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Pages: 3-5
Texts:
“What is Literature?” (Academy)
“What is Literature?” (Harper’s)
“The Story of an Hour” (Chopin)
“A Rose for Emily” (Faulkner)
“Soldier’s Home” (Hemingway)
“It Would Be Different If” (Mitchell)
“Battle Royal” (Ellison)
“Hills Like White Elephants” (Hemingway)
“Harrison Bergeron” (Vonnegut)
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (LeGuin)
Daisy Miller: A Study (James)
Research from your Investigations
Prompt
In unit 1, we studied short fiction from a variety of genres and through a variety of lenses. In order to understand their construction, we broke them into their narrative elements – plot, setting, POV, character, symbols, themes, style, tone, diction, irony, etc. – and to determine if they fit into our view of what makes something literature, we looked at them critically to ask ourselves in what ways they impacted us as readers and what elements might qualify them as literature to us as individuals.
For this essay, using your own knowledge and experience, the information from the texts we’ve read, and the information you found from investigations you’ve conducted,
1.define the qualities that you believe constitutes a literary text, and
2.explain why you believe Daisy Miller and one short story of your choosing (from the texts we’ve read together) meet or do not meet your definition.
Literature often explores profound themes that resonate universally, such as identity, conflict, and morality. Literary characters should be multifaceted, displaying a range of emotions and growth throughout the narrative and work often employs language in a way that enhances its meaning. This includes the use of symbolism, imagery, and varied diction that elevates the text beyond the ordinary.
Daisy Miller delves into themes of social class, cultural conflict, and the search for identity.James’s prose is intricate and detailed, using dialogue and description to convey the subtleties of social interaction.Battle Royal the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s invisible men, tackles themes of race, identity, and the struggle for self-actualization. The brutal depiction of the battle serves as a metaphor for the challenges faced by African Americans in a racially divided society.In other words, you are answering the question, “what is literature?” by using Daisy Miller and one short story to help illustrate the qualities a text must have to be considered a work of literature to you.
Both Daisy Miller and Battle Royal exemplify the qualities I believe constitute a literary text. They engage readers through thematic depth, character complexity, rich language, and social commentary. While they approach different issues—cultural conflict and racial identity—they both provoke thought and emotion, affirming their significance within the literary canon. Ultimately, literature serves as a mirror to society, encouraging us to reflect on our humanity and the world we inhabit.
Some things to keep in mind:
Audience: For this assignment, your audience is made up of other literary scholars who have read the stories you have read, but they have not thought extensively about what qualifies something as literature. Because your audience is familiar with the stories, you need to only provide short summaries (1-3 sentences) of the stories you select.
Because your audience has not thought extensively about what qualifies something as literature, you must include an extended definition of literature. This means you need to determine the characteristics of literature and explain each characteristic in more detail (e.g. if you believe having strong themes makes something literature, you need to define what a theme is so that you and your reader are working from the same definition of theme).
Be sure to use specific quotations from each text to support your claims. In other words, you will select specific passages and examples from Daisy Miller: A Study and a second text that illustrate the literary qualities and explain how they examples illustrate those qualities (e.g. using theme again, you might need to include several passages that demonstrate how the author created the theme to run throughout the story).
Be sure to explain the context, meaning, and significance of all evidence you include.
Because you are writing for an academic audience, you must use the conventions of academic writing. This includes appropriate tone, diction, citations, and formatting. This means you should:write in the literary present tense: literary works, while written at some point in the past, are considered to exist in the “literary present”; this means that instead of stating “James wrote”, you would write “James writes”
use third person only: similar to narrative point of view, pronouns determine which “person” one is writing in. For this assignment, use 3rx person pronouns and avoid first person (I, me, my, mine, us, we, our) and 2nd person (you, your, yours)
cite all sources in MLA format: this means to include in-text citations with the author’s last name and the page number of the idea – e.g. (James 23); in-text citations are required for all quotes, summaries, and paraphrases.
use MLA format for your document: 1-inch margins on all sides, header with your last name and page number on the upper right of each page, Times New Roman 12-point font
include a Works Cited page: see OWL Purdue for how to put this together or come see meYou MUST write your essay on the assigned Google document. You are not allowed to copy and paste from another page. You can copy and paste passages from the readings. Keep in mind, I utilize google tools such as Google Draftback to help ensure all work originated within the assigned document.
essay will be graded on the following:
Unity/Coherence/Organization of your essay (30 pts)Your essay should:Include a clear thesis with a topic, point, and reasons
Have topic sentences in all body paragraphs that mirror your thesis
Include transitions between ideas and paragraphs
End with a concluding paragraph that offers a final big take-away idea for readers
Development/Support of your essay (40 pts)Your essay should:Provide complete explanations of all claims and ideas
Use specific examples and quotations from the texts for support
Provide multiple examples to illustrate each claim
Explain what evidence (1) means, (2) why it is important, and (3) how it supports the topic sentence claim
Make connections between ideas
Style/Fluency/Grammar (10 pts)Your essay should:Use the tone and diction appropriate for an academic audience
Use the literary present tense
Use third person only
Be written using clean and concise language
Have no grammatical errors that impede a reader’s understanding of an idea
Have fewer than 5 grammatical errors
Proper use of MLA Style and Works Citation (20 pts)Your essay should:Have 1-inch margins on all sides
Use Times New Roman 12-point font
Your first page should have Your Name, Your Professor, Essay Assignment, and Due Date on the upper left margin
Include a header with your last name and page number on all pages beginning with page 2
Include in-text citations for all summaries, paraphrases, evidence, and quotations included
Have a properly formatted Works Cited pages
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