ENGL 102H, Dr. Harnett
Essay 1: Short Fiction
Essay 1: Analytical Essay on Interpersonal Influence in Short Fiction.
Frank O’Connor, “First Confession.”
Purpose: This assignment develops your competence in analytical thinking, derivation
of a deep and insightful thesis, organization of an argument, marshaling and
demonstration of highly relevant support for it from sources, unified and smoothly
connected progression of ideas, and clear and precise expression of them.
Essay 1 involves imagination and reality, as Exam 1 does, but I'm having you focus on a
specific aspect of it that emphasizes character analysis. The focus is on the main
character, Jackie. Your essay on him will develop the idea of interpersonal influence or
social pressure that you interpret in "First Confession." Your job will be to describe and
explain how various people affect Jackie as he prepares for, and experiences, his first
confession. As your deep insight for your thesis, you will state what this set of social
influences means or implies to you as instances of human nature in action. The essay
prompt has you show characters' influences on Jackie's feelings, thoughts, and
behaviors, as they are evident in the story. Organization will be a key part of this essay,
as will depth of development. For organization, you'll have options to develop sections on
Feelings, Thoughts, and Behaviors (or another Point By Point pattern), or sections that
go Scene By Scene, or Character By Character, to name three ways you could do it. Also,
I'm going to have you make substantial use of not only the story itself, but also a
scholarly article that addresses the idea of interpersonal influence. Note that you don't
necessarily have to agree with a source to be able to use it; you could accommodate the
source's ideas and examples, then show that you are taking a different approach. Note
also that the goal here is to make use of ideas in the source, not to critique it. The
selected source is Solomon E. Asch’s famous article “Opinions and Social Pressure.”
Assignment: Using the scholarly article (see the Works Cited below) and especially the
short story “First Confession” by Frank O’Connor itself for extensive support, plan, write,
revise, and edit an effective argumentative essay of about 1000-1200 words, or more,
that clearly demonstrates your insight involving the ways that interpersonal influences
or social pressure shapes the feelings, thoughts, and actions of the central character, the
narrator, Jackie. The key to success on this essay is the depth of insight in the thesis, and
the depth of support for it throughout its body, using relevant examples to demonstrate
your ideas. Cite all references to the story and the article, using correct MLA
documentation format.
Topic Question: What do the ways in which people influence Jackie’s
feelings, thoughts, and behaviors—based on his anticipated vs. actual
confession experience—mean or imply about an aspect of human nature,
such as fear of the unknown as other people affect it?
Development: Your essay should address the following supporting ideas. You may
organize your thesis development however you choose, as long as it is logically sound:
Some main ways to do that are Point by Point (Feelings, Thoughts, and Behaviors),
Scene by Scene, or Character by Character. Another option is to separate the
points of the essay Source by Source (story, article). Your decision of the most
efficient organization of the essay’s development impacts the effectiveness of the entire
essay.
 A Thesis that expresses a deep Insight that you derive about the character in
terms of the Topic Question above as he perceives, imagines, and/or anticipates
ENGL 102H, Dr. Harnett
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Essay 1: Short Fiction
his first confession, in contrast to the reality of it. What does the interplay and
separation of imagination and reality mean and imply on a fundamental level?
What concept or idea helps to explain these things?
Analysis of Imagination, Anticipation, Perception, or Presumption by
the character—what Jackie comes to think will happen to him at his first
confession—with examples mainly and extensively from the story, and a
representative set of ideas and examples from the article.
Analysis of the Reality of the situation in which the character is involved—
especially what actually happens during and after his first confession—with
examples from the story.
As a point of emphasis, show how other people influence Jackie for
better and worse throughout the story. How is the way Jackie feels,
thinks, and acts influenced by these people, and what does that show or imply
about human nature? Use the story and article as extensively as possible for
support. You might very well combine the Imagination and Reality points with
this main part of the analysis.
A Conclusion that finishes the train of thought of the essay, including a final
point that clarifies the entire topic you have addressed on a large scale, in the Big
Picture.
Please be sure to do your own work and follow the GCC Academic Honesty Policy
http://www.glendale.edu/index.aspx?page=2596. You should make substantial use
of the story as support for your thesis. Cite all references to the readings—quotes,
paraphrases, and summaries of ideas from the authors. You may refer to the readings
and your notes, but nothing resembling part or all of a prewritten essay. Use MLA
format. I follow the UC Entry Level Analytical Writing Standards Scoring Guide for
grading: http://www.ucop.edu/elwr/process.html#guide.
Works Cited
(Provide your most recent access dates. URLs are included here for your convenience in accessing them,
though MLA format does not require them in the Works Cited.)
Asch, Solomon E. “Opinions and Social Pressure.” Scientific American 193.5 (Nov.
1955): 31-35. Web. dd Mon. yyyy.
https://brainmass.com/file/321407/Solomon+Asch+-+Original+article.pdf
O’Connor, Frank. “First Confession.” Ireland—Information. Web. dd Mon. yyyy.
http://www.ireland-information.com/firstconfession.htm