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Instructions for A Small Good Thing College Essay Examples

Title: A Small Good Thing by Ramond Carver

Total Pages: 2 Words: 580 Works Cited: 0 Citation Style: APA Document Type: Essay

Essay Instructions: A Small Good Thing by Ramond Carver Essay with quotes from the short story only(not a research paper) I must make an A on this paper to pass! If this paper is good, I promise I will do lots more business with you all next fall! Please let me know if this paper will not be finished by Tues 5/7/02. I?ve included the outline given to me by the teacher that the essay must be written in. Email me at if you have any questions. Thanks!

Essay Outline

1.INTRODUCTION (Paragraph 1)

HOOK
Supply one of these options:

Questions (three)
Philosophy (three sentences)
A Story (at least three sentences)
An opposite opinion (state the opinion and then disagree with it)

SUBJECT
Author, title, and literally what happens in the story. Five sentence at most. Do not summarize the whole story point by point.

ESSAY MAP
Must include three story elements to be discussed in the three body paragraphs. Examples: Setting, Characterization, Dialog, point of view,etc

THEME
Should have three or four concept words you can discuss at some length.


2. BODY (Paragraph 2,3,4)

TOPIC SENTENCE
Topic sentence has two parts: the name of the story element and the explanation of how the narrative device works in the story.

Example: The shocking dialogue highlights the role of judgement and intolerance in the conflict between Mrs. Turpin and Mary

Each body paragraph must contain at least two quotes or one block quote. Introduction, quote, analysis, again

INTRODUCTION TO THE QUOTE
In one or two sentences, you must answer these questions before the quote:

In what part of the story does this passage occur?
Who is speaking?
Who is the speaker addressing?
What does the quote explain?



QUOTE
Each paragraph MUST contain two quotes from the story or one block quote. MUST be from the newest version of the story. Don?t worry about the page numbers, I will figure that out after essay is done because I?m sure they will be different in my book.

ANALYSIS AFTER THE QUOTE
70% of the paper should occur after quotes! Discuss ideas about the author?s purpose.

First, explain what the quote reveals about the character (three sentences)
Next, explain what the author wants the reader to understand and feel about the ideas suggested.

LINK BACK TO THEME
Last sentence of each body paragraph. Use some concept words in theme to make new observations about the ideas. Do not repeat something already stated. What aspect of your concept, in particular, does the author reveal in the quoted passage?

3. CONCLUSION (Last Paragraph of Essay)

At least five sentences. Begin with an interesting ment or question. Emphasize the focus of the essay but do not repeat yourself. Restate the theme and main points. Do not use the same words used in the introduction. Provide a clincher

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Literature

Total Pages: 2 Words: 669 Bibliography: 0 Citation Style: MLA Document Type: Research Paper

Essay Instructions: Raymond Carver Paper- comparing his late works to his early works- Using specific examples from these short stories. Early: The Student''s Wife- What''s in Alaska?, Neighbors, Are these actual miles?, Why don''t you dance, and What we talk about when we talk about love.

Late works: So much water so close to home, where I am calling from, Cathedral, Feathers and A small good thing.

His his works change and develop over the course of his career- answer the question: How do his late stories differ from his early stories? use the information above to write paper.

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Raymond carver

Total Pages: 2 Words: 709 Sources: 0 Citation Style: APA Document Type: Essay

Essay Instructions: Compare the two stories by Raymond Carver The Bath& A small good thing they are really the same story written in two different ways. Write about the differences and decide what differences are the most significant, and how the story changes because of the differnces.what do you as the reader feel the story suggest in each, etc. talk about the details of the stories and what you think carver is trying to say- behond the literal meaning. the paper should be 500 words

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Raymond Carver

Total Pages: 26 Words: 7255 References: 0 Citation Style: MLA Document Type: Research Paper

Essay Instructions: Raymond Carver??s Description of Small Good Things in his Stories

??E Introduction
It is no secret that Raymond Carver??s writings are filled with muses of despair, discontent, and addiction. And consequently, little is said or written in regard to Carver??s happier content. It does exist. In some stories, I found some healing or harmony. I felt Raymond Carver really wanted to feel the common happiness in daily life, because he spent many years not being able to feel happy and live a kind of miserable life in which he was addicted to alcohol and experienced troubles in his family like his children??s rebellious deeds. Raymond Carver was almost dead of alcoholism. However, in 1977, he got over it. He said ??Life has completely changed since then.?? I will write how it changed between his works before 1977 and after that, using ??Bath?? and ??A Small Good Things, revised story of ??Bath.?? I am going to compare Carver??s life and his works. Many things which are connected to each other are found. I intend to write extensively on this topic ?C the good, hidden in the bad, of Carver??s writing.

The reason why I came to be interested in Raymond Carver is that despite his gloomy stories, he offers hints of happiness hidden deep within. It helped me realize the importance and value of daily happiness. In order to prove that happiness can be found in Carver??s story I will first give examples of hints of happiness in specific Carver writing. Secondly, I will discuss various critics?? take on Carver??s message. Thirdly, I will explain why I believe Carver uses so much sadness and hides so much good. Lastly, I will focus the aforementioned material into my final argument.

??E Examples
A. ??Menude?? - A man who never thought of his neighbors?? love as something to celebrate finds himself longing for an ordinary lifestyle. This is coupled with his self-destructive affair with the girl next door. Seeing simple gestures like the happy couple??s embracement contribute to his sense of longing.

B. ??A Small, Good Thing?? ?C A couple??s son dies from a car accident on his birthday. They ordered a cake before the accident and forgot about it, leaving the baker with an unsold cake. The baker calls many times and since they did not know who was calling and were upset over the lose of their son, they grew angry at the baker. At last, they consult the baker who offers them food and conversation after the loss of their son.

A Small Good Things, though less tidy and glittering, reaches more deeply into a human situation and transformed the baker from an abstract evil force into a flawed human creature.
C. ??Cathedral?? ?C A lovely piece about a blind man who asks an acquaintance to guide his hand in sketching a cathedral he has never seen. At the end, the two hands moving together, one guided by sight and the other not, come to seem a gesture of fraternity. A man was not fond of the idea of having his wife??s friend visit ?C a blind man who just lost his wife. But through various means of communication, the man sees the good in the blind man, despite his distaste for his guest??s appearance.
Carver??s characters rarely achieve a transcendent acceptance of their condition. They are rarely attractive people, and often readers

D. ??Elephant?? - A man with many family members to support feels helplessness and has no sense of hope. The family shares a sense of hopeless and seems to show little improvement. The man wants to escape from the situation. But he rethinks it and continues to support them since he finds pleasure in having people to support.]

??E Critics?? points of view
A. Ricardo Sobreira, in reference to ??A Small, Good Thing?? - Sobreira says that the couple??s son was made as a sacrifice of resolution between the baker and couple.

B. Philip Carson, in reference to ??Cathedral?? - Carson writes that Carver experienced two lives ?C the first before sobriety, and the second, after. Carson uses ??Cathedral?? as an example of Carver??s more positive, second life. In Carson??s opinion, the story would have ended with animosity and no hope if written during Carver??s ??first life.??

C. Isao Iwamoto, in reference to ??Elephant?? - According to Iwamoto, a man is searching for little happiness in the post-modern world where he can??t hope for great things. But, in Iwamoto??s opinion, he cannot attain it.

??E Biographical analysis
Here is a brief sketch of personal reasons that, I believe, attributed to Carver??s conspicuous inclusions of happiness in his writings:
A: Acute alcoholism
B: Failure to find long-term employment
C: Divorce from his first wife in 1977
D: Raised in a blue-color family

??E Conclusion
I hope to prove that Carver??s way of making the good things conspicuous helps in conveying??more positive impact with the reader.



??E Bibliography
Carver, Raymond. What we talk about love when we talk about love. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Carver, Raymond. Short cuts. New York: Harvill, 1995.
Carver, Raymond. Where I??m calling from. New York: Vintage Contemporaries. 1989.
Carver, Raymond. Ultra Marine. New York:Vintage.1987
Carver, Raymond. Fires. : Vintage Contemporaries. 1989
Arthur F. Bethea. Technique and sensiblility in the fiction and poetry of Raymond Carver. 2001.
Bruce Marshall.Gentry and Wi
Nesset Kirk. The Strories Of Raymond Carver ?C A Critical Study. Athens: Ohio University Press
Randolph Paul Runyon. Reading Raymond Carver. New York: Syracuse University Press. 1992
Halpert, Sam. Raymond Carver An Oral Biography: University of Iowa Preses
Sobreira, Ricardo. Talking About The Procedures Of Raymond Carver . 2003.
??http://world.std.com/~ptc/Carver_Article.html??
Raymond Carver. Carver Country ?CThe World of Raymond Carver:ARCADE.1994.
Marshal Bruce Gentry and William L.Stull. Conversations with Raymond Carver: Mississippi.1990
Harold Bloom. Raymond Carver: CHELSEA HOUSE. 2002

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