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Literature 201: Introduction to Literature Essay 1: Fiction Analysis

For your first essay of the term, analyze one or two of the short stories assigned during the fiction unit of the course. Specifically, explain to your readers how and why the author employs one or two common elements of fiction to develop their theme in the story or stories.

In your analysis, engage in close readings of the short story or stories in question, using evidence from your chosen text(s) to support your claims. You must include three brief quotations (no block quotes) from the story or stories you analyze and cite them per MLA format.

Below is a list of the common elements of fiction to consider: • Plot (including the stages of the plot, which can include exposition, complications and conflicts that build during the rising action of the story, the climax of the story, and any falling action that moves from the climax to the resolution or denouement) • Character (including whether a character is well-developed or not, whether a character changes during the story or not, what motivates a character, which characters are in conflict with each other, and how the readers might view a character) • Setting (including where and when the story takes place, and the ways that this environment affects the characters) • Point of View (including whether we are meant to see the narrator as reliable or not, whether any irony develops from the contrast between the narrator’s beliefs and the actions they describe, and why the author would choose to have this character tell the story) • Style, Tone, and Language (including whether the narrator uses formal or informal diction, imagery, and figures of speech, as well as how these uses of language develop the tone of the narrator) • Symbol (including whether any objects in the story are commonly associated with certain meanings or are used to represent a meaning particular to that story)

You will want to identify the story’s theme early in your essay. (If you choose two stories, make sure that you can justify including both in your essay by arguing that they share a common theme.) In other words, what is the main point—the thesis statement, if you will—of the story? What message is the author sending? What lesson do they wish to teach us? Note that the theme is not the subject of the story or its plot.

If you select two stories, you are welcome to compare or contrast their use of one or two

of the elements of fiction.

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Keep in mind that your audience for the essay consists of fellow readers of the story or stories you choose. They wish to learn more about the text(s). Because your audience has already read the story or stories, you should not write a “book report”—that is, you should not write a summary of the plot. Nor should you write a “book review”—that is, you should not discuss whether the story is “good” or “bad”. After all, you and your audience already agree that the story is important (and “good”) enough to analyze!

This essay will be worth 20% of your overall course grade. When grading your essay, I will keep in mind how well it has followed the directions in this assignment sheet as well as how well it meets the criteria described in the course policies. Specifically, I will consider the essay’s (1) thesis; (2) organization and coherence; (3) evidence; (4) audience and purpose; (5) usage and grammar; (6) documentation; (7) analysis of assigned works of literature; and (8) comprehension of assigned works of literature.

Essay Length: At least three complete pages typed in Times New Roman 12, followed by a Works Cited list on a new page (if necessary), all following MLA rules and format. Essay 1 Due: 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 2. E-mail your final draft to me as an attachment (PDF or MS Word), not as a link to a cloud-based service.