English 131 Essay 3: Analyzing the Short Story
For this essay, you will select one of the short stories we have read (not “Sonny’s Blues”
for obvious reasons) and look at it from your own unique perspective. You may examine in
depth such things as the use of light and dark and what they mean, the use of symbols and what
they mean, the role that the setting plays in creating the right tone for the plot, or any myriad of
other interesting approaches that may occur to you. You will, of course need to narrow it down
to a single strong claim (thesis) that you can support well using lots of textual evidence in around
1200 well-chosen words. You will, of course, need to cite your story and any other piece of
literature that you bring in to add weight and interest to your analysis in a works cited page.
Comparison with other pieces should be limited and highly relevant, so they don’t appear to be
simply “fluff” in your essay.
English 131 Essay 3: Analyzing the Short Story
For this essay, you will select one of the short stories we have read (not “Sonny’s Blues”
for obvious reasons) and look at it from your own unique perspective. You may examine in
depth such things as the use of light and dark and what they mean, the use of symbols and what
they mean, the role that the setting plays in creating the right tone for the plot, or any myriad of
other interesting approaches that may occur to you. You will, of course need to narrow it down
to a single strong claim (thesis) that you can support well using lots of textual evidence in around
1200 well-chosen words. You will, of course, need to cite your story and any other piece of
literature that you bring in to add weight and interest to your analysis in a works cited page.
Comparison with other pieces should be limited and highly relevant, so they don’t appear to be
simply “fluff” in your essay.
English 131 Essay 3: Analyzing the Short Story
For this essay, you will select one of the short stories we have read (not “Sonny’s Blues”
for obvious reasons) and look at it from your own unique perspective. You may examine in
depth such things as the use of light and dark and what they mean, the use of symbols and what
they mean, the role that the setting plays in creating the right tone for the plot, or any myriad of
other interesting approaches that may occur to you. You will, of course need to narrow it down
to a single strong claim (thesis) that you can support well using lots of textual evidence in around
1200 well-chosen words. You will, of course, need to cite your story and any other piece of
literature that you bring in to add weight and interest to your analysis in a works cited page.
Comparison with other pieces should be limited and highly relevant, so they don’t appear to be
simply “fluff” in your essay.