Assignment
Your first essay is a 3.5-4 page paper analyzing a major theme which is shared by two short stories. You will establish and sustain a thematic connection between two stories that we have discussed in class, and you will explain how one or two literary devices are used to manifest the theme or themesin the stories. Be careful to *avoid plot summary.
ASSUME THAT YOUR AUDIENCE IS FAMILIAR WITH THE STORIES.
Your thesis must answer the question: "How do the author's choices reflect and enhance the theme of ____?"
Note that though you are writing about two stories, this is not a comparison/ contrast essay. The purpose of this essay is to argue and prove how the theme(s) you identify play out in the text. You may write about more than one theme, and you may write more about one story than the other.
Common literary themes: Person vs. Nature, Person vs. Society, Person vs. God (or Religion), Crime and Injustice, Overcoming Adversity, An Individual Finds Their Voice/Role/Place in Life, The Complexities of Family, Love Conquers All (or Not), Death is a Part of Life, Sacrifice, Virtue vs. Vice, Dealing with Outrageous Fortune.
Getting Started
The following are process/ "thinking" questions to suggest possible focus:
Theme: What are some of the ideas or "life lessons" within the story? What does the author emphasize, and what is significant to those ideas? What does the author try to "teach" us?
Literary Devices:
1. Narrative perspective: Who is telling the story? Where do the narrator's sympathies lie; where is there possible bias? What is the quality of the narrator? --the distance? WHY (or to what effect) has the author chosen the particular narrator? How would the story be changed if told from another narrative perspective?
2. Setting: Where and when does the story take place? Don't forget the importance of social factors and context to the setting. What are the characters? attitudes to their setting? What does that place and time have to do with illuminating the story? Why is it important that the "backdrop" (or setting) is as it is? Is the setting used in any way symbolically?
3. Other useful literary devices (used commonly but not always) include foreshadowing, flashback
irony, mood/tone, metaphor, allusion, symbolism, dialogue, characterization, hyperbole, personification, foil
Caution: It is all too easy to find yourself retelling the story.
Tried and true formula: identify a common theme (or two or three for each story; only one must be in common) and analyze how the author shows it through the use of one or two literary devices. Discuss ways in which authors use such devices differently to achieve various effects. THEN, develop these ideas in a discussion about the deeper meaning and/or value of the stories.