Notes & topics for essay #1

Essay number one is due Wednesday, February 6, 2013.

Develop one of the following topics into a thorough, well-developed essay of approximately 3 pages, with abundant textual evidence to support your position. Incorporate quotes from the stories smoothly, and be certain to explain the significance of any used and be sure to use citations and create a Works Cited page. Do NOT let the quotations stand alone; they may indeed lend relevant support, but the relevancy and significance to the story must be established by you.  This is additionally true of other examples. There should be NO use of 1^st or 2^nd person and the paper should be written in MLA format: 1-inch margins, header, heading, title, double-spaced, plain 12 pt. font.

Remember that this is an analytical paper, not a book report or book review. Provide enough background for the reader, but do not summarize the story. Identify characters as you introduce them into your paper and refer to them as the author does in the text. I will  discuss this in class.

Topics

1.      Storytelling: Philip Pullman said, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”  Explain how both “Young Goodman Brown” and “Good Country People” reveal man’s vulnerability and his capacity for redemption.  Discuss additional aspects of humanity revealed in these two stories.

2.      Setting: Explain the importance of setting—first, in a general sense and then specifically in relation to Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and Flannery O'Cononr's "Good Country People." What is the significance or importance of setting to each story and what does setting contribute to each story.

3.      Irony: According to one statistic, only twenty percent of Americans recognize and understand irony. Why then do authors use irony in their novels, dramas, and short stories? Explain the importance of irony in general and its specific use by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Flannery O'Connor in their respective stories that we read.

4.      Endings: Both "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne and "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor both follow the journey of an innocent character's encounter with evil and the subsequent aftermath. Although the stories are written a century apart and the characters are of opposite gender and attitude, discuss the striking similarity between Goodman Brown and Joy-Hulga's meeting with iniquity and the life-altering difference it makes in their lives.