Fiction
Fiction Essay Prompt
Fiction title: A conversation with my father from Grace Paley (1922-2007): the Norton introduction to literature Kelly J. May shorter 12ed. (P.67)
Rhetorical Situation (i.e., the conditions for writing this essay: subject, writer, and reader)
Anytime we read something that carries the kind of value that literature does, we become intensely interested in its meaning. But one of the things that makes literature so valuable is that it often has multiple meanings that can be extracted from either the entire text or part of the text, depending on the individual reader.
One of the most common ways to express this meaning is to personally respond to the text as if you are joining an ongoing conversation about it. As a result, you will need to know the text very well and assume that those reading your essay have read and understood it. You can also assume that your readers share your literary vocabulary concerning fiction (the terms and ideas explained in your textbook like theme, narrator, setting, etc.).
For this first essay, you will craft a focused response to any story in the Fiction section of your textbook (the Norton introduction to literature; Kelly J. Mays12th Ed.). Your audience will be your classmates and me. The response should express your personal reaction to the story by relying on the formal learning gathered to convey your thoughts and feelings about the text.
Invention and Arrangement (i.e., determining and organizing what you?re going to say in this paper)
You?ll want to organize your paper in the manner you think will prove most effective with your classmates and me, but here are some general guidelines:
? Always give your writing a point. In this case, the conversation you?re responding to is the one surrounding the text you?ve selected. Indicate at the beginning of your paper that you?re writing in response to that conversation, then state a thesis that previews what you?ll be discussing in your paper and why it is an appropriate response to this text.
? Useful hint: Use the list of questions on page 15 of your textbook to help you develop a response to the text you?ve chosen:
1- Expectations: what did you expect? From the title? From the first sentence or paragraph? After the first events or interactions of characters? As the conflict is resolved?
2- What happening in the story? Do the characters of the situation change from the beginning to the end? Ca you summarize the plot? Is it a recognizable kind or genre of story?
3- How is the story narrated? Is the narrator identified as a character? Is it narrated in the past or present tense? Is it narrated in the first, second or third person? Do you know what every character is thinking, or only some characters, or none?
4- Who are the characters? Who is the protagonist(s) (hero, heroine)? Who is the antagonist(s) (villain, opponent, obstacle, or do you know more or less than each of the characters?
5- What is the setting of this story? When does the story take place? Where does is take place? Does the story move from one setting to another? Does is move in one direction only or back and forth in time and place?
6- What do you notice about how the story is writing? What is the style of the prose? Are the sentences and the vocabulary simple or complex? Are there any images figures of speech or symbols? What is the tone or mood? Does the reader feels sad amused, worried, curious?
7- What does the story means? Can you express its theme or themes? The story`s meaning of theme depends on all its features.
From them, you should be able to find a point at which you can introduce and explain your response.
? Readers will want to know why you have reacted the way you did. It?s not enough to just state your response. You also want to justify or explain them by:
o Thinking about how you?re going to come across to me and your classmates as a person of good character, good sense, and good will. Here are some tips:
? Know what you?re talking about: Provide details that show you?ve reflected deeply on your text and experiences, and supply enough evidence (from your knowledge of literature and your experiences) to support your reasons.
? Show regard for your readers: Try to come across as approachable and thoughtful, not arrogant or insensitive.
? Treat skeptical readers with respect?don?t ignore or demean their opinions just because they expect more proof. Be careful and meticulous in your writing, not sloppy or disorganized.
o Thinking about the values and emotions that your classmates and I share, and how you might appeal to us. Here are some tips:
? No need to stick to stuffy academic prose in this paper, but you also don?t want to be so informal that your classmates and I can?t understand you.
? Try to evoke emotions (sympathy, outrage, anger, delight, awe, horror, etc.) in your classmates and me that make your paper more moving.
? Try to evoke sensations (seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling) in your classmates and me that make your writing vivid and help us to experience things imaginatively.
? Appeal to values (freedom, justice, tolerance, fairness, equality, etc.) that your classmates and I share.
? Don?t assume that your classmates and I will understand why your response matters?make us understand by explaining why your response is important and why we should care about it.
? However you arrange the body of your paper, make sure you fully cover every portion of this prompt.
Style (i.e., choosing the appropriate language for your paper)
One reason I?m asking you to write to your classmates and me is to break you of the habit of writing all your papers to some vague, generalized audience and/or attempting to make all your papers approximate some objective ideal. If you approach this paper in that way, your style will be ineffective because it won?t be tailored to your specific audience. When reading your paper, it should be obvious to your classmates and me that you?re writing to us specifically.
Judge appropriately how you can mix standard written English with everyday conversation. Since you?re writing to your classmates and me, you should write in an informal style that is distinctly your own, but do make sure you?re communicating clearly with the formal knowledge you?ve gathered from the course and textbook.
All readers appreciate coherent, unified paragraphs, so your paragraphs should include a topic sentence that clearly states the main idea of the paragraph and supporting sentences that cluster around the main idea without detours.
Proofread carefully; avoid errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics. Use Rules for Writers for questions you have regarding style.
Other Requirements
Your paper should be 4 pages?anything shorter or longer will be considered a failure to adhere to one of the assignment?s basic requirements. It should be double-spaced, typed in Times New Roman font, with 12-point character size and one-inch margins all the way around.
Evaluation Criteria:
? Includes a snappy title that catches the reader?s attention and indicates the topic and argument.
? Indicates that you are responding to a specific story selected for this assignment
? Identifies a specific personal response appropriate to the text you?ve chosen.
? Provides well-developed reasons about your relationship to the text comes from a personal reaction to its contents
? Explains why your response is significant and to whom.
? Supports reasons with thoughtful, well-developed examples anecdotes, ideas, and questions.
? Reveals a credible writer, and appeals to the values and emotions of the audience.
? Develops a seamless, coherent, and well-organized exposition of your response.
? Sentences are lively, engaging, and relatively error free.
? If outside sources are used, they are used effectively and integrated smoothly to help substantiate or support points.
? If outside sources are used, there is proper attribution to each source cited via in-text parenthetical citation and a correctly formatted Works Cited page.
? Essay is 4 pages (max.) in MLA Style (Works Cited necessary if outside sources are used) in 12pt. Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins.
