The Story And Its Writer, 9th Edition
The Story And Its Writer, 9th Edition
Essay One: Choose One:
Option 1: Comparing “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Winter Dreams,” develop an analytical thesis about the American Success Myth. (teach with Laurence Shames’ The Hunger for More)
Option 2: Comparing “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “The Overcoat,” develop an analytical thesis about impoverishment through substitution.
Option 3: Comparing “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “The Overcoat,” develop a thesis that defines the distinguishing characteristics of being unhinged.
Essay Two: Choose One:
Option 1: In the context of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” develop an analytical thesis that explains Nathan Englander’s strategies, and the success or failure of those strategies, for writing “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.”
Option 2: Comparing “Sonny’s Blues” and “Cathedral,” develop an analytical thesis about spiritual death and resurrection.
Option 3: For "Sonny's Blues," develop an analytical thesis about the narrator's struggle with nihilism.
Option 4: Develop an analytical thesis that compares the ways “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and “The Hunger Artist” are condemnations of philistinism.
Option 5: Develop an analytical thesis that compares the ways “The Swimmer” and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” are indictments against the cult of perpetual adolescence.
Essay Three: Choose One
Option 1: Drawing from “Battle Royal,” “Those Who Walked Away from Omelas,” “The Lottery,” and “Harrison Bergeron,” support, refute, or complicate the argument that evil is not is not so much generated from the individual as is it created by the masses as a tribalistic, idealistic force. Consider, for example, how the privileged class exploits, scapegoats, and sacrifices an underclass for the upper class’s benefits. Or consider the manner in which those in power have misguided notions of what defines utopia and the mangled path they create to reach that utopia. Also consider the other side of the argument: That it is individuals who create these fractured utopias and the hellish schemes to reach them and that without the cult of the individual evil would have no power over the masses.
Option 2: Support, refute, or complicate the argument that the moral relativism we glean from “The Lady with the Dog” is superior to the moral absolutism evident in “Young Goodman Brown.”
Option 3: Support, refute, or complicate the argument that while Hulga from “Good Country People” is not a serial killer, she exists on the same “evil scale” as the Misfit from “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”
Essay One: Choose One:
Option 1: Comparing “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Winter Dreams,” develop an analytical thesis about the American Success Myth. (teach with Laurence Shames’ The Hunger for More)
Option 2: Comparing “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “The Overcoat,” develop an analytical thesis about impoverishment through substitution.
Essay Two: Choose One:
Option 1: Comparing “Battle Royal,” “Those Who Walked Away from Omelas,” and “The Lottery” (choose 2 of the 3 stories) develop an analytical thesis about how the privileged class exploits, scapegoats, and sacrifices an underclass for the upper class’s benefits.
Option 2: In the context of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” develop an analytical thesis that explains Nathan Englander’s strategies, and the success or failure of those strategies, for writing “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.”
Option 3: Comparing “Sonny’s Blues” and “Cathedral,” develop an analytical thesis about spiritual death and resurrection.
Option 4: For "Sonny's Blues," develop an analytical thesis about the narrator's struggle with nihilism.
Essay Three: Choose One
Option 1: Contrast the methods used in the degradation of humanity in “Harrison Bergeron” and “Those Who Walked Away from Omelas.” Consider the catastrophe of over engineering for equality on one hand and over engineering for class disparity on the other. You can use block or point-by-point method in your contrast essay.
Option 2: In the context of “The Swimmer” and “The Lady with the Dog,” develop an analytical thesis about the conflict between private desire and public duty.
Option 3: In the context of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People,” develop an analytical thesis about the psychotic delusions that result from excessive pride.
Option 4: Develop an analytical thesis about the way “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a refutation of the Cult of Adolescence. You may consult Joseph Epstein's "The Perpetual Adolescent."
Alternate Version
Essay One: Choose One:
Option 1: Comparing “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Winter Dreams,” develop an analytical thesis about the American Success Myth. (teach with Laurence Shames’ The Hunger for More)
Option 2: Comparing “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “The Overcoat,” develop an analytical thesis about impoverishment through substitution.
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