Search Our Essay Database

Essay Instructions: A critical and comparative analysis of three Sherman Alexie stories from the text The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. General area of focus for the research essay is Sherman Alexie’s writing style from the focus of: the literal and metaphorical, the human and the natural, reality and fantasy. What is created through the interworking of the literal and figurative? How exactly does it work to create the effect Alexie wants to create in the story?

[NOTE: I will include scans of the stories for you, I will include them with the resources I will upload]

Describe and analyze the three stories by evaluating their function and effectiveness as communicative techniques. Choose a suitably narrow set of rhetorical elements and use them as your “lens” with which to examine the three stories.

A thesis statement needs to be an evaluation of the effectiveness or significance of a specific strategy or set of strategies, effects, or authorial intention(s).

Keep in mind, this research essay is NOT asking to weigh on the subject matter of Alexie’s writing; the focus of the assignment should be to look at the writing, to example Alexie’s storytelling up close in order to discover how and how well he conveys meaning in his stories.

The research aspect of this assignment is about researching what others have to say about Alexie’s writing and then integrating that research into your own set of thesis claims and arguments. In addition to the three stories from the book, you will need to cite three secondary works of critical scholarly analysis that examine Alexie’s writing. The secondary sources must deal specifically with Alexie’s writing in a critical manner.

[NOTE: I listed 6 sources on the order, three are from the book which are each of the three stories, the other three are secondary sources which I have found which you could possibly use as well or find other sources instead, I will include them with the resources I will upload]

Dictionary sites, Wikipedia, and similar general online research sites are NOT acceptable sources. Use the secondary voices just as you use textual references from your primary text: to help explain and analyze how those elements work and why they are so significant. Do not let the secondary sources speak for you, you must generate the ideas and they must support you.

Remember to fully introduce the secondary sources before you integrate them, just as you introduce Alexie’s stories before discussing them.

Briefly introduce and summarize each story being examined before beginning the analysis.

Look for ways to find each reading as unique and different while at the same time nothing how they share common features or emphases.

Cite lots of specific examples form the stories to support your analysis.

Be specific in your argumentation: develop a sound thesis argument tin your first paragraph that revolves around a single point you wish to make about Alexie’s writing.

Use lots of textual evidence to support your discussion ??" body paragraphs that do not offer direct or paraphrased textual support will not be credited toward your required page total. Develop your body paragraphs by announcing a single supporting point, then by introducing and inserting a textual quotation to provide evidenced of your point, then by explaining and discussing that evidence and tying it back to the main point of your paragraph.

Cite your textual quotations or paraphrased material with a page number in parenthesis after the citation.

Use appropriate academic language; write only in present tense, even when speaking of a text that has been written in the past. Write only in 3rd person, DO NOT use me, I, you, or your anywhere in the essay.

There are faxes for this order.

Essay Instructions: I need a Response paper for the short story version of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. There is only one source, "Charters-The Story and Its Writer, An Introduction to Short Fiction." This particular story begins on page 36 of the above text. The paper has to be 3-5 pages long (1000-1300 words). This is a Response paper for the above story but based on the Narrative voice (which the story has) so answered within the body, my professor wants me to 1) describe to us what the problems are with that point of view (The narrative technique), what it leaves out, what misinformation it can give, if it is reliable or not, and how you can make that determination. 2) Use specific quotes from the story, put them in quotation marks with page numbers (as long as it's done in Word, I can edit the essay to add the page numbers I you do not know them), and then explain what the quote means and why it is important to understanding the point of view. 3) Are there any contradictions within the text? Is there any information left out, and how can we, as readers, determine the "truth", if such a thing exists, in telling a story?

The paper also has to have an original title; I thought, "Escaping his Demons" would be a nice one but you are the professional write, not me, so it is completely up to you. :) Also, The paper must, of course, have 1) An introduction-in which you explain the story, the point of view and your thesis statement.---I thought a good thesis statement would incorporate something along a lines of "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" depicts how the main character, a Native American (Tonto), faces and proceeds to overcome his personal demons of alcoholism and discrimination/stereotyping by America (The Lone Ranger) in modern day life---once again, please feel free to use your on, reword this, or whatever you feel appropriate. 2) Should be an essay with paragraphs and quotes within those paragraphs (the body). 3 ) Has to have page numbers on each page. 4) Since there is only one text book we are using, if you don't have this particular one, you can find the PDFs practically anywhere online (as long as it's the whole SHORT story version. I do not need a works cited page. It is assumed that I am taking all information from my class text book and my own person response to this story. Please feel free to use "I" and "I feel" "I believe".

The first page has to include my name and course information as per MLA standard :
Amber Maxon
LI 220-Fall 2014
Dr. Carl Bloom