Introduction

  1. The establishment of the gothic fiction, perhaps providing a short definition and example in about two sentences.
  2. The introduction of at least two stories.
    1. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.
    1. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
    1. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.
  3. Thesis as to how gothic fictions apply to the above-mentioned works of fiction.
    1. Notably how all these stories have a historical background and that their characters experience some short of change.

Body Paragraph One

  1. A relatively brief summary of The Lottery.
  2. Focus on how gothic fiction is related to Tessie Hutchinson.
    1. How she approves of the lottery in the beginning of the story.
    1. How she changes over time when she finds out that her family is chosen.
    1. Her ultimate, untimely end towards the end of the story.

Body Paragraph Two

  1. A relatively brief summary of Young Goodman Brown.
  2. Focus on how gothic fiction is related to Goodman Brown.
    1. How he is a devout Christian that believes everyone else is just like him, based on what he has seen on the ‘surface’.
    1. How he changes to grow to distrust everyone else towards the end of the story.

Body Paragraph Three

  1. A relatively brief summary of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
  2. Focus on how gothic fiction is related to Peyton Farquhar.
    1. How he is living ‘normally’ in the South.
    1. How his ending takes an unexpected turn for the worse.

Body Paragraph Four/Five

  1. The comparison of the similarity of Tessie Hutchinson and Peyton Farquhar.
  2. The difference of Goodman Brown, in relation to the above two characters.

Conclusion

  1. The restatement of the thesis.
    1. How these characters do indeed prove the thesis.
  2. Add a closing statement.