English Essay Prompts: Short Story Genre

Please select one of the prompts below, and compose a 3-page paper that addresses the prompt directly. Your fourth pagewill be your Works Cited page that should include a citation for your anthology AND for the one literary database you may consult online- Macgill Literature.

1. Consider how symbols convey the central meanings of Meinke's "The Cranes"and Chopin's "The Story of an Hour."

2. Compare Carver's style in "Popular Mechanics"with Ernest Hemingway's in "Soldier's Home."

3. Write an essay comparing the ending of Maupassant's "The Necklace"with Carver's "Popular Mechanics."What is the effect of the ending on your reading of each story?

4. Compare the use of dialogue in Meinke's "The Cranes"with Carver's "Popular Mechanics."

5. Consider the use of humor in Munro's "An Ounce of Cure"and Boyle's "Carnal Knowledge."

6. Consider the use of first person narration in Munro's "An Ounce of Cure"and Boyle's "Carnal Knowledge."

7. Discuss how the relationship between men and women (whether married or living together) is depicted in Chopin's "The Story of an Hour,"Meinke's "The Cranes,"Carver's "Popular Mechanics"and Boyle's "Carnal Knowledge. "What are the similarities in these authors'depiction and what are the differences.

Important Note: For the purposes of the assignment, assume your reader is familiar with the stories but needs help understanding them. In that way you won't get bogged down with unnecessary summary.

In your paper, it is important to draw from specific passages from the stories you've chosen to write about, and these stories will need to be properly cited in MLA format on a Works Cited page.

• Please read prompt #1 and write 3page essay
• MLA Style
• No outside sources
• Must have 3-4 quotes from reading, but no more than 2 lines each.
• Please No plagiarims ( will submit it in turitin.com)

READINGS

1. The Cranes by Peter Meinke
goo.gl/5IjVhb

2. The story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
http://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/webtexts/hour/