Winning questions for the in-class essay on Wednesday

Following are the five most popular essay questions for Wednesday’s in-class essay on short fiction.  On Wednesday, I will give you an assignment sheet with three of the five questions, and you will choose one to answer in an essay.  After I grade them, you will have another assignment involving the same question:  you will have to revise the essay into a formal take-home essay.  I will distribute a new assignment sheet at that time.

Avoiding plot summary in favor of analysis, answer one of the following questions:

1. Using 2-3 stories we have read so far, analyze how the narratives depict death. Is death always something negative?

2. Loss is depicted in various ways in the stories we have read. Compare 2 stories in which loss is depicted on more than one level (figuratively and literally, physically and mentally or emotionally, etc)

5. Using 2-3 stories we have read, discuss the importance of home.

10. Compare 2-3 characters from different stories who seek freedom or liberation. How does the narrative treat their quest?

20. Consider how irony in 2 stories affects expectations—both characters’ and readers’ expectations.

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Full list of in-class essay question choices

In a comment, choose up to 5 of the following questions that you would like to see on the assignment sheet for Wednesday’s in-class essay:

Avoiding plot summary in favor of analysis, answer one of the following questions:

1. Using 2-3 stories we have read so far, analyze how the narratives depict death.  Is death always something negative?
2. Loss is depicted in various ways in the stories we have read.  Compare 2 stories in which loss is depicted on more than one level (figuratively and literally, physically and mentally or emotionally, etc)
3. Consider the complexity of family relationships in 2-3 stories we have read.  How do they offer strength or undermine the protagonist?
4. Using 2-3 stories we have read, discuss the importance of setting or physical environment.
5. Using 2-3 stories we have read, discuss the importance of home.
6. How do 2-3 stories take different approaches to incorporating the difficulty of the unknown?
7. What tensions do secrets create in 2-3 of the stories we have read, and how are those tensions resolved—or not?
8. Compare how characters benefit from being members of a community in 2-3 of the stories we have read.
9. Compare how 2-3 characters conform to or challenge cultural standards or values, and what outcome do they face?
10. Compare 2-3 characters from different stories who seek freedom or liberation.  How does the narrative treat their quest?
11. Discuss how 2-3 characters from different stories take different stances against oppression.
12. What purpose does suffering or sadness serve in 2-3 stories, and how are these characters able to transcend their suffering?
13. Consider one complex relationships in 2-3 stories we have read.  How do they offer strength or undermine the protagonist?
14. Analyze how money factors in 2-3 stories that we have read, and compare what message each conveys about money.
15. Compare how gender dynamics are portrayed in 2-3 stories we have read?
16. Using 2-3 stories, compare how characters search to move beyond their current reality to fulfill a dream.  Are these quests realistic?
17. Compare how different narration styles affect the reader’s experience using 2-3 stories we have read as examples.
18. How do 2-3 stories we have read interior thoughts to establish characterization?
19. How do 2-3 stories we have read use dialog to establish characterization and characters’ relationships?
20. Consider how irony in 2 stories affects expectations—both characters’ and readers’ expectations
21. Compare how 2-3 stories use symbolism to underscore a prominent theme.

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Short Story Review

1121-5436 Short Story review

here is the document we drafted in class.  Feel free to reply with additional entries to add to the information in the document.

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