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ESSAY #1 – JOURNEYING HOME: THE DEFINITION NARRATIVE

Context: We have discussed the notion of “house” versus “home” in terms of the physical and conceptual or the tangible and intangible. In thinking about the latter of the two, you can often return home, for a weekend trip or an entire summer, and find yourself feeling at ease almost immediately after enjoying a familiar meal or hearing the sound of someone’s voice. Yet at the same time home can often leave you feeling uneasy. While away, your home may change: the surrounding area may no longer be the same; a favorite restaurant may be gone, or an old intersection may feature a new business. Or perhaps little has changed and instead what you find is that you are the one who is different and no longer a part of the place from which you came. You may find it more and more difficult to communicate or connect, for instance, with old friends or family members. Why? What’s keeping you from enjoying the journey home? What’s the source of tension? As the writers in this unit reveal, the journey home is often a painful one that can result in conflicts that can’t easily be resolved. Assignment & Purpose: To test your understanding of the elements of creative writing and the notion of “house vs. home,” this assignment will require you to narrate your own journey home using the story arc as a structural model. To successfully complete this assignment, you will need to answer a single question:

“What makes the journey home difficult?”

Essay Requirements: • You will need to structure your narrative using the story arc, which includes conflict (this should be established

by the end of page 2), complications, crisis and resolution. Remember, when it comes to your resolution, your conflict does not necessarily have to be resolved, but there does need to be a sense that you have struggled with a conflict and that you are now in a different place, that you learned something from the experience and have a new understanding of your home and where you came from.

• Your essay will need to offer a clear sense of your house/home, both physically and conceptually, to show readers what house/home means to you. This will function in part as your exposition or backstory.

• You will establish and develop your conflict through some kind of antagonist—the element that makes the journey home problematic. The antagonist or antagonists (if there’s more than one) will also work to intensify your conflict and create complications.

• You will create a sense of drama in your essay through your desire to overcome this antagonist. You should thus remember the 3D model we discussed: Drama = Desire + Danger. Ask yourself, What’s frustrating, painful, and/or even dangerous about home?

• Your essay should include dialogue. This will help you break up your narrative and develop rounder characters. • You should not limit yourself to one paragraph for each of the elements mentioned above. Meaningfully

incorporating each element into your essay will likely require multiple paragraphs. • In addition to addressing the story arc elements, your essay should also demonstrate an understanding of

characterization—those crucial techniques writers use to develop round and memorable characters. • It is acceptable and appropriate to use the first-person P.O.V. (“I”) in this essay. That said, you should

remember the importance of submerging the “I” throughout. Length: 4.5 full pages minimum, 6.5 full pages maximum

Format: MLA format—typed, double-spaced, proper heading, page numbers, 1-inch margins, fitting title (see Easy Writer page 226), and 12-point, Times New Roman font.

On the due date, you’ll submit the following items in a folder: (1) final draft, (2) three rough drafts with peer comments, (3) three peer sheets (or emails) with peer comments.

If you miss a workshop, you should visit the Writing Center. Incomplete folders will not be accepted. Final drafts must also be submitted through Turnitin before class to be considered for a grade.