short answers

Requirements for Response Question

Following is an example of how you should answer your response question:

Note: I do not grade for grammar errors. These responses are designed to help you brainstorm elements of the story, form an opinion (thesis), and find three points in the story to support it. Your responses also help you remember each story so that when it is time to write your essay, you only have to look back over your responses, choose one, and write the essay. You will already have a solid foundation from which to work.

Total Points: 10 points possible for each response

Example:

Assignment: Students were required to read Eudora Welty’s short story “A Worn Path and answer the following question as a brainstorming exercise:

Question:  What major themes does Eudora Welty “use in her short story “A Worn Path?”

In Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path,” two major themes are racism and mythological. She uses both of these to weave together a story of an elderly woman’s journey to buy medicine for her sick grandson.

Welty portrays the prejudice and racism that existed in the 1940s when Phoenix speaks about still being alive during Post-Civil War Reconstruction. At times, on her tiring journey she symbolically alludes to the chains of slavery by mentioning that her legs feel as they have balls and chains attached to them [Welty 136]. The hunter that she encounters on her journey talks to her disrespectfully, calling her Granny, never asking what her real name is. She calls him Boss, which is a term used during slavery times.

Mythological themes are also evident in the story. Welty’s draws parallels between the description of the elderly Phoenix Jackson and the mythological bird, The Phoenix. She describes Phoenix as being golden, with a yellow burning under her dark skin", which alludes to the bird’s coloration (130) and also symbolizes the bird setting itself on fire where it is then reborn and rises from the ashes. Her hair is secured by a red scarf, and she walks with a cane, making a pecking noise like a bird, which also resemble the bird. Phoenix’s journey also parallels the flight of Phoenix. After the bird is reborn, it makes an egg from the ashes and takes it to a specific city where it waits for approximately 1,000 years before, once again, setting itself on fire and starting the process over again. Phoenix also continually makes the journey to Natchez to buy medicine for her grandson, and throughout the story, Welty alludes to the fact that Phoenix Jackson is ancient (135).

Note: The student found two themes that run throughout the story and gave examples of each. He or she also included the page number where they found this information, which would help when it comes time to write the essay. If you don’t know what literary terms, such as theme, are, please review the information that I have included in your Blackboard class or Google it.