Short story Essay

Short Story EssayAssignment

Objective: to write a paper analyzing the specific elementsof a short story and how they illustrate one of the major themes of the story.

Choose one of the following stories for youranalysis:

A Pair ofTickets       A Rose for Emily      A&P

THEN choose one of the topics below:

1.       Analyze at least three literary elements(point of view, setting, symbolism, etc.) and how the author uses them todemonstrate one of the major themes of the story.

OR

2.      Pick a character.  Discuss how the writer uses at least three shortstory elements (point of view, setting etc.) to develop this character and givereaders insight into his or her motivations.

3.       

General Requirements:

  Must be at least 500 words.

  Must be formatted in MLA style (SeeMLA Resources folder).

  Must include separate introduction,body, and conclusion paragraphs (at least five paragraphs total).

  Must include discussion of at leastthree short story elements.

  Must include specific examples andquotes from the story.

  Must include quotation marks for theexact words from the story and properly-formatted in-text citations for allquotations and specific details from the text.

  Must be typed in MS Word andsubmitted to the drop box in Blackboard as an attachment.

  Must use only the primary source (thestory) for support. No secondary sources (websites, etc.) are allowed on thisassignment.  

*Failure to followinstructions and meet assignment requirements described above may result in afailing grade on the assignment.

Important Reminders:

1.     Besure to give your essay an appropriate title (not Short Story Essay, Essay 1,or the title of the story). You need a title of your own words that reflectsthe narrow focus of your essay.

2.     Assumeyou are writing the paper to an audience who has already read the story.  You may need to remind your audience ofspecific details from the text, but your paper should not be merely a plotsummary of the story. Your goal is to help them develop a deeper understandingof the story, not to retell it.

3.     Besure to include the authors full name and the title of the story in yourintroduction paragraph. Use the authors last name thereafter.

4.     Dontconfuse the author and the narrator. For example, Amy Tan wrote A Pair ofTickets, but the narrator of the story, Jing Mei, is who takes a journey toChina.

5.     Sinceyou are only using the primary source for this assignment, using the authorsname in your in-text citations is unnecessary. Only the page numbers are neededin your citations on this essay.