The assignment for the first week is to answer the Course Orientation questions and to send your work to me as a Microsoft Word file attached to an email message.
Click here to view the questions.
The due date is January 16.
Irwin Shaw "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses"
Richard Connell "The Most Dangerous Game"
Washington Irving "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
The stories in the reading assignment for this week illustrate the elements of plot. Using Internet and library sources, explain the different elements of plot and then identify these in the stories. Make specific references to the stories to support your ideas. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Be sure to read this page to understand the criteria that I will use to grade your essay.
I recommend A Handbook to Literature for help on all assignments that ask you to understand a literary term and apply it to your reading. Bibliographic information on this book is given on your course outline, and it is available in the college bookstore on the Daniel Campus. In defining a literary term, you should use at least two sources and integrate the information.
To learn about the elements of plot, look at this web page, this one, and this one. I also write about some literary terms in my glossary. Bookmark these pages. Note that an ordinary dictionary will often not give you a useful or appropriate definition of a literary term.
Assignment 2
Everyone must complete this assignment.
Due date -- January 23 .
For assignemnt three, you may complete the assignment on conflict and send it to me by February 6, or you may wait and do the next assignment on point of view and send it to me by February 6.
Jack London "To Build a Fire"
Earnest Hemingway "Hills Like White Elephants"
Hamlin Garland "Under the Lion's Paw"
The stories in the assignment for this week illustrate different kinds of conflict. Using Internet and library sources, define the term "conflict" and identify the kinds of conflict that motivate the action in stories. What kinds of conflict are evident in the stories listed above? In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories assigned for this week, but you may also use examples from stories read in the previous assignment. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Sherwood Anderson "I'm a Fool"
Ring Landner "Haircut"
Susan Glaspell "A Jury of Her Peers"
The stories in the assignment for this week illustrate different points of view. Using Internet and library sources, explain the different points of view that writers may use. What points of view are illustrated in the stories listed above? In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories assigned for this week, but you may also use examples from stories read in previous assignments. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Assignment 3
Conflict or Point of View.
Do one assignment or the other.
Due date -- February 6.
For assignment four, you may complete the assignment on character and send it to me by February 20 , or you may wait and do the next assignment on setting and atmosphere and send it to me by February 20.
Katherine Mansfield "The Garden-Party"
Kate Chopin "Regret"
Guy De Maupassant "Humiliation"
Your assignment this week is to read the stories listed above in which the writers have created characters by a variety of techniques. The process of creating a literary character is known as "characterization. " Using Internet and library sources define the terms "character" and "characterization" and explain the various means by which the writers of these stories have created their characters.
In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories in this week's reading assignment, but you may also cite examples from the stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use. A Handbook to Literature is very useful in learning about the methods of characterization.
Kate Chopin "The Storm"
Edgar Allen Poe "The Cask of Amontillado"
Nathaniel Hawthorne "The Birthmark"
Setting and atmosphere are related terms. The former refers to the where and when of a story, its physical location and historical setting. The latter refers to the feeling or mood evoked by the description of the setting. Using Internet and library resources, give more complete definitions of these terms; then, describe the settings in the stories you have read for this week's assignment. Finally, tell the mood or atmosphere that each story evokes. In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories in this week's reading assignment, but you may also include examples from stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Assignment 4
Character or Setting and Atmosphere.
Do one assignment or the other.
Due date -- February 20.
James Joyce "Araby"
Guy De Maupassant "A Piece of String"
William Faulkner "A Rose for Emily"
In the last assignment, you looked at setting and atmosphere. Writers use concrete language to describe the settings of their stories, the appearance of their characters, and the actions that take place. Using Internet and library sources, define the term "concrete language" and tell how it differs from abstract language. In giving examples, you must make specific references to the stories listed above, but you may also use examples from stories read in previous assignments. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
George Orwell "Shooting an Elephant"
Kate Chopin"The Storm"
Eudora Whelty "A Worn Path"
Metaphor and simile are related ways for writers to express comparisons. But exactly what do these words mean, and what is the difference between them? Using Internet and library sources, give fuller definitions of these terms. In citing examples, you must make specific references to the stories in this week's reading assignment, but you may also use stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Assignment 5
Concrete Language or Metaphor and Simile.
Do one assignment or the other.
Due date -- March 6
For assignment six, you may complete this assignment on theme and send it to me by Msarch 20, or you may wait and do the next assignment on symbols and send it to me by March 20.
Shirley Jackson "The Lottery"
Katherine Mansfield "Miss Brill"
Bret Harte "The Outcasts of Poker Flat"
The word "theme" means something like the main idea of a literary work. Using library and Internet sources, give a more extensive and precise definition of this term. Then, identify the themes in the works listed above. In writing your essay, you must make specific reference to the stories in this week's assignment, but you may also use stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Sherwood Anderson "Hands"
Nathaniel Hawthorne "Young Goodman Brown"
O Henry "The Last Leaf"
Your assignment this week is to read the stories listed above that contain symbols. But what is a symbol? Using Internet and library sources, define this term. Then show how the works you have read illustrate the use of symbols. In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories listed above, but you may also draw examples from stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Assignment 6
Theme or Symbols
Do one assignment or the other.
Due date -- March 20.
For assignment seven, you may complete the assignment on irony and send it to me by April 3, or you may wait and do the assignment on foreshadowing and send it to me by April 3.
O Henry "Gift of the Magi"
Kate Chopin "The Story of an Hour"
Guy de Maupassant "The Necklace"
The word "irony" denotes a situation in which the apparent facts are contradicted by the underlying realities. Starting with A Handbook to Literature, give a more complete definition of this term. In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories in this week's reading assignment, but you may also include examples from stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Edgar Allen Poe "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Edgar Allen Poe "Ligeia"
Charlotte Perkins Gilman "The Yellow Wallpaper"
The stories in the assignment for this week illustrate the literary device of foreshadowing. Using Internet and library sources, define the term and then point to examples of foreshadowing in the stories you have read. In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories in this week's assignment, but you may also cite examples from stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Assignment 7
Irony or Foreshadowing.
Do one assignment or the other.
Due date -- April 3
For assignment eight, you may do the assignment on Allusions, Realism, Naturalism, or Local Color and Regionalism and send it to my by April 17.
For assignment eight, you have four choices. You may complete the assignment on allusions, Realism, Naturalism, or Local Color/Regionalism. Send your assignment to me by April 17.
Liam O'Flaherty "The Sniper"
Washington Irving"Rip Van Winkle"
Ambrose Bierce "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge "
For this week, you will identify and explain some of the allusions in the stories listed above. Using library and Internet sources, define the term "allusion. " In writing your essay, you must make specific references to the stories listed for the assignment, but you may also draw examples from stories read in previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Sherwood Anderson "Death in the Woods"
Stephen Crane "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky"
Edith Wharton"Souls Belated"
One characteristic that distinguishes most modern short stories from short works of fiction in previous eras is called "realism." Using library and Internet sources, define this term. Then point out some of the characteristics of realism that are reflected in the stories listed above. In writing your essay, you must make specific reference to the stories in this week's reading assignment, but you may also use examples from stories read in previous weeks. Note, however, that not all of the stories assigned for the semester can be classified as "realistic." Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Jack London "The Law of Life"
Stephen Crane "The Open Boat"
Theodore Dreiser "Old Rogaum and His Theresa"
Naturalism is a modern literary genre growing out of realism. Using library and Internet sources, define this term. Then, identify some of the characteristics of Naturalism in the stories listed above. In writing your essay, you must make specific reference to the stories in this week's assignment, but you may also use examples from stories in the assignments for previous weeks. Include appropriate quotations. Document the sources you use.
Kate Chopin "Desiree's Baby"
Sarah Orne Jewett "A White Heron
Bret Harte "The Luck of Roaring Camp"
Local Color and Regionalism are terms used to describe genres of writing popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using library and Internet sources, define these two terms and distinguish between them. Then, tell how you would classify the stories listed above. In writing your essay, you must make reference to the stories assigned for this week, but you may also use stories from previous weeks. Make specific references to the stories you use. Document your sources.
Assignment 8
Allusions, Realism, Naturalism, or Local Color/Regionalism.
Do one of the four assignments.
Due date -- April 17.No work will be accepted after May 1, the last day of class.