Choose a character from one of the stories from the list below and analyze the way this particular character functions in the story. What do we know about the character, and how does that character's personality bring about what happens in the story?
Instructions:
In popular fiction-murder mysteries and the like-plot is the most important element. However, in the literary short story, what happens in the story is driven by character. To put it simply, the main character, the protagonist, runs into some kind of conflict as the result of encountering an antagonist, and this conflict gives rise to a significant event or moment that changes the protagonist's life in some way.
For this paper, you will choose a character from one of the stories on the list below and examine how this process works: your paper will analyze the way this particular character functions in the story. What do we know about the character, and how does that character's personality bring about what happens?
The paper will have the following elements:
• Title: Your title will indicate the main focus of your essay
• Introduction: The introductory paragraph will give background on the story that places the examination of the character in context. (Be sure to identify the story and its author somewhere in this paragraph.)
• Thesis statement: You will state a thesis in the last sentence of the introduction, one sentence that sums up the main focus of your paper. This thesis will make a claim about the character and his or her role in the story.
• Supporting paragraphs: Each paragraph of the paper will begin with a clear topic sentence that makes a point about the character that supports your argument. Each sentence in the paragraph will support that claim with your analysis and examples from the story.
• Conclusion: Your concluding paragraph will begin by re-examining the thesis and then reflecting on what we now know about the story as a result of your analysis.
• Citations: Please cite page numbers from the story only when quoting directly. (Note: Keep quoting to a minimum, and do not quote entire sentences from the story. Work quoted words and phrases neatly into your own sentences.)
• Works Cited: Again, your Works Cited page will contain only one entry. Once again, do not do any research for this paper: your job is to do an original close reading of the story.
• Point of view: Be sure to at least specify what point of view the story uses. You do not need to discuss it unless it is important to the story, but at least mention it. Generally, point of view is fairly important to how we view a character.
Story list from the Norton Introduction to Literature, by Mays, Kelly J:
O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
Walker, "Everyday Use"
Joyce, "Araby"
Carver, "Cathedral"
Morrison, "Recitatif"
Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Updike, "A&P"