Application: Women's Health and Well-Being Experienced Through Literature

For this Assignment, you take on the role of a literary critic. The job of the critic is to read, question, and dissect the technical and substantive elements of a work of literature to gauge quality, effectiveness, and ability to convey information. Imagine, for the sake of this activity, that you are writing an article for a literary magazine on the short stories of two notable female authors. Your article provides an evaluation of each story's ability to convey perspective on women's health and well-being.

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review characteristics of a short story in the "Glossary of Terms and Techniques for Literature and Creative Writing" document located in this week's Learning Resources. Document: Glossary of Terms and Techniques for Literature and Creative Writing (PDF)
• Define health and well-being. Do these terms have different meanings to different people?
• Compare and contrast depictions of physical and psychological health and well-being in the stories of Gilman and Chopin.
• Consider how the authors convey their perspectives on health and well-being.

The Assignment:

Write a 2-page analysis of Gilman's and Chopin's works on women's experiences of physical and psychological health and well-being. Explain how your own definition of health and well-being can be applied to each piece.

Note: Do not write a biography of Gilman's or Chopin's personal experiences. Instead, write an analysis of their writing using the techniques you have practiced in previous weeks.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the use of literary techniques in each author's story. Using literary terms, provide explanations for why it is or is not well written.