Short Fiction Essay Prompts
ATTENTION Spring 2014 AP Students:
The short fiction essay assignment is due, February 16, 2014, at approximately 12:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time via email ([email protected]). Hardcopies will not be accepted, and papers that are submitted late will not be graded. NO EXCUSES!
Instructions: Students, please choose ONE of the following prompts and develop an analytical essay of 750-1000 words. Essays should have the following components: (1) a clear thesis statement, (2) a clear sense of audience, (3) adequate support, (4) cohesive coherent organization, (5) grammatically and mechanically correct sentences, (6) correctly spelled words, (7) quotations from the assigned work(s) to support your position, and (8) a minimum of TWO ACADEMIC SOURCES using MLA format for citations.
INSTRUCTOR'S NOTE: The text itself does not count as an academic source. It is the primary source you will refer to throughout the course of your paper.
The short fiction essay assignment is due, February 16, 2014, at approximately 12:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time via email ([email protected]). Hardcopies will not be accepted, and papers that are submitted late will not be graded. NO EXCUSES!
Instructions: Students, please choose ONE of the following prompts and develop an analytical essay of 750-1000 words. Essays should have the following components: (1) a clear thesis statement, (2) a clear sense of audience, (3) adequate support, (4) cohesive coherent organization, (5) grammatically and mechanically correct sentences, (6) correctly spelled words, (7) quotations from the assigned work(s) to support your position, and (8) a minimum of TWO ACADEMIC SOURCES using MLA format for citations.
INSTRUCTOR'S NOTE: The text itself does not count as an academic source. It is the primary source you will refer to throughout the course of your paper.
“A Rose for Emily”
In an essay analyze Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” by defining who, or what, is the antagonist of the story? Use textual evidence to support your interpretation.
OR
Is Emily a necrophiliac?
“Battle Royal”
Write an essay analyzing the narrator’s dream. Consider focusing on such features as the image of the circus, the grandfather’s refusal to laugh at the clowns, his explanation of the papers in the briefcase, and the final paper’s message. How does this message confirm the grandfather’s deathbed warning?
OR
Research the period known as the Jim Crow era in the American South. Using specific reference to both the story and your research, write an essay analyzing and arguing for “Battle Royal” as a metaphor for the social conditions endured by African Americans in the South during that era.
“The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”
In “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” what is the relationship between Poe’s guilty narrators and their claims of lucidity and dependability?
“The Storm”
Interpret the denouement of the story. What is Chopin specifically stating about the conventional attitudes toward adultery?
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”
Is Le Guin’s story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” successful in arguing against the concept of utilitarianism? Why or why not?
“The Gilded Six-Bits”
At the conclusion of “The Gilded Six Bits,” the Orlando store clerk reflects that “darkies are laughing all the time. Nothin’ worries ‘em.” Why does Hurston include this remark? What is its significance to larger themes and motifs in the story?
OR
In Hurston’s celebrated novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Joe Starks plies Janie with candy and refers to her as a “pretty doll baby”; however well intended, these kindnesses ultimately stifle Janie’s sense of adult autonomy. Do you detect any such paternalism in “The Gilded Six Bits”? How does Hurston represent “infantilization” of women in this tale?
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
What does the black veil symbolically represent in this work? What exactly is the lesson Minister Hooper is attempting to instruct to his congregation?
“Recitatif”
What does the word recitatif mean, and what is the significance of it to the work?
ADDITIONAL TOPIC CHOICES
Analyze the effect of the setting in one or two stories; is the setting important to the story? Does the setting the author utilizes add to the story's effect? In these stories, the setting shapes the story and is an important presence. How? Possible stories include: “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning."
In your opinion, which of the assigned stories most effectively made its main point? Which was least effective in making its point? You might consider questions of theme, narration, interest, etc. to answer this question. This is not an “I LIKED IT” assignment. This assignment calls for some serious critical thinking.
“IND AFF” and “A Rose for Emily” are ways of defining women within relationships. Choose one story and discuss how that story constructs the women characters in it.
REMEMBER TO INCLUDE TWO OUTSIDE SOURCES; ALSO REMEMBER THAT OUTSIDE SOURCES ARE ANY ESSAYS INCLUDED ON MY WEBSITE AND ANY RESEARCH YOU DO, ETC. ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE TEXT ITSELF COUNTS AS OUTSIDE RESEARCH.
In an essay analyze Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” by defining who, or what, is the antagonist of the story? Use textual evidence to support your interpretation.
OR
Is Emily a necrophiliac?
“Battle Royal”
Write an essay analyzing the narrator’s dream. Consider focusing on such features as the image of the circus, the grandfather’s refusal to laugh at the clowns, his explanation of the papers in the briefcase, and the final paper’s message. How does this message confirm the grandfather’s deathbed warning?
OR
Research the period known as the Jim Crow era in the American South. Using specific reference to both the story and your research, write an essay analyzing and arguing for “Battle Royal” as a metaphor for the social conditions endured by African Americans in the South during that era.
“The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”
In “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” what is the relationship between Poe’s guilty narrators and their claims of lucidity and dependability?
“The Storm”
Interpret the denouement of the story. What is Chopin specifically stating about the conventional attitudes toward adultery?
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”
Is Le Guin’s story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” successful in arguing against the concept of utilitarianism? Why or why not?
“The Gilded Six-Bits”
At the conclusion of “The Gilded Six Bits,” the Orlando store clerk reflects that “darkies are laughing all the time. Nothin’ worries ‘em.” Why does Hurston include this remark? What is its significance to larger themes and motifs in the story?
OR
In Hurston’s celebrated novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Joe Starks plies Janie with candy and refers to her as a “pretty doll baby”; however well intended, these kindnesses ultimately stifle Janie’s sense of adult autonomy. Do you detect any such paternalism in “The Gilded Six Bits”? How does Hurston represent “infantilization” of women in this tale?
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
What does the black veil symbolically represent in this work? What exactly is the lesson Minister Hooper is attempting to instruct to his congregation?
“Recitatif”
What does the word recitatif mean, and what is the significance of it to the work?
ADDITIONAL TOPIC CHOICES
Analyze the effect of the setting in one or two stories; is the setting important to the story? Does the setting the author utilizes add to the story's effect? In these stories, the setting shapes the story and is an important presence. How? Possible stories include: “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning."
In your opinion, which of the assigned stories most effectively made its main point? Which was least effective in making its point? You might consider questions of theme, narration, interest, etc. to answer this question. This is not an “I LIKED IT” assignment. This assignment calls for some serious critical thinking.
“IND AFF” and “A Rose for Emily” are ways of defining women within relationships. Choose one story and discuss how that story constructs the women characters in it.
REMEMBER TO INCLUDE TWO OUTSIDE SOURCES; ALSO REMEMBER THAT OUTSIDE SOURCES ARE ANY ESSAYS INCLUDED ON MY WEBSITE AND ANY RESEARCH YOU DO, ETC. ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE TEXT ITSELF COUNTS AS OUTSIDE RESEARCH.