English104

Prompt : For this assignment, you will write a 6-page argumentative essay on one of the following text-criticism pairings below. Your task is to develop a specific argument about the text within the parameters of the designated critical strategy, and then to support that argument with both research and close readings of the text. Choose ONE pairing: “Girl” (New Historicist Criticism) “The Birth-Mark” (Psychological Criticism) “The Cask of Amontillado” (Reader-Response Criticism) “The Cask of Amontillado” (Psychological Criticism) “A Pair of Tickets” (Feminist Criticism) “The Story of an Hour” (Feminist Criticism) Heart of Darkness (Postcolonial Criticism) Possible angles of analysis (Feel free to get creative and develop your own angles of analysis): What societal values emerge in Kincaid’s “Girl,” and what does it mean to be properly female? What do Aylmer’s actions and traits in “The Birth-Mark” reveal about his psyche? Is it unbalanced in any way? How has Poe constructed the “The Cask of Amontillado” to elicit a specific response from the reader? What is the reading experience supposed to be, and how do you know? What does the irony at the end of “The Story of an Hour” reveal about what kind of freedom is available to women in the story? Research Requirements: Essay must be 6 full pages in length (not including the Works Cited page). Works Cited page is required and must, like the rest of the essay, follow MLA format. No “I. At least four (4) sources are required; 1 source should be the work you have chosen to analyze. These sources must be either books or scholarly journal articles. Credible and

scholarly web sources may supplement, but not take the place of, library database sources