Essay # 1 – Fiction

OPTION # 1

Please write an essay that is at least 3 pages (12 times new roman, double spaced) in response to the following prompt:

Explain how one of the short stories that we have read by James Joyce illustrates a particular theme through its special use of narrative. Choose one of the stories, Eveline or Araby.

Guidelines for structuring the essay

You should write FIVE paragraphs by writing a one paragraph summary and then using a paragraph each to discuss theme and setting, and one each for two of the following: character, plot, and narrative perspective. If you want, you can write more than 5 paragraphs. For instance, you might want to write more than 1 paragraph about setting. But keep summary and theme to only 1 paragraph each.

Heres how you should go about writing your 5 paragraphs (minimum):

Step 1: write a summary paragraph that briefly explains what is going on in the story that you have chosen to write about. Do not re-tell all details. Offer a sense of who/what the story is about, what happens, where it happens, when it all takes place, and generally why things happen the way they do in the story. 

Step 2: Explain in a paragraph what you think is the overall theme of the story. Think about what the story is trying to say about human experience. Is it offering a judgment/moral? Or, is it revealing a conflict or a problem relating to human experience? Is it dealing with all of human experience, or is it dealing with experience that is specific to age, gender, and so on? REMEMBER THAT YOUR INTERPRETATION OF THEME HAS TO EXPLAIN HOW THE STORY EXAMINES AN ISSUE. YOU SHOULDNT JUST SAY THE THEME IS THE INDIVIDUAL VS. SOCIETY. YOU SHOULD EXPLAIN HOW THE STORY IS LOOKING AT THIS CONFLICT. 

Step 3: Discuss in one paragraph how setting influences the story. You can think of how setting influences character, theme, the plots events, and so on. You can talk about setting in general, while also focusing in on one or two particular examples of setting and how/why they matter. Remember that setting can be an influencer on events and characters. It be something that causes things to happen or makes people act. At the same time, setting can be presented in the story in a way that symbolizes something important (think of the objects in Evelines house or the darkness and street lights in Araby. What about the descriptions of the sea in Eveline?).

Steps 4 & 5

Choose 2 from A, B, and C below.

A: Write a paragraph that discusses how characters are portrayed in the story and how such portraits add to the theme. You should think about the protagonist mostly. But you can mention other characters, if you wish. Think about some of thees questions:

How do characters act?
How do characters interact with each other?
How do they speak? If they dont, then why not?
How do they relate to setting?
Do these characters change over the narrative?

B: Write a paragraph that discusses the plot of events in the story. You might think about questions like:

What causes events to happen and change?
How do certain events lead to others?
How does the sequence of events in the story affect change in the protagonist or the setting?
Do events follow a simple sequence of time? Why or why not?

C: Write a paragraph about narrative perspective and why it matters in the story you are discussing.

Is it first person or third person?
What does your answer tell us in terms of whose perspective has control over the story? Why does that matter to the theme?
What does the narrative perspective tell us about what is emphasized and what is left out from the story? Why do these things matter?
If you are writing about Araby, is it possible to think that the narrative perspective is related to the fact that this is a story that is about how an individual often sees too much about some things and too little about others in their experiences?
In Eveline, how does the perspective make us think more about a story where the protagonist is denied her own voice?

OPTION # 2

Follow the same prompt by writing about both stories. In this case, just follow steps 1, 2, & 3 for Eveline and the do steps 1, 2, & 3 for Araby.

As well as having to write 6 paragraphs, theres one more catch here. If you follow this structure, then you MUST write a 7th paragraph (4 or more sentences) that offers a conclusion, in which you discuss the contrasts and comparisons between both stories.