English 11A Unit 3 Activity
Unit: The Late Nineteenth Century: Realism and Naturalism
This activity will help you meet these educational goals:
You will write arguments to support claims, using sound reasoning and evidence; produce
clear and coherent writing that is appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience; draw
evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research; cite
strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as implicitly; deliver a speech that presents information, findings, and supporting
evidence clearly and with a distinct perspective, so that listeners can follow the reasoning;
alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed; and the speech is appropriate to
purpose and audience; use digital media (including textual, graphical, audio, visual, and
interactive elements) in presentations to increase the clarity of findings, reasoning, and
evidence and to add interest.
Introduction
In this unit activity, you’ll demonstrate your understanding of literary and rhetorical devices.
You’ll also analyze aspects of realism and naturalism through Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome
and write an essay on a particular aspect from the story.
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Directions and Analysis
Task 1: Analyzing a Literary Work
You read excerpts from many naturalist and realist literary works in the tutotials in this unit.
One such work is the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. As you read the story (either by
following the link above OR by checking out a hard copy at your school library), write your
responses alongside the topics in the table provided below. The information you add
to the table will help you complete Task 2 as well. As you enter information in the table,
consider the following questions:

How do literary elements and rhetorical devices such as foreshadowing, imagery, and
symbolism affect your understanding of the story?

Where do you notice the theme of naturalism?

How does the author develop the characters in the story?
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Here are some guidelines to help you complete the table:
Guidelines
Use a highlighter
 Read the story carefully and use a highlighter to call out important
passages, phrases, or even twists in the story.
 Do not overdo the highlights. It would defeat the purpose of laying
emphasis on a part of the text if the majority of text is highlighted.
Add notes to the margin
These notes should be alongside the highlights and should consist of
questions or comments pertaining to the text.
Use a notebook
For answers that require a larger area to make notes, use a separate
notebook instead of a margin.
Complete the table:
Chapters
Prologue–Chapter 2
Topic
While reading, think
about…



Chapters 3–5
setting
foreshadowing
theme of
naturalism
While reading, think
about…



Chapters 6–8
Notes
author’s
purpose/point of
view
symbolism
communication
between
characters
While reading, think
about…


rhetorical
devices
themes
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
Chapter 9–Epilogue
characterization
While reading, think
about…



theme
the tragic hero
figurative
language
Task 2: Writing an Essay
Now that you’ve listed some important elements in the story, pick one aspect of Ethan Frome.
Open a new Word document to write an essay of five paragraphs detailing how the
aspect you selected relates to your understanding of the novel as a whole. Here are
some suggested topics, use one of them unless you have another idea.



Explore the idea of communication among the characters in the novel. What theme
does Wharton attempt to convey through their communication?
What does the pickle dish seem to symbolize in the novel?
What type of tragic hero does Ethan Frome represent? Explore the differences
between a classic tragic hero and a more modern tragic hero.
To write a good essay, you can read more about writing argumentative essays and some
general guidelines for writing a good essay.
Use the Thesis Builder which also helps you write a solid outline if you need help
getting started. Remember, you will use quotations from the text as your “evidence” as
suggested in the Thesis Builder outline.
Use the links above for examples of how to write an argumentative essay. Look back
over Units 1 and 2 activities to remember some of the techniques for writing a solid
essay.
When you have written your essay, proofread it, and edited it for clarity, please upload
it along with this document to the Unit 3 dropbox.
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Resources
Here are some sources you can consult for writing your essay:
Ethan Frome
Close reading a text
Writing argumentative essays
General guidelines for writing a good essay
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Evaluation
Your teacher will use these rubrics to evaluate the completeness of your work as well as the
clarity of thinking you exhibit.
Task 1: Analyzing a Literary Work
Beginning
(1 point)
Developing
(2 points)
Proficient
(3 points)
Distinguished
(4 points)
Criteria




The student adequately addresses all of the topics stated in the table.
The student provides ample textual evidence with proper citations.
The student gives a highly detailed analysis or commentary.
The student includes several additional discussion topics.




The student addresses most of the topics stated in the table.
The student provides a substantial textual evidence with proper citations.
The student gives a detailed analysis or commentary.
The student includes some additional discussion topics.




The student addresses some of the topics stated in the table.
The student provides some textual evidence with citations.
The student gives a relatively adequate analysis or commentary.
The student finds a few additional discussion topics.




The student does not address any of the topics stated in the table.
The student provides no textual evidence or citations.
The student does not give or gives an incorrect analysis or commentary.
The student does not find any additional discussion topics.
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Task 2: Writing an Essay
Beginning
(1 point)
Developing
(2 points)
Proficient
(3 points)
Distinguishe
d
(4 points)
Criteria




The student centers the essay around the thesis statement, which is clearly stated.
The student demonstrates a good understanding of the topic and analyzes the text convincingly.
The student writes a well-structured essay, with only minimal spelling or grammatical errors.
The student uses highly appropriate sources and cites the sources correctly.
 The student centers the essay around the thesis statement, which is somewhat clearly stated.
 The student demonstrates a moderate understanding of the topic and analyzes the text well.
 The student writes a moderately well-structured essay, with a few spelling and grammatical
errors.
 The student uses appropriate sources and cites the sources mostly correctly.
 The student does not clearly center the essay around the thesis statement, but presents
somewhat conflicting views.
 The student demonstrates some understanding of the topic and analyzes the text to some extent.
 The student writes an essay that is not well structured, with several spelling and grammatical
errors.
 The student uses somewhat appropriate sources and cites the sources with some errors.
 The student does not center the essay around the thesis statement, but instead includes loosely
strung-together ideas.
 The student does not demonstrate understanding of the topic and is unable to analyze the text
coherently.
 The student writes an essay that is incoherent or jumbled, with many spelling and grammatical
errors.
 The student uses inappropriate sources or does not cite the sources.
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