YOU WILL FAIL THIS CLASS IF YOU DO. I am aware what is available on the Internet and can easily do a search to determined if the your submission is copied.

Be sure to included the following in your paper when you type it up in your word processing program:

1. Create a title for your essay.

2. Write an introduction that gets the reader’s attention. State the title of the story and the author’s name. Write a thesis that argues for your interpretation and analysis. Don’t write an announcement ("I am writing about. . ." or "My essay is about. . .").

3. The multi-paragraph body must support your thesis. Here you can use short quotations to prove your points. Every idea in the body must support the thesis.

4. In the conclusion reword your thesis and summarize your main points. End with a clincher (a strong memorable statement).

5. The length should be between 500-700 words. Use your word processing to count the words. It is just as bad to overwrite as it is to underwrite. Writing errors will lower your score, so proofread carefully and do spell check.

6. When you are finished with your essay, put a few extra spaces between the paragraphs to prevent your paragraphs from being run together when I receive it.

7. You must use the feedback form to submit your paper. Your submission will automatically be labeled so it can easily be sorted. Just copy, paste, and submit.

Use your real name, not your username or password in the feedback form. If you do not type in your e-mail address correctly, you will not get your graded assignment returned. 

By submitting this assignment, you affirm  that you wrote it for this class and allow it to undergo a plagiarism search.  Plagiarism is punishable by failure in this course.

If you have any questions on this assignment, contact me by e-mail. Put HELP!!! in the subject line. Sometimes I get over 100 e-mails a day. I look at the HELP!!! messages first. Good luck!

Happy Reading and Writing!

Mr. Jensen