Essay Prompts: About the story posted
PROMPTS
1. One of the most revealing types of conflict occurs when a character’s
inner struggles are resolved at great personal Often, the character learns a
lesson, but too late to help him/herself or another character. Explain how a
character struggles but fails to learn a lesson in time, and thus, serves as an
example for the reader. Be sure to include an analysis of the price paid as
part of the resolution and the lesson to be learned.
2. Often in literary works, authors choose physical objects that take on a
special significance within the work and become symbols of something
beyond themselves. Show how the author uses symbols to convey an
important meaning. In your essay, focus on the symbols, what they
symbolize, and how the author uses them to convey a message to the
reader. You may choose a number of symbols, or you may choose to
elaborate on one symbol in all body paragraphs.
3. Authors use descriptive details to develop a setting for several purposes.
Explain how the setting relates to events from the plot, related to
characters, built suspense, etc. You may focus on all these aspects or chose
to elaborate on one particular aspect in all body paragraphs.
4. What is/are the theme/themes of the story? What universal truth/truths
does the story express about human nature, experiences, problems, or
relationships? How do various elements of the story characters and their
actions or words, events within the story, reoccurring images or clusters of
images, point of view, etc. help to develop the theme?
5. Discuss the author’s use of figurative language. What impact does the
figurative language have on characterization, description of setting, mood,
foreshadowing, theme, or the overall story? Each body paragraph should
identify, discuss, and analyze a different example of figurative language.
6. Without characters, there is no narrative. Discuss the roles of various
characters with in a story, focusing on any of the following: static vs.
dynamic characters, flat vs. round characters, characterization, how
conventional or stereotyped characters function, symbolism of a character
attributes, etc.
7. Many stories advocate changes in social or political attitudes or traditions.
Analyze and discuss the techniques that the author uses to influence the
reader’s views regarding change.
8. Some of the most significant events in a story are mental or psychological
awakenings, discoveries, changes of consciousness. Analyze how the author
manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense,
and climax usually associate with external action.
9. What is the central conflict or problem of the story? How does the
outcome of the conflict relate to the theme of the story? What literary
devices does the author use to create an understanding of the conflict
For the Final Research Paper, you will use all of your developing skills in summary, analysis and synthesis to develop and pursue your own line of inquiry by embarking on an extended investigation into a literary text. Your analysis of a primary text will be informed and complicated by the work of other experts in the field, as well as research into the social-historical context in which the primary text was set and/or written. The end product will be a thoughtful, critical, and persuasive thesis-driven article about the meaning, power, and/or structure of a literary text supported through literary analysis and supported and/or complicated by secondary sources.
