Assignment

These guidelines must be followed:

1. Length: a minimum of three or more, double-spaced, typed pages (750 - 1000 words.).
2. Follow MLA format.
3. Must include an introduction.
4. Must include a thesis statement.
5. Must include body paragraphs (topic sentence, body, summary/transition).
6. Must include a conclusion.
7. Must include a title.

Short Story Topics: choice one of these questions below:

1. Discuss the role of "History" in King's "A Short History of Indians in Canada." In your discussion, consider the symbolic function of the Indian characters as birds.

2. Discuss the relationship between "Native" and "non-Native people" as depicted in one of Thomas King's short stories: "A Short History of Indians in Canada," "Totem," or "Magpies."

3. Discuss the symbolic function of a literary device(s) in "The Dog I Wish I Had, I Would Call it Helen," or, "Coyote and the Enemy Aliens." What is the central theme of one of these stories, and what is King saying about the shared cultural space of Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people?

4. In Thomas King's "Totem," "Magpies," "Coyote and the Enemy Aliens" and "Haida Gwaii,"the role of Nature is significant. What is King doing with Nature? Does Nature have something to do with ceremony, and if so, then what is the connection to identity?

5. Discuss the negotiation of cultural space in the forming of identity in either "Totem" by Thomas King, or, "Magpies," or, "Rendezvous," or "Little Bombs," also by King. In your essay analyze the central character's negotiation of real and imagined boundaries in his/herunderstanding of self/other. What do the characters in either story suggest through their acts of resistance to dominant ideologies or institutions?