LITR 220-11: Short Fiction (CRN 53)
MTWR 10:10-12:10, HECO 138

 Home -- Policy Statement -- Syllabus -- Assignments -- Research Links -- Angel

Assignments

For this class you have 4 assignments: Angel postings, an article response, a presentation, and a final paper. All written assignments must be typed, and all need to be in MLA format. Each assignment is worth 25% of your final grade.

I’m looking for a solid paragraph or two of concrete, specific analysis, and I encourage you to reference specific passages in the stories in your analyses. Use standard academic English (i.e. no emoticons or internet/chat abbreviations) in your posts. Posts will be graded on a scale of 0 to 10: 0 = no post; 1-5 = E; 6 = D; 7 = C; 8 = B; 9-10 = A. Flaming posts will earn you an automatic 0 for the post, and a second occurrence of flaming will earn you a 0 for the remainder of this portion of your grade. Note that you may post more than the required 9 times (and I encourage you to do so). Grades for the posts will be available on Angel. The grammar and mechanics policy will not be applied to the posts; however, excessive errors will have an adverse effect on your post’s grade.

In addition to the Angel posting, I may occasionally assign additional in-class writings or give quizzes if I am dissatisfied with the quality of class discussions. These additional works will count as part of this component of your final grade.

Paper: For this assignment, you will write an analytical essay about a choice of stories (to be announced in class on Monday, 1 June). Your analysis should establish an argument about some aspect of the story you have chosen. For example, were you to write about “A Rose for Emily” you could argue that the narrative structure used allows for the reader to be as confused about the ending as the town that the narrator represents. Or in “The Yellow Wallpaper” you could argue that the color of the wallpaper symbolizes the desires that the narrator’s husband has for her outlook—a sunny, positive disposition. Or you could argue that in “Young Goodman Brown” the reaction of Goodman Brown to his walk in the woods shows the pitfalls of an over-reliance on authority figures.

Your goal is to set up some kind of concrete argument and then use the story itself to support that argument. To that end, you must use specific passages from the text (quotes) and discuss why and how they show your argument to be true. If you do not cite specific passages in your paper, you will not do well (though, of course, citing passages does not guarantee that you will do well). As you’re organizing your paper, you should have several specific aspects of the story that lead to your conclusions.

This paper should be approximately 4-6 pages long, typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman or Helvetica. Proofread your work carefully, for the grammar and mechanics policy will be applied to this assignment. You may submit the paper in a hard copy or by e-mail attachment (use MS Word or Rich Text Format). The response is due on Monday, 15 June, by 5:00.

Presentation and Discussion: For this assignment, you will be required to choose one of the stories from the book not assigned (see list below), find a minimum of two secondary sources discussing the story, and then lead a class discussion of the story for 20 to 30 minutes. During that discussion, you should also present some of the information you found about the story. You may work individually for this presentation or with one other person.

The discussion may bring up any aspects of the story you wish to discuss: character analysis, theme, narrative technique, symbolism, etc. Regardless of your discussion focus, I expect you to be specific, including referencing specific passages as you lead the discussion. You should have a list of questions for discussion, but it’s important that you let the discussion move in its own manner rather than over-rely on the questions you bring in. You also do not need to feel compelled to get through all of the questions on your list if the discussion is moving well.

At the end of your allotted time, you will need to submit to me your list of questions as well as a list of the secondary sources that you have found (in MLA citation format).

Here’s a list of the stories you may choose from (first page is listed in parentheses):

James Baldwin “Sonny’s Blues” (29)
John Cheever “The Swimmer” (99)
O. Henry “The Furnished Room” (208)
D. H. Lawrence “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” (233)
Beth Lordan “Digging” (251)
Bobbie Ann Mason “Shiloh” (265)
James Alan McPherson “A Loaf of Bread” (280)
Joyce Carol Oates “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (336)
Tillie Olsen “I Stand Here Ironing” (401)
Edgar Allan Poe “The Cask of Amontillado” (410)
Leslie Marmon Silko “Yellow Woman” (427)
John Updike “A & P” (450)
Alice Walker “Everyday Use” (459)
Edith Wharton “Roman Fever” (478)
Virginia Woolf “The New Dress” (492)

On Thursday, 28 May, you will choose your story and sign up for your presentation date at the start of class, so come prepared with several choices of story (there will be no overlapping). The presentations will go from Thursday, 18 June to Thursday, 25 June. I will distribute a revised syllabus listing the readings and presentations on Monday, 1 June.

Final Exam: For this assignment, I will distribute two stories for you to read before class on Monday, 29 June. When you come to class, I will distribute a writing prompt, and you will have the entire class period to write an essay in response to this prompt. Bring paper and writing utensils. The exam is open note and open book, so feel free to annotate the stories I distribute as you read them. Do not do any secondary research for the exam. I expect the analysis to be original.

Background from Backgrounds Archive