english paper

WRITING A CRITICAL ESSAY

You will write about one of the stories I've selected for this assignment.

Document research in MLA format

First, settle on a story among the selections that most powerfully engages your interest or excites your thinking. Read through all of the stories in order to settle on the one that will be the more interesting subject for your paper. This could be a story that you relate to in a significant way or causes you to reflect on an issue that is important to you. Once your selection is made, you will want to read the story closely in order to understand every aspect of how it works. For review, you will want to demonstrate your understanding of these elements, and use this understanding for a fully developed and insightful explanation of the story's meaning or its thematic significance:

· Plot: how does this contribute to the story’s meaning? What events occur in this story? What is the cause and effect relationship between them? How do the actions and events in the story suggest something about reality or what the story wants to say? What is the conflict or problem that the story addresses?

· Character: how does this contribute to the story’s meaning? What are the characters’ motivations? What changes about the protagonist in the story? Or is the point that he doesn't change? What is the character fighting for or against?

· Point of View: How does this contribute to the story’s meaning or theme? What does the point of view suggest about the story’s meaning?

· Setting: How does this contribute to the story’s meaning? How does the setting help create the story’s overall meaning? How does it affect the characters? The plot?

· Style: Does the author you are emulating write in long, elegant sentences? Short, simple sentences? Is there a certain narrative voice that determines the style in which the story is told?

· Theme: What does the story mean? What does it communicate overall about human behavior or concerns? How do all the above story elements combine to make meaning in the story?

Answering that final question on theme is part of your research question for this assignment and must be carefully and fully answered in order to write a strong paper about the story: How do all the above story elements combine to make meaning in the story? Do not skip the hard work, careful thinking, and close reading that it will take to truly provide a solid answer to this question. If you have been applying yourself to the written discussions on the various aspects of fiction, this will have been good practice for this paper. If you have not invested in this writing, you will have to work even harder than your peers to succeed in the final paper.