Fiction Essay Instructions
You must complete the required textbook readings in preparation for the Fiction Essay. This will equip you to objectively respond to the readings by compiling information from a variety of sources in order to compose a persuasive analysis of a literary work. You will also learn to follow standard usage in English grammar and sentence structure; identify the theme and structure of each literary selection as well as the significant characteristics or elements of each genre studied; and evaluate the literary merit of a work (Syllabus MLOs: A, B, C, D, F, G and Module/Week 3 LOs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
In Module/Week 3, you will write a 750-word (approximately 3 pages) essay that compares and contrasts 2 stories from the Fiction Unit. Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the below guidelines for developing your paper topic and review the Fiction Essay Grading Rubric to see how your submission will be graded. Gather all of your information, plan the direction of your essay, and organize your ideas by developing a 1-page thesis statement and outline for your essay. Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single Microsoft Word document using current MLA, APA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program); check your Perrines Literature textbook, the Harbrace Essentials Handbook and/or the link contained in the Assignment Instructions Folder to ensure correct citation format is used.
Your Fiction Essay must include a title page, a thesis/outline page, and the essay itself, followed by a works cited/references/bibliography page listing any primary and/or secondary texts cited in your essay.
Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic
The Writing about Literature section of your Perrines Literature textbook (pp. 154) and the Writing section of Harbrace Essentials (pp. 112, 1516, 1821, 2228) provide helpful pointers for writing your literary essay and for academic writing in general. Be sure that you have read these sections before doing any further work for this assignment. Take particular notice of the examples of fiction essays on pp. 3843 of Perrines Literature textbook.
Choose 2 of the following short stories to compare and contrast in your essay:
Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Prodigal Son by St. Luke
Also, at least 1 of these elements of fiction must be the focus of your essay:
Characterization
Characterization
- Who are the main characters in the stories?
- What are their outstanding qualities? Does the author give any indication as to how or why the character developed these qualities?
- What are the characters emotions, attitudes, and behaviors? What do these indicate to the reader about the character?
- Can the characters motivations be determined from the text?
