new assignment 2

Respond to one of the following prompts in a 4 page fiction response essay. Your essay should be in MLA format, make use of support from the story or stories chosen (using quotation, summary and/or paraphrase) and should include citations in-text and on a Works Cited page.

Remember to avoid summarizing a story – instead, focus on answering the question(s) and explaining why the quotes and passages you’ve chosen are significant. You do not need to consult research or outside sources for this paper.

Your essay must be written over one of the stories that we have read as a class this semester.

1. Consider the stories we have read as a class that feature young narrators or protagonists. Compare how two young adults respond to the challenges and opportunities presented to them in the story. In what ways are their lessons intended for the audience as well?

2. Choose a story we have read as a class with a first person narrator. How does the narrator’s bias, personality, and reliability affect the story? Are readers given false or biased impressions of other characters? How does this impact the meaning of the overall story?

3. Compare two stories we have read as a class that focus on the same idea or central topic. How do they use literary devices to create their themes? In what ways do they differ significantly? How do they each arrive at the same point in the end?

4. Write an essay examining the variances between two authors we have read in this class who have distinctly different styles (for instance, Faulkner and Hemingway). How do each use literary devices? To what effect? How do each craft a clear narrative in such different ways? What are the primary stylistic differences? How do those differences impact the tone and theme?

5. Write an essay examining how a story of your choosing from the ones we have read in this class makes a statement about a social issue (class, race, gender, ageism, cultural identity). What claim does the story seem to be making? How does it use literary devices to illustrate its point? What characters seem to be speaking on behalf of the theme?

6. Select two stories we have read this semester and show how, although their plots differ, they explore a similar theme. How do they arrive at the same point? How do they employ literary devices? Use specific lines and passages from both stories to support your claims.

7. Compare and contrast the themes regarding familial relationships in two stories you were assigned this semester. What statement does each story make about family bonds? How does each story use literary devices to illustrate its theme?