Assignment Overview:
From the choices below, please write an essay on one of the short stories read in class. You should respond to the essay question by using evidence from the text and the provided scholarly source, as well as a second credible or academic source found on your own using the Hostos Library website.
Reminders:
Make sure to include a clear thesis statement in your introduction that fully addresses the essay question and makes an original claim or argument about your chosen story.
demonstrate understanding of literary terms and elements of fiction.
Make sure to use direct quotes and examples from the story and both of your outside sources, following the rules for MLA citation.
Length and Formatting:
4 pages typed, double-spaced, size 12 Times New Roman font
Heading in MLA Format
In-Text Citations in MLA format. Example: (Carver, 8).
Works Cited Page
Hostos Writing Center
The Hostos Writing Center is available to provide online assistance with your essays, at any stage of the writing process. You can sign up for a live virtual session with a tutor, or you can request written feedback on a draft. Appointments can be made here: https://hostos.mywconline.com, or by e-mailing WritingCenterHostos@gmail.com.
Essay Prompts:
1). Cathedral:
In “Cathedral,” the narrator admits that all he knows about blindness “comes from the movies,” and that cathedrals for him are just “something to look at on late-night TV.” But by the end of the story, even though he knows he is sitting in his living room, he doesn’t feel like he’s “inside anything.” For this topic, please write an essay focused on the story’s ending—do you think the narrator truly learns to see things from a new perspective? Why or why not?
In your essay, be sure to include discussion of the following secondary source, plus one other: “Cathedral by Raymond Carver, 1983” by Carol Simpson Stern from The Reference Guide to Short Fiction.
2). Raymond’s Run:
By the end of this story, Squeaky comes to an understanding not only of her relationship with her brother, Raymond, but also the way in which she wants to live her life as an adolescent approaching young womanhood. Based on the story’s ending, what kind of person do you think Squeaky hopes to become? How is this reflected in her changing relationships with Raymond and Gretchen?
In your essay, be sure to include discussion of the following secondary source, plus one other: “Raymond’s Run” by Judith Barton Williamson from Masterplots II: Short Story Series.
3.) The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas:
In Omelas, every citizen is faced with an ethical dilemma—the knowledge that their happiness is dependent on the misery of an innocent child. Some are able to accept this from a utilitarian standpoint (the happiness of the many outweighs the suffering of the few), while others choose to leave. Do you think the people who walk away from Omelas are making a moral choice, or do you think they are taking the “easy” way out by removing themselves from the situation altogether?
In your essay, be sure to include discussion of the following secondary source, plus one other: “Le Guin’s ‘Omelas’: Issues of Genre” by W.A. Senior from Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.
[UPSELL_BEGIN]
digital_copies_of_sources_used = 0
plagiarism = 0
pref_writer = 0
urgent_writer_assign = 0
version = 4; Technical line. Don’t touch!
[UPSELL_END]