Comparative English Essay

Background:

During the course of the semester, we have read and discussed a representation of literary genres: a short story, poetry, a play, a memoir, and a novel. The authors who wrote the texts have provided us with thought-provoking insight into individuals and society.

Texts:

• Literary Theories lecture and websites 
• Novel: Not a Genuine Black Man by Brian Copeland
• Play: "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde
• Poetry: "Burning the Old Year" by Naomi Shihab Nye; "One El Paso, Two El Paso" by Ray Gonzalez; "Women Whose Lives are Food, Men Whose Lives are Money" by Joyce Carol Oates
• Short stories: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce.

Task:

Select three of the literary texts from the course and determine a common thread among those texts. In a 5-7 page essay, compare and contrast those texts to prove your chosen point/topic. Your essay must also include at least three of the literary theories in its analysis.

Guidelines:

• Analyze 3 of the our texts in your essay. As usual, you need quotations from these texts in order to create a valid analysis.

• Use at least 3 theories alongside the analysis in your essay.

• Compose at least 5 pages and at most 7 pages.

• Use MLA format for your essay and its quotations.

• Your essay should use Times New Roman size 12 font, be double spaced, and have 1 inch margins. If you need familiarity with MLA format, reference the following website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

• Include a works cited page.

Suggestions:

• Trace the significant similarities, differences, and trends in the themes, issues, and narrative styles of the texts.

• Determine how the literary theories will help you prove and analyze your texts cohesively.

• Review class lectures, forums, and previous essays.

• Formulate a guiding idea that threads the analysis together. In other words, what do you want to prove with your essay?

• You may use parts of your previous essays for this essay, but remember that this essay has a different focus, and anything you reuse from previous essays must flow in this essay.
• Any of your own writing that you are using from your previous essays must be quoted and cited (which means you will be citing yourself).  If you do not quote and cite yourself, turnitin will mark your writing as plagiarized.