Assignment

Discussion Board 1 : A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

For this assignment, refer to the attached document below read the whole story then write 1 page.

Initial post of at least 300 words / two replies of at least 100 words each.

Analyze and respond to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." Refer to the "Writing about Literature" links to help guide your response. The prompts below can be used for brainstorming purposes. No need to answer them all and, of course, you can devise your own prompt if you like. Either way, be sure that your response is in short essay format (not just a string of short answers) with a clear thesis statement and supporting quotations.

1. If we consider the story to be an example of satire, then what idea, issue or situation is the target of the satire?

2. Why are the townspeople more interested in the Spider Woman than the angel? What does this say about human nature?

3. The story is full of fantastic imagery. Identify some of your favorites and explain how those images support a major theme of the story.

After writing your response, make 2 replies (150 words or more) to posts by your classmates. Your replies should focus on the content of the posts, not the form--in other words, don't bother pointing out errors in punctuation and grammar. Instead, focus on areas of agreement or disagreement in the analysis of the story.

Discussion Board 2: The Guest

Initial post of 300 words / two replies of 100 words each.

Respond to Albert Camus' "The Guest." You may use the following prompts to help you get started, or you may explore and interpretation of your own choosing. Remember to use textual evidence to support your claims and interpretations.

1. Albert Camus, along with Jean-Paul Sartre, was a central figure in the existentialist movement. What is existentialism and how might "The Guest" be an example of an existential crisis?

2. Was Daru's decision to let The Arab choose his own destiny a heroic or cowardly decision? What is the ultimate result of this decision? What lesson or theme do you think Camus is trying to communicate through this encounter?

Writer's Notebook 1

Look ahead to the instructions for Essay #3, the literary analysis. For that essay you will be asked to write an analysis of one of the stories included in the short stories folder in this unit.

For this journal assignment I want you to select the story you will use for your final essay and explore potential topics. The first step in approaching a literary analysis is to familiarize yourself with the story. That means reading it more than once and exploring a variety of possible topics. One way to explore topics is described in your reading from this unit:

After reading your story, a topic may just jump out at you, or you may have recognized a pattern or identified a problem that you'd like to think about in more detail. What is a pattern or a problem?

A pattern can be the recurrence of certain kinds of imagery or events. Usually, repetition of particular aspects of a story (similar events in the plot, similar descriptions, even repetition of particular words) tends to render those elements more conspicuous.

A problem, on the other hand, is something in the story that bugs you or that doesn't seem to add up. A character might act in some way that's unaccountable, a narrator may leave out what we think is important information (or may focus on something that seems trivial), or a narrator or character may offer an explanation that doesn't seem to make sense to us. Not all problems lead in interesting directions, but some definitely do and even seem to be important parts of the story. (UNC Writing Center)

Identify at least one pattern or problem with the story you have chosen. Describe the pattern or problem in detail, using quotations from the story where necessary. After you have done this, try to make connections between that pattern or problem and the theme of the story. These ideas may or may not become part of your essay; that's Ok. The purpose here is not to write a rough draft, but simply to become more familiar with the story.

This journal entry should be at least 300 words.

Writer's Notebook 2

You should have already read the instructions for the essay that concludes this Unit. You also should have already chosen the short story you will write about. Now it is time to begin conducting research.

For this journal assignment you will create a brief annotated bibliography. What is an annotated bibliography you ask?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. (Cornell Library Guides)

Locate at least four secondary sources (sources other than the story itself) that you intend to use in your upcoming essay, prepare an MLA citation for each and then annotate each entry by explaining how the source is relevant to your essay. Your research should be guided by the type of analysis you plan to conduct for the essay (i.e. biographical, historical, psychological, etc.). It would be a good idea to review "Finding and Evaluating Sources" from Unit 3 so that you know how to choose credible sources.

"For Esme - with Love and Squalor" by J.D. Sallinger

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

The Lesson

"At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers"

"The Guest" by Albert Camus.

Attachment:- A-Very-Old-Man-with-Enormous-Wings.rar