tom mutunga

Topic: Analysis of a Short Story

• Format: MLA. Access the Purdue OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide here- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

• Length Requirement: 750-1000 words
  
  
• All sources must be cited

Your Process:

Write an essay that discusses why and how specific symbols are used to depict one or two of the themes from Unit 2 in a particular way. Your essay should incorporate details and quotes from the story (using parenthetical documentation with the author's name), and you should use your own words to elaborate on the meanings of the details and quotes you use as evidence. The themes to choose from are:

• Love (Romantic, Platonic, or Filial)
• Alienation/Otherness
• The American Dream/Nightmare
• The Quest for Identity/Coming of Age
• Conformity/Rebellion

Stories To Choose From:

• Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"
• Kate Chopin’s "The Storm"
• Tobias Wolff’s "Powder"
• Ray Bradbury’s "There Will Come Soft Rains”

Instructions:

When writing your essay, the goal is to demonstrate what spin the story has on a particular theme. Be specific about the ways the theme is used and how the story's use of symbols develops a deeper meaning to the theme. Provide details, including cited direct quotations from the story, but don't forget that you must comment on the quotations you use to explain why they are significant.

As an example, one student might focus on how in Chopin’s “The Storm,” the passion between Calixta and Alcee is represented by the symbol of the rain storm and makes a social commentary on the theme of love. Love is a very general term, so this student should note that s/he is focusing on forbidden, or adulterous, romantic love in particular and comment on how that refines the broader theme. Then, the writer would contrast Calixta’s relationship with Bobinot with her relationship with Alcee in order to show that Calixta could simultaneously function as an efficient housewife and passionate lover to her husband if society at the time would allow such a woman to exist.

Formatting and Style

Be sure to maintain an appropriate academic tone (no slang, second-person, first-person ["you," "we"], contractions, etc.)

Your essay should be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins, and numbered pages. Include your name, my name, the title of the class, and the date in the upper left hand corner of the first page. Center your title (you do not need to underline or italicize it) and place it above the body of the essay. Do not include a title page.