I ask you to write me a letter addressing the following questions about your work for Project #1 in any order you like. I will then write a letter to you to provide feedback on your work.

• What are you most proud of in Project #1?
• What challenged you the most in Project #1?
• If you had more time, what would you change?
• If you could have changed the assignment, how would you have changed it?
• Is there anything else I should know about your work or about you as a writer or as a student?

 

Describing the Midterm Exam:

Part 1:

There will be 8-10 passages from which you will choose 4-5 (I haven’t decided yet). For each, you’ll have to:

• Identify title and author
• Identify which concept the passage exemplifies (there will be a list from our discussion of the elements of fiction)
• Explain why the passage exemplifies that concept
• Although each passage and each concept can me paired in different ways, you must use each concept only once.

Part 2:

There will be 3 possible essay questions from which you will choose one to offer a comparison. This should be a well-organized essay that begins with an introductory paragraph ending in a thesis statement, followed by paragraphs that focus on evidence (in the form of quotations and paraphrasings) that support the argument you make in your thesis statement, and ending with a conclusion that not only addresses what you have written but aims to show why it matters.

In the most general terms, your essay should answer three questions: what’s up? how come? so what?

We will generate a long list of possible themes and topics for comparison that we will narrow down to 5 possibilities. You will vote on your preferences after considering these questions:

• What does answering the question allow you to understand about each story?
• How does the question allow you to further explore the stories?
• What does the comparison bring out?
• What examples and quotations would you use in your response?
• What thesis statement would you include?

I will incorporate these questions into the discussion and homework for Week 8 so that we can continue collaborating on them.

For the exam, you will need to:

• Study the elements of fiction
• Review the stories we have read
• Practice identifying significant passages in each story

 

• Prepare for at least three of the five possible essay questions
• Bring a quotation sheet that you can use to incorporate quotations into your essay. I will collect this with your exam. This is an important part of preparing for the exam, and of writing a successful essay.
• Write your essay about two stories other than the one you wrote about for Project #1.

Margaret Atwood, “There Was Once” 1992

Gary Parks, “Elements of Fiction”

Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” 1894

William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” 1930

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Cottagette” 1910

— “The Yellow Wall-Paper” 1899

Susan Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers” 1917

Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” 1835

Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis” 1915

Thomas Wolfe, “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn” 1935 (optional)

Illness in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and “The Metamorphosis”: how people deal with unexpected situations, what that brings out in a person; we could also think about mental illness in “A Rose for Emily” as a result of the way others have treated her, shaped her; “The Story of an Hour” and heart trouble (thinking about how Josephine talks to her, peers through the keyhole–through actions and interactions, delicate treatment)

Compassion: “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn” and “The Story of an Hour”: He had to understand the stranger who didn’t know Brooklyn; Mrs. Mallard wanted to be compassionate about her husband, but also to live for herself. What about “The Cottagette”: Ford had compassion for Malda in her needs and what she wants to do artistically

Think instead about women attaining freedom/ exertion of power: “The Cottagette” (good relationship) and “The Story of an Hour”; “A Jury of Her Peers” (bad marriage) Mrs. Wright ; “The Yellow Wall-Paper”; “A Rose for Emily”

how setting functions: time period: how women spoke, perceived they had to act. “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and “The Cottagette” how women spoke and felt they had to.