Paper Requirements
1. Your paper must be a well-developed essay of at least five paragraphs.
2. Your paper should, of course, contain an effective thesis statement located in your introductory paragraph. (See pp. 133+)
3. Follow MLA formatting guidelines. (See this link for specifics: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/1/)
4. Title your essay.
5. If sources are used, you must cite them using MLA style. Again, refer to the above link for assistance with citations.
6. If you are writing a literary paper, keep the following points in mind:
a. You are writing an analysis of the literature, not a summary. Dont rehash what happens; explain why what happens is significant.
b. Use present tense when writing about literature.
c. Include the work(s) and the author(s) being discussed in your introductory paragraph.
d. Use specific quotes and examples from the literary work to help prove your point. Cite these quotes using MLA style.
Submitting Your Final Paper
Please submit your final paper as an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf) to the dropbox located Canvas. Late papers will receive a 50 point penalty.Suggested Topics:
2. Consider Shirley Jackson’s comment on her purpose in writing the short story “The Lottery”: “I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village, to shock the story’s readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.” With this observation in mind, identify, illustrate, and discuss the key elements in the story that contribute to the final effect of shock and horror.
3. When the interests of individuals or even a group differ from the established norms of society, what is the most effective way to come to a resolution? How should such a disagreement be decided? Take a current issue and write an essay describing what you think would be the best way to decide the matter.
4. What does the story Harrison Bergeron suggest about equality? Is there a difference between equality and equal opportunity?
5. What exactly are we to understand is wrong with Hazel’s maxim that “Trying is the important thing”? Consider the following:
Is being the best the only important thing? Is trying not important? If we deny the maxim, are we logically committed to affirming that being the best (winning) is the only important thing? If we affirm the maxim, are we logically committed to denying that winning is important? (What is the proper force of “the” in the maxim?)
Is what is unsound here the particular use Hazel makes of an otherwise sound maxim? Are there situations in which such a maxim is true, and others in which it is not? (That is, is there an art of judgment we need to learn if we are not to be witless in applying potentially useful maxims?) Or is the maxim itself just unsound?
6. In her work, Dickinson frequently adopts the stance of an outsider or a nonconformist. Discuss this point through detailed discussion of at least two of her poems. What does she seem to find uncongenial about going along with the crowd?
7. Many of Dickinsons poems explore the relationship between the individual and society. Take several of her poems and present a summary of Dickinsons views on that relationship.
8. Contrast Dees attitude toward her heritage with the attitudes of her mother and sister. How much truth is there in Dees accusation that her mother and sister dont understand their heritage?
9. Read the critical works on Everyday Use, and choose an idea expressed by one of the writers (for example, the commentary about quilts or about African Americans of a certain era widely changing their names). Discuss how this insight illuminates your understanding of the story. Alternatively, if you disagree with the idea, discuss how the writer misses the mark.
10. Pretend you are a family therapist who has just heard the narrator of Why I Live at the P.O. tell her story in a counseling session. Write up a short report summarizing your point of view on her personal situation. Support all of your opinions with examples from the text.
