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“Essay 1” p. 1

Essay 1, Core 161: Fall 2016

Directions: Address ONE of the following questions in a fully developed essay. Your essay will be graded in accordance with the standards provided in your course syllabus, including content, grammar, and style.

Please proofread your essay and make corrections as necessary. Format your essay: doublespaced lines, 1-inch margins, 12 pt font. Do not include a separate title page. Use MLA format as follows: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/13/

When citing textS, refer to the author and page # in MLA format. Use ONLY the primary sources (stories and poems themselves) and do not use outside research sources (with the exception of something you may have used for a class assignment, such as your research related to “Am I Blue?”). Since you will only use primary sources, no reference list/Works Cited page is needed.

Statement of Academic Honesty and Integrity: type the following statement at the top of your

exam as an indication of your academic honesty and integrity. Students who make the statement

falsely (as evidenced in their essay) will fail. The rules for Academic Honesty and Integrity stated in

your syllabus and student handbook apply.

I, (fill in your name here), pledge that I have completed the following essay without the

assistance of another human being, and that I have used only the sources that have been

directly cited.

This statement also means that you may NOT enlist friends and family to help with your essay. The reason I am not assigning this essay as an in-class exam is that I want you to have the time to do the best job you can—and to have time to think, revise, and proofread. I am trusting you.

Two forms of assistance are acceptable: feedback from me derived from a one-on-one tutorial (which you can schedule with me); or you may seek assistance from the Writing Center. If you use the Writing Center, please indicate it after your Statement of Academic Honesty and Integrity.

General directions and tips:

• Focus on analysis, and avoid plot summary. I, your reader, already know the plots and have read the texts (several times).

• Use textual support from the literature to SHOW—illustrate ideas and analyze the text rather than just reporting or telling.

• Use correct capitalization for titles, and place titles of texts in quotation marks (standard

MLA): “The Story of an Hour,” “Eleven,” “Am I Blue?”

• Refer to authors by last name; Walker, Chopin, Zimmerman, etc.

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• Center your essay around an original, meaningful thesis sentence—have a focus. Avoid making your thesis a purpose statement, such as “In this essay I will discuss. . . .” Rather, your thesis is a statement with content: “ it says something. In “Eleven,” Cisneros layers the insights of an adult over the perspective of a child, using metaphors to. . . .”

• When referring to the action of the text, use the literary present tense: e.g. Alice Walker’s narrator refers to Blue as. . . . In “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin describes the change Mrs.

Mallard experiences as. . . .

• Length: While there is no specific, prescribed length for this essay, it must have:  an interesting, relevant introduction;

 a meaningful, worthwhile thesis sentence;  at least 3 clear body paragraphs that use evidence to support your thesis while exploring

the texts you have chosen as examples. You may quote from the text and analyze the quotes to support your thesis;  a satisfying, interesting conclusion. You may use the 5- paragraph essay structure for this essay, but it is NOT required.

Here are your options: CHOOSE ONE—

1. We began the semester thinking and talking about how literature “functions” in our lives and why it exists. Jane Hirshfield, in “Telescope, Well Bucket, Furnace: Poetry beyond the Classroom” writes, “Before reading a good poem, we are one kind of person; after reading it, we are another. Poetry is description, catalogue, memory, but it is also an instrument of discovery and transformation. It is telescope, magnet, well bucket, radar, and smelting furnace at once: a means for the self to arrive at its own fullest being and its own

fullest meaning.” If you expand her statement to refer to literature/texts (not just poetry, but other genres as well), how would it relate to some of the reading you have done for the course so far? If you choose this essay option, consider how and why THREE (3) different literary texts from the course can be seen as “instruments of discovery and transformation.” You may support your essay with personal examples if you are considering your own development, discovery, and transformation. Discovery is not only present in grand epiphanies; it is also possible that transformation happens in small, almost undetectable, yet significant, ways. Develop a thesis based on this theme of development, discovery, and transformation, and use THREE different texts of your choice to support your thesis.

2. Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” utilizes a central metaphor to discuss the burdens of the characters. Develop an original essay connecting “The Things They Carried” to TWO (2) other texts we have read this semester. In your essay, develop an original thesis, stating the main point of your essay as a whole. Be sure to explain how

O’Brien’s metaphor operates in the story, applying it to character analysis in order to demonstrate how the metaphor works and how it can also be applied to TWO (2) additional texts. In order to earn full credit, your essay must discuss and use evidence from at least THREE (3) different literary works from our course, one of which is “The Things They Carried.”

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3. Alice Walker’s essay “Am I Blue?” may seem like a simple story of a horse, but it also explores, in a thoughtful way, how multiple forms of oppression are linked. If you choose this topic, explain how and why Walker links various examples of oppression in connection with Blue’s story. Applying Walker’s ideas about oppression, discuss an original example of your own, something relevant to the times in which we live, or an example from history, and make a connection to at least ONE (1) other text from the

course. Your essay should center on an original thesis statement and cite examples from the texts to illustrate your ideas. If you use any outside sources, they must be fairly and correctly documented using MLA documentation format. This essay option differs from the others in that while you are connecting THREE (3) examples, only TWO (2) have to be literary texts: “Am I Blue?” and one other text.

4. Several of the texts we have read this semester are reflections on childhood and adolescence. Develop an original essay in which you make connections between THREE (3) texts focusing on childhood or adolescence. Center your essay on an original, worthwhile thesis sentence, and use examples from the texts to demonstrate your points. In order to earn full credit, your essay must discuss and use evidence from at least THREE (3) different literary works from our course.

IMPORTANT DATES

Monday, Oct. 3: Full draft due on Monday, Oct. 3 by 11:55 pm—submitted via Moodle. This

draft is not graded. It counts toward assignment credit. Drafts submitted late will not earn credit.

Wednesday, Oct. 5: class will not be held. Instead, students who want to meet for feedback on

their drafts will come to my office by appointment. A sign-up schedule will be posted on Moodle.

Sunday, Oct. 9, 11:55 pm: Final draft due. Penalties accrue for late submissions. The essay gets

submitted through a link in Moodle.