RESPONSE PAPER

General Instructions

Write a 5-paragraph essay (600+ words) nominating as "the best" one short-short story from the list of short stories that you have read this week:

Kate Chopin, "Story of an Hour," pp. 115-17
Naguib Mahfouz, "Half a Day" http://bths.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2011/2/9/55225386/Half%20A%20Day001.pdf
Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," 224-31
Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart," pp. 331-33
Alice Walker, "Everyday Use," pp. 255-60.

To decide which short-short story is the "best," you will need to first skim all the stories provided and make some notes on your impressions. Decide in which order to read the stories. Then read each story.

Once you have read the stories and decided which one is "best," re-read the "best" and make some notes about its plot, setting, characters, point of view, and style (sentence structure, diction, and tone). Review your responses to the "Discuss" prompts submitted in this unit. You might even consider your response paper a conversation with the work you have just read. What questions does it seem to ask you? What reactions does it elicit, and why? Which aspect of the work affected you, or resonated with you, the most? What is the theme of this story and how do the elements of the story work together to create the theme? If, as F.R. Leavis once said, literature is the means by which we "undergo a renewal of sensuous and emotional life, and learn a new awareness," what sort of awareness do you achieve when reading this particular story?

You will need to use at least two to three elements of fiction in your reasoning to justify why this short-short story is the best. For example, do you encounter a character that you cheer on even though you may also scream in your head, "Don't do that! It's the wrong choice!"? Does the dialogue sound like a conversation you wished you had with another? Does the plot compel you to "not be able to put the text down" - you HAD to read every page in just one sitting? (And so forth).

Once you've made your notes, you will be ready to draft your first essay for the class. Provide a thesis statement which incorporates at least three elements of fiction. Here are some ways in which you can state your thesis:

Story A by Author B is the best short-short story because its setting, characters, and diction all show an anxious attitude that works perfectly to support its theme concerning the madness of modern life.

Through plot, character, and symbolism, X's short-story Y reveals the fragility of mortal life.

This short-story stands out because of the distinctive ways in which the author uses point of view, diction, and irony to capture . . . .

Author A's use of ... makes story B both entertaining and enlightening. Taken together, these elements allow him/her to explore the effects of ... on ...

Story A is an achingly beautiful meditation on love and loss, a theme Author B conveys through ...

Note that these are just examples. There is no right answer. Any one of the stories on this list is arguably the "best." Your nomination will be accepted as long as you provide justification for your choice by referencing at least three elements of fiction (plot, setting, characters, etc.).

Please draw from your existing knowledge of writing to put forth your best work on this essay. Note that while quotes and excerpts from the short-short story in question will help provide evidence for your reasons, the idea of this assignment is NOT to summarize the plot (simply tell what happened in the story). Rather, discuss how the elements of fiction work together to create a memorable piece that you consider the "best" out of the choices given.

Suggested questions to consider when summarizing your text:

- What exposition (background info) is given in the text?
- Where and when is the story set?
- What point-of-view is the text written in? Is the narrator reliable or unreliable?
- Who is the protagonist? The antagonist? The foil? The minor characters?
- What is the central conflict of the text and how does it change the protagonist?
- What is the climax of the text? The resolution?

Suggested questions to consider when interpreting the text thematically:

- What do you think is the author's message? What did s/he want his/her reader to feel, believe, or do upon finishing this text? Why do you think so?
- How does the author convey this message through repeated words, phrases, or images?
- What is the significance of the title? How does the setting impact the events in the text?
- What symbols did you identify in the text and what are they symbolic of?
- What do the plot, the fate of the characters, and the outcome of the central conflict imply about the author's worldview, philosophy, or value system? Has your own worldview, philosophy, or value system been swayed or challenged? Do you think the author meant for it to be? Why or why not?

Paper formatting and in-text citations should follow MLA formatting (quotation marks around borrowed phrases and page number at end of sentence). The References section should follow APA, which is the desired format for your discipline. You are not to do any outside research for this assignment.

Feel free to use "I," since this type of essay expresses your personal reaction to a work of literature. See the sample reader-response in the Course Materials folder for Unit 1. Refer to 1) pages 29-31 in LIT for a sample response paper and 2) the first checklist on p. 44