Ability of storytelling to communicate cultural values

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Discipline: English 102 – Reading and Research Writing

EH 102 (Online)GUIDELINES for ESSAY #1

LITERARY ANALYSIS: SHORT FICTION

Assignment Description and Requirements: Write a literary analysis essay of 1000-1200 words exploring one of the topics below or an original topic that I approve. The act of literary analysis means that you look closely and critically at a work or works, make certain judgments or interpretations, and consider how the author(s) accomplishes this effect. Remember to limit plot summary and to support your claims with evidence (and quotations) from the stories. As you write, avoid first and second person in favor of active, authoritative academic voice.

Your paper should follow MLA format: 12-pt. font, double-spaced, one-inch margins, parenthetical citations, and a works cited page. (See page 14 in The Write Stuff for reminders about how to format the first page of your essay; see page 56 for a sample works-cited list; see the bottom of page 52 for advice on how to cite “multiple entries from an anthology”).

Note: Do NOT GOOGLE or conduct any research. The subject of your analysis will be any two of the assigned short stories from Seagull Book of Storieslisted on the course schedule. You should strive for interesting, original insights and proper essay organization.

Due Dates:You will submit your paper by the close of week 5. After reviewing your grade and feedback, you will revise your essay and resubmit by the close of week 7. Each draft is 10% of your grade, for a total of 20%. If you fail to revise your paper, the first grade will be counted twice.

• Week 3:Proposal due (template below)
• Week 4:Draft for peer review due
• Week 5: Draft One (10%)
• Week 7:Draft Two (10%) Using peer, instructor, and Writing Center feedback, revise draft one and submit a new version.

Potential Topics (Consider these prompts only as cues to get you started. YOUR original argument / thesis will provide the structure for your essay.):

1. Identify a problem with storytelling and consider how two of the assigned texts address this problem. Is storytelling merely a distraction from reality? Do stories mislead or oppress? Can storytelling be used as a coercive or controlling mechanism? Or, do your texts illustrate some other problem(s) with stories?

2. Analyze the significance of gender in two of the stories from Seagull Book of Stories. How are cultural and/or familial expectations about masculinity or femininity established through storytelling? How does storytelling help preserve the reality of female or male (or nonbinary) experience, and how is that experience historically dependent?

3. Explore the ability of storytelling to communicate cultural values through an analysis of two of the stories. How do stories teach us what it means to be a member of a particular cultural group? Make sure you identify what value is being communicated (i.e. perseverance, flexibility, loyalty) and its significance in the given context. How is the value communicated and does the storytelling method effectively instill the value in the receiver?

4. Examine storytelling as a rite of passage in two of the assigned stories. How does age determine the role and attitude toward storytelling? How can storytelling be seen as a rite of passage from youth to adulthood? Is there a certain age at which a person is properly initiated into a family or culture’s stories? Should stories be censored for the young?

5. Analyze the function of memory in two of the stories. What comment does the author(s) make about memory’s reliability? Why does it matter if events are remembered and retold perfectly? Is absolute truth essential to storytelling or is it acceptable to “fill in the gaps”? Is it acceptable to exaggerate? To intentionally omit or change details of a story?

6. According to two texts of your choice from The Seagull Book of Stories, how is individual identity shaped through storytelling? Is it possible for a story to change a person who hears or reads it? How does this change happen, according to your texts?

7. Traditionally, storytelling involves at least two people—a teller and an audience. However, some of our texts explore the theme of fantasy, or “the stories we tell ourselves.” What do these fantasies reveal about human nature? Are these fantasies destructive or productive? Dangerous or harmless?

8. Use Canvas mail to send me a a brief description of your proposed topic. Topics be approved by the end of Week 3.

List your chosen topic here.

Now answer your question as directly as possible in a complete sentence.  Write it below. (For Topic 1, identify the point(s) of comparison and your general approach.)

Now consider how you will structure your argument.  Think in regards to “sections” not paragraphs.  This should not be a five paragraph essay.  Write headings in the boxes below for the sections of your essay.  (You might not need all of them.)

Now go back and add page and paragraph numbers for supporting passages.  This chart can grow to become the body of your paper.  Be sure to include strong topic sentences for each paragraph and textual support as well.