Your Name

Prof. Name

ENG 101

Due Date

Two-Part Title

(For example, Homemakers and Farmhands: Gender Roles in Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls”)

THESIS STATEMENT: This essay assignment requires you to choose a short story from those we have read this semester, identify a main character, and write an argument giving your interpretation of his or her personality traits, either as the character evolves (grows) from the beginning of the story to the end, or an explanation of how your understanding of him or her evolves (changes) as you read. To focus your ideas about this character into a clear and solid thesis statement, answer two questions that will become a two-part thesis statement: (a) How does the character (or your understanding of this person) evolve based on what he or she experiences in the story? In other words, how does this person grow and change, or how does your understanding of the character grow and change? (b) What type of readers would appreciate this story for the life lesson they will learn from this character’s experience and evolution? Please be specific about the kind of readers you envision; do not say anyone or people in general—be very specific about the readers who should read this story and be very specific about what they will learn from it. Answer both questions for a complete thesis statement written in no more than two sentences and be sure to place this two-part thesis at the end of the introduction paragraph described below. Your thesis will point your readers toward the direction of your argument, and your argument will lead your readers to be persuaded by your interpretation of the main character’s journey and the significance of the story’s lesson.

INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH: Start your essay with an introduction to the short story you are examining by giving its title and author by name. Briefly explain the setting (the time and place where the story happens), and briefly list a few of the most important characters and explain their relationship to one another. Identity the story’s main character. This might be either the narrator such as Brother in Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” or it might be Sonny himself, depending on which character’s journey you wish to examine. If your story is told by a first-person narrator, this might be the character to write about (Poe’s Montresor, for example), but if the story is told by an omniscient (all knowing) narrator like the one in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” or the narrator in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” it is better to focus on Emily herself, or YGB himself. After introducing all the elements above in this opening paragraph, place your thesis, as you worked it out according to the directions above, at the end.

Include an IMAGE of the author here.

Crop to an appropriate size so it enhances your written text instead of distracting from it.

BODY PARAGRAPHS

Pro Tip: You must open each of the essay’s body paragraphs with topic sentence, which is easy to do if you reverse the question being asked and make into a statement. Add the literary term from the question itself to the topic sentence to make clear the concept you are working with in responding to the writing prompt.

Pro Tip: Do not end with any paragraph with a quote from the story. Incorporate the quote into your explanation of the concept you are dealing with, and end the paragraph with your own words by explaining how the quote itself relates the character you are examining.

Write a paragraph describing the story’s basic plot to give readers unfamiliar with it just enough background context for a basic understanding of the narrative without explaining every detail. Name the person who is narrating the story and explain if it is a first-person narrator, or an omniscient, all-knowing narrator. What does the narrator tell readers about the main character you are examining in this argument? Quote the narrator saying something about this character in this paragraph. For example: The omniscient narrator in Hawthorne’s story describes Young Goodman Brown as “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man.” Remember to start this paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the use of the literary term(s) in bold face in relation to the character you are examining and end this paragraph with your own words relating how this quote pertains to the character.

Write a paragraph describing the story’s setting, the time and place situation where the story takes happens. Where do the events of the story happen, both in terms of a geographical location on a map and a specific time-period in history. How does the setting shape the main character’s sense of self and situation? Quote the narrator saying something about this character in this paragraph. For example: Montresor, the first-person narrator of Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” describes the creepy atmosphere of the catacombs: “We could see the bones of the dead lying in large piles along the walls. The stones were wet and cold.” Remember to start this paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the use of the literary term(s) in bold face in relation to the character you are examining and end this paragraph with your own words relating how this quote pertains to the character.

Write a paragraph describing problems in the story. How does the main character face a personal dilemma and how is he or she in conflict with other characters in the story? Quote the narrator explaining the dilemma faced by the main character in this paragraph. For example: In the opening scene of Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” the first-person narrator known only as Brother, explains his distress in learning that Sonny was sent to jail for a drug related offensive while he’s trying to get through his workday: “I felt my guts were going to come spilling out or that I was going to choke or scream.” Remember to start this paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the use of the literary term(s) in bold face in relation to the character you are examining and end this paragraph with your own words relating how this quote pertains to the character.

Write a paragraph explaining how the main character confronts the problem he or she is facing. How does this character’s action in confronting the problem move the story toward its climax (highest point of the narrative)? What is the epiphany (new realization) that results from this climax, either for the main character him or herself, or for the reader? Quote the narrator’s explanation of this climax and/or the resulting epiphany. For example: The narrator in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” recounts the moment readers understand that Homer Barron had in fact been living with Miss Emily for many years since it had first been assumed that he left town so many years before: “The man himself lay in the bed…we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” Remember to start this paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the use of the literary term(s) in bold face in relation to the character you are examining and end this paragraph with your own words relating how this quote pertains to the character.

CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH: End your essay by explaining three ideas: (a) How does the title of the story reveal something important about the character you are examining? (b) How has the character (or your understanding of this person) evolved by the end of the story? (c) What is the life lesson readers should learn from the story? Remember to be very clear about the specific audience you would recommend this story to, how they should perceive the character’s journey and evolution, and what message they should come away with from this text as they understand its title on a deeper level.

Works Cited

Include a works cited page at the end of your essay for both the PDF of story itself and the image of the author you found online. Use www.zbib.org for both.

Everything in bold above will be counted as earned points for this writing project.