This is an analytical essay dealing with fiction. Therefore, it must analyze at least one of the short stories we read in class this semester.
This is a research paper. You must incorporate at least 2 sources in your paper that are peer reviewed: books and/or research articles from peer-reviewed journals. No sources in this paper are to be from other internet sources, such as Sparknotes, dictionaries, encyclopedias, other websites, etc. If you use these type of sources your grade will be reduced by half a letter grade for each source you use.
This essay is specifically about analyzing the text, not summarizing it. Therefore, in answering this question you must use quotes from the text (be sure to cite in MLA format with both in-text and Works Cited citations. See The Little Seagull Handbook or Purdue OWL).
One way to get ideas for this paper is to go to the library and search through the various secondary sources on any one of our authors. This may seem like a lot of work, but actually it’s quite efficient.
Below are some possible topics for your essay. If you have another idea that you’d like to write about, please feel free to do so. Note that the sub-questions are there to get you thinking about your idea, so I’m not suggesting that you should address each sub-question in your essay. Remember: the key to writing a good essay is to focus your thesis as narrowly as you can.
1. This question deals with characterization. How would you describe one of the characters from any of our readings this semester? As a way of starting, you might want to make a list of their likes and dislikes, personality traits, appearance, and their intellectual, emotional and spiritual lives. Include textual references in your list. Which characteristics are most important within the overall meaning of the work? Start writing as a way of exploring this character in more detail, with a consideration for how the essay might start to look. You might also want to consider comparing two characters across multiple works that we read.
2. Is there a common idea, theme, or literary device incorporated in Kate Chopin’s stories: “The Story of an Hour,” “The Storm,” and “Desiree’s Baby”?
3. What feminist idea or ideas are present in one of Kate Chopin’s stories: “The Story of an Hour,” “The Storm,” or “Desiree’s Baby”?
4. How is marriage portrayed in one of Kate Chopin’s stories: “The Story of an Hour,” “The Storm,” or “Desiree’s Baby”? You might want to consider the ways in which marriage either empowers or oppresses the husband or wife in the story.
5. How are extra-marital affairs portrayed in one of Kate Chopin’s stories: “The Story of an Hour,” “The Storm,” or “Desiree’s Baby”? You might want to consider the ways in which these affairs either empowers or oppresses the husband or wife in the story. You might also want to consider the condition of the various marriages in the story as part of formulating an answer to this question.
6. Is light and dark imagery in “Sonny’s Blues” a metaphor, or a symbol (remember our definition of symbol)? How does dark represent the danger outside that the adults have to protect the children from? Does it also have other figurative significance? What about the light, what figurative meaning does it hold? We see the band members being careful not to enter the light too suddenly.
7. Is the narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” objective? Or is there a particular bias that he has when dealing with Sonny and Sonny’s friend, whom the narrator meets early in the story?
8. Compare the portrayal of Harlem in “Sonny’s Blues” with actual conditions in Harlem in the 1950s. This will require some historical research on the economic and social conditions in Harlem in the 1950s.
9. How is imagery used in “Hills Like White Elephants”? (Remember that an image is a word or group of words in a literary work that appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell.) Here are some things to consider: the heat from the sun, the barren landscape on one side of the tracks, the rich fertile land with the river on the other side of the tracks, the mountains, the beaded curtain, etc. You might want to start with a list of these images and then see if patterns emerge from within the list. Is there a common thread that could lead you to a thesis statement?
10. Does Jig have an abortion at the end of “Hills Like White Elephants,” or does the ending remain elusive, leading the reader to draw their own conclusions? Analyze the text carefully to support your thesis that the ending is definitive, or that it remains ambiguous.
11. How are “Hills Like White Elephants” or “The Killers” (or both) examples of Literary Minimalism? Look at your class notes and research material as a way of establishing the nature of minimalism – so you’re clear about this concept. Both of these works are fine examples of Literary Minimalism, and will easily yield to such an analysis. Try to select the most relevant pieces of text to use in your discussion – remember, what’s driving your essay is your thesis.
12. How is “The Lady with the Dog” an example of Literary Impressionism? Look at your class notes and research material as a way of establishing the nature of impressionism – so you’re clear about this concept. Chekhov was one of the prime movers in the Literary Impressionism movement, and this story will easily yield to this type of analysis. Try to select the most relevant pieces of text to use in your discussion – remember, what’s driving your essay is your thesis.
13. What religious imagery and/or symbols present themselves in “Araby”? As a way of starting, you might want to make a list of the religious objects, images, and references you see in this story. Are any of the things on your list symbols (remember our definition of symbol)? Next to each item in your list, write a sentence that describes why this particular religious reference is important to our understanding of “Araby.” Do you see any patterns emerging from your list that can assist you in getting started with your first draft?
14. What is stream of consciousness writing? This question will require you to do research on stream of consciousness as a literary technique. Your research will, no doubt, reference the major stream of consciousness writers – James Joyce (Ulysses), William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury), Virginia Woolf (Mrs. Dalloway). For this essay it is not reasonable that you read one of these works in its entirety; rather, you can allow your research on stream of consciousness in writing to guide you through relevant passages, then select your own passages, as appropriate, to explain this literary technique to your audience. I would suggest reading the beginning of a particular work of fiction and then browsing through it to get a sense for what stream of consciousness is all about.
15. Most scholars agree that the narrator experiences an epiphany at end of “Araby.” Do you agree with this conclusion? If so, what textual evidence supports this assertion? Likewise, if you disagree, present your analysis of the text as a way of disagreeing with the scholars (You may have great difficulty finding scholars who would argue that the narrator does not undergo an epiphany, but don’t let that stop you from tackling the opposing viewpoint. The key here is sound textual analysis.)
16. How is “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” an example of Magic Realism? While most scholars would agree that this work is an example of this movement, many disagree, citing specific ways that this work falls short of being a true representation of Magic Realism.
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