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Essay Instructions: FICTION ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS

you will write a 750-word essay that compares and contrasts 2 stories from the Fiction Unit. Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the guidelines for developing your paper topic that are given below. Review the Fiction Essay Grading Rubric to see how your submission will be graded. Gather all of your information, plan the direction of your essay, and organize your ideas by developing a 1-page thesis statement and outline for your essay. Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single Word document using current MLA, APA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program).
The essay must include a title page (see the General Writing Requirements), a thesis/outline page, and the essay itself followed by a works cited/references page of any primary or secondary texts cited in the essay.
Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic

Chapter 39 in your textbook provides some helpful pointers for reading actively, taking notes, brainstorming, developing a clearly-defined thesis statement, preparing an outline, and writing a cogent fiction essay. Be sure that you have read the chapter before doing any further work for this assignment.

Choose 2 of the following short stories to compare and contrast in your essay:
? ?The Lottery? by Shirley Jackson
? ?The Destructors? by Graham Greene
? ?The Rocking-Horse Winner? by D.H. Lawrence
? ?Young Goodman Brown? by Nathaniel Hawthorne
? ?The Child by Tiger? by Thomas Wolfe
? ?The Most Dangerous Game? by Richard Connell

Also, make at least 1 of these elements of fiction the focus of your essay:
? Conflict/Plot/Structure
? Characterization
? Setting
? Theme/Authors? Purposes
? Point of View
? Tone/Style/Irony/Symbol/Imagery

If you need help focusing your essay, ask yourself questions that correspond to your chosen element(s).

Conflict/Plot/Structure (This is not a summary of the stories)
? What are the basic conflicts, and how do these build tension, leading to major complicated incidents and climactic moment(s)?
? What are the ways in which each major character experiences conflict (either with self, with other characters, or with the social and/or physical environment)?
? How are the conflicts resolved? Do the protagonists succeed in achieving their goals?
? Who receives your deepest sympathy and why?

Characterization
? Who are the main characters in the stories?
? What are their outstanding qualities? Does the author give any indication as to how or why the character developed these qualities?
? What are the characters? emotions, attitudes, and behaviors? What do these indicate to the reader about the character?
? Can the characters? motivations be determined from the text?

Setting
? Where and when do the stories take place (remember to include such details as geographic location, time of year, time period, if the setting is rural or urban, etc.)?
? Do the settings make the stories believable or credible? How does setting impact the plot of the story, and how would the plot be affected if the story took place in another setting?
? Are the characters influenced by their setting? How might they behave if they were in a different setting?
? What atmosphere or mood does the setting create (for example, darkness may create a mood of fear or unhappiness while light or bright colors may create one of happiness)?
? Is the setting or any aspect of it a symbol or does the setting express particular ideas?
? Does setting create expectations that are the opposite of what occurs?

Theme/Authors? Purposes
? What is the major theme (or themes) of each story?
? Are the themes of the stories similar or different?
? How does the author convey the theme (or themes) to the reader?
? How do the stories? themes relate to the authors? purposes (some examples of author purposes are to entertain, to satirize, to realistically portray life?s problems, to analyze emotions and responses, and/or to communicate a moral message)?
? What unique style, techniques, or devices do the writers use to communicate their themes?

Tone/Style/Irony/Symbol
? How would you describe the tone of the piece?
? Does the tone correspond with the action occurring in the plot?
? What style does the author use (for example, one way an author might satirize is by including a lot of ironies, hyperbole, and unrealistic scenarios)?
? How might the story be different if the tone or style is changed?
? Does the writer use irony or symbols to communicate the message?

Essay Instructions: FICTION ESSAY ASSIGNMENT over short story "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield


This essay will be a CRITICAL ANALYSIS of a short story of your choice. Choose a story from the book that we have NOT (or will not) discussed in class. (See the List of Works to Read Handout for works NOT to use!)

STEP #1: Define a theme for the short story.
STEP #2: In a coherent, well structured essay, explain how AT LEAST four elements of
fiction reveal, support, embody and/or prove that theme.

(Remember: The elements of fiction are plot, character, setting, point of view, and symbol. Use four of these AND use the vocabulary from class.)

Be sure the thesis statement is precise and clear. It ought to include (yes, in one sentence at the end of the introduction paragraph) both the statement of theme and the elements to be used in proving it. (An example of this may be something like: Shirley Jackson?s short story, ?The Lottery,? uses plot, character, setting and point of view to reveal the theme that it is necessary to examine traditions.) This sentence then becomes the road map to the essay which follows. Therefore, every element will be presented in the body in the same order as it was presented in the thesis. Also, every element will discuss the individual example of the element AND explain how that specific example proves the stated theme.

In keeping with the thesis, use one paragraph to develop claims about one element. Be sure to make specific claims, support them with textual details, and then EXPLAIN the importance of that example (CTT). I cannot read your mind, and you cannot be present when I grade to say, ?But what I meant there was?? If it is not on the page, it is an incomplete thought.

Use one inch margins and regular fonts no larger than 12 points. Be sure there is a title. Double space the text. The length should be three pages. (Be sure to have all four elements and their specific vocabulary from class.)


Note: There is an accompanying handout for this assignment. See the Fiction Essay Template Handout as a guide for this essay.

Essay Instructions: FICTION ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS

write a 750-word (about 3?4-pages) essay that compares and contrasts 2 stories from the Fiction Unit. Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the guidelines for developing your paper topic that are given below. Gather all of your information, plan the direction of your essay, and organize your ideas by developing a 1-page thesis statement and outline for your essay. Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single Word document using current MLA, APA, or Turabian style .
The essay must include a title page (see the General Writing Requirements), a thesis/outline page, and the essay itself followed by a works cited/references page of any primary or secondary texts cited in the essay.
Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic

Choose 2 of the following short stories to compare and contrast in your essay:
? ?The Lottery? by Shirley Jackson
? ?The Rocking-Horse Winner? by D.H. Lawrence

Also, make at least 1 of these elements of fiction the focus of your essay:
? Conflict/Plot/Structure
? Characterization
? Setting
? Theme/Authors? Purposes
? Point of View
? Tone/Style/Irony/Symbol/Imagery

If you need help focusing your essay, ask yourself questions that correspond to your chosen element(s).

Conflict/Plot/Structure (This is not a summary of the stories)
? What are the basic conflicts, and how do these build tension, leading to major complicated incidents and climactic moment(s)?
? What are the ways in which each major character experiences conflict (either with self, with other characters, or with the social and/or physical environment)?
? How are the conflicts resolved? Do the protagonists succeed in achieving their goals?
? Who receives your deepest sympathy and why?

Characterization
? Who are the main characters in the stories?
? What are their outstanding qualities? Does the author give any indication as to how or why the character developed these qualities?
? What are the characters? emotions, attitudes, and behaviors? What do these indicate to the reader about the character?
? Can the characters? motivations be determined from the text?

Setting
? Where and when do the stories take place (remember to include such details as geographic location, time of year, time period, if the setting is rural or urban, etc.)?
? Do the settings make the stories believable or credible? How does setting impact the plot of the story, and how would the plot be affected if the story took place in another setting?
? Are the characters influenced by their setting? How might they behave if they were in a different setting?
? What atmosphere or mood does the setting create (for example, darkness may create a mood of fear or unhappiness while light or bright colors may create one of happiness)?
? Is the setting or any aspect of it a symbol or does the setting express particular ideas?
? Does setting create expectations that are the opposite of what occurs?

Theme/Authors? Purposes
? What is the major theme (or themes) of each story?
? Are the themes of the stories similar or different?
? How does the author convey the theme (or themes) to the reader?
? How do the stories? themes relate to the authors? purposes (some examples of author purposes are to entertain, to satirize, to realistically portray life?s problems, to analyze emotions and responses, and/or to communicate a moral message)?
? What unique style, techniques, or devices do the writers use to communicate their themes?

Tone/Style/Irony/Symbol
? How would you describe the tone of the piece?
? Does the tone correspond with the action occurring in the plot?
? What style does the author use (for example, one way an author might satirize is by including a lot of ironies, hyperbole, and unrealistic scenarios)?
? How might the story be different if the tone or style is changed?
? Does the writer use irony or symbols to communicate the message?

Essay Instructions: FICTION ESSAY THESIS AND OUTLINE INSTRUCTIONS

? Include a thesis statement and outline with essay. Write a 750 words essay that compares and contrasts? The Lottery? by Shirley Jackson? and The Rocking-Horse Winner? by D.H. Lawrence
?
Develop a one-page thesis statement and outline for the essay. Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single Word document using APA style.
Please include, a thesis/outline page, and the essay itself, followed by a Works Cited/References page of any primary or secondary texts cited in the essay. Also, make at least one of these elements of fiction the focus of the essay:
? Conflict/Plot/Structure
? Characterization
? Setting
? Theme/Authors? Purposes
? Point of View
? Tone/Style/Irony/Symbol/Imagery