Short Story
Final Essay Assignment

You will be writing a 4/5-page essay comparing and contrasting two short stories so that you can, in part, see how an idea, tone, or image may be developed differently in different stories. One story should be one we’ve already read or are about to read. The other needs to be a story that is new to you (by a different author), written after 1950.We may be using class time to write and revise the essay.  This is a thesis-driven, literary essay, so please remember to use specific quotes to support your statements as you develop your thesis and to properly credit all your sources of information.  So, here’s how to proceed.
 1.     Decide on your topic. You will be looking at stories by two different authors to see how a related theme, image, or topic is developed. Listed below are my suggestions for pairings; I recommend you choose one of these to avoid a great deal of extra reading. I can provide pdfs or paper copies for all stories not in our text. If you have a different recent story in mind to compare to a story we’ve read, please clear it with me first and provide me with a copy.
 2.     After you’ve chosen the pairing you want to work with and have read the new story, decide what seems to be the key element(s) of each story (setting, plot, characterization, theme, imagery, etc). Decide how you will develop your comparison/contrast.
 3.     You can consider finding out a little about the author of the new story.  Decide how this information (or how the year in which it was written) might impact the story. Are there other aspects of the story that you might need to research? “Sonny’s Blues,” for example, makes more sense if you know a little about jazz in the 1950’s, and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” becomes richer (more chilling?) if you know about Charles Schmid Jr, who occasionally seduced and murdered young women in Tucson. Remember to acknowledge sources for all information you’ve read.
 4.     Now decide on a thesis. You can pose a question and use the essay to answer it, or you can begin with the rationale you will use to compare the stories, or you can dream up your own approach.
 5.     Start writing!! You will need to analyze the texts of both stories in the body paragraphs to support your thesis. You will probably be writing more about the new story, but at least make that analysis 50% of your essay.
 6.     Remember that we’ve been studying the story as an art form, so your conclusion should address some issue of quality, or the importance of an element to the whole (or the need to unite all elements), or the change in the story form over time, etc.
 7.     You should have a first draft finished by Friday, Feb 17 so that I can comment on it and return it in time for you to revise it. The final draft will be due on the day of the final. For those struggling with other deadlines, please e-mail a draft to me during break week.


Topics to choose from:
1.     “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Conner and “Where are you Going, Where Have You Been,” by Joyce Carol Oates, pdf: www.cusd200.org/cms/lib7/IL01001538/Centricity/.../oates_going.pdf
2.      “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver and “Rain Flooding Your Campfire,” by Tess Gallagher, pdf not available – ask me for a paper copy
3.     “Babylon Revisited,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street,” by Mavis Gallant (in your text)
4.     “The Hunger Artist,” by Franz Kafka and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” by Ursula Le Guin (in your text)
5.     “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner and “The Bog Girl,” by Karen Russell, pdf: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/20/bog-girl-by-karen-russell
6.     “The Garden Party,” by Katherine Mansfield and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” by Richard Wright (in your text)
7.     “I Stand Here Ironing,” by Tillie Olsen and “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker (in your text)
8.     “Araby,” by James Joyce and “Why I Like Country Music,” by James Alan McPherson (in your text)