English

Note: Students may want to review pages 36-77 for examples of literary essays.

This paper uses primary sources only. Do not go to the Internet for any research or help for the paper. Only use the texts from the prompt and any notes from class. Once again, students should not go to the Internet for any research or help.

Select one of the options below. Write a 4-6 page essay response to the prompt. The work cited page is not counted among the 4-6 page response.

Assure that your essay:
Has an effective introductory strategy
Includes a thesis that directly addresses the question
Has well developed paragraphs with topic sentences, evidence, and analysis
Avoid serious grammatical and punctuation errors such as: subject-verb agreement, tense (always write in present tense), pronoun-reference agreement, run-ons, fragments, and comma-splices.
Always refer to the author(s) by last name.
Includes textual evidence that is smoothly incorporated into the text
Includes correct application of MLA format for in-text citations and the Works Cited page
Do not use outside sources for this essay. Use only the story/ies in the textbook

Topic #1
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin features a Southern woman as the protagonist. Compare and contrast the actions and motivations of the two characters. Do the characters share any similarities? Explain.
Topic # 2
Both “The Story of an Hour” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” create a dreamlike, disorienting atmosphere that has an unsettling effect on the protagonists. However, “The Story of an Hour” is essentially a realistic story while “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is something quite different. Compare and contrast these two stories, focusing on how the stories’ events affect the two protagonists and their perception of reality.
Topic # 3
Write an essay about the cultural context (review Chapter 3 ) of the excerpt from Art Spiegelman’s Maus on pages 166-170. Explain how this story establishes traditional literary concepts such as theme, plot, conflict and character.
Topic # 4
Select two stories from the short short story section Chapter 10 pages 125-142. EX: “Love and Other Catastrophes” and “Snow” Explain which story in this chapter is the most conventional. Why? What elements does this story have to make it a conventional story? What story is the least conventional? Why? Does it still work as a story? Explain what are some advantages of a short-short story? What are some advantages of a non-conventional story?
Topic # 5
Write about themes in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K Le Guin. One theme of the story is the importance of the individual versus the importance of the whole community. Is it better to live in a society where one (or a few) suffer for the betterment of everyone, or is it better for to live in a society where everyone has a fair shot at happiness but may mean not as many people have access to happiness? Who is more important? The individual or the community? Decide where you stand. Provide evidence from the story to support your stance. Also, provide evidence from your own knowledge, observations and experiences in the society you live. EX: Consider COVID and controversy over masks, which is an individual versus society issue. Try to form other examples to support your paper.
Topic # 6
Compare the cultural context (review Chapter 3) of “Snow” by Julia Alvarez and “Pilon” by Sandra Cisneros (see pages 125 – 142). Compare the protagonists in the two stories.