Literature

n a brief, one page essay, choose any character from any one of the stories we’ve read thus far and describe the techniques (“Showing” “Telling” “Saying”, etc.,) that the author uses to establish that character. Remember to include specific examples from the story you’ve chosen to support your point, and to document any outside sources proprerly.

1) Alexie’s “Superman and Me
2) In “Daughter of Invention,”
3) Alice Walker’s “The Flowers,”
4) Plot in “Love in L.A.

5) Symbols in “The Secret Goldfish
6) Setting in “Hills Like White Elephant
7) Theme in “Everyday Use”
8 Narrative voice in “The House on Mango Street”

Essay #1
Format: 12-point Times or Times New Roman font only. Double-spaced. No extra spaces between paragraphs. You do not need to include a “Works Cited” page, but you do need to parenthetically cite your quotes from the text.

For this first essay, make an interpretive argument, supported by textual details, that goes beyond simply summarizing the events of the narrative. Your paper should address the
following:
1. What is the point or meaning of the story, as you see it?
This is the interpretive part of your thinking. As such, there is an implicit argument already built in at a basic level.
2. What formal elements support this reading/interpretation or have led you to it?
This question asks you to look carefully at specific textual elements that are relevant and important to your reading of the text.

Thinking about these two questions should lay the groundwork for a thesis statement. I am not looking for papers that simply recapitulate what we have discussed in class(although you can certainly use that as a basis for your analysis). In no case should your thesis or discussion fall into summary. For instance: “Miss Sasagawara is isolated from,
but also a figure of fascination for, her community” is not an argument; rather, it sums up an important factor in the story, and it is clear that the story is depicting someone who is isolated, etc. This kind of summary thesis statement locks you into a largely summary based paper in which one would then list examples where we see Miss Sasagawara isolated, as well as a list of examples when she is being looked at. Such a paper already puts you, at the very highest, at a “C.”