Directions: In 800-1000 words (or five well-written paragraphs), write about ONE of the following topics below.
Your paper must be written in MLA format and must contain a Works Cited page. You may use one additional source other than the text to support your claims stated in your essay, but an additional source is NOT necessary for this essay. Title your work to reflect your topic.
1. Topic A: The symbolism in “Hills Like White Elephants” parallels and amplifies the conflict between Jig and her American. Discuss how the hills, the train station and its tracks and scenery, the beaded curtain separating the couple from the rest of “reasonable” humanity, and/or the train itself, along with the luggage and its stickers and its movement are symbolic of the conflict between Jig and the American. Document any quotations/passages taken directly from the text using MLA formatted in-text citations. Do NOT use first person (I) or second person (you or your) anywhere in your paper unless it is a direct quote from the short stories. (800-1000 words length requirement.)
2. Topic B. In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the narrator dislikes his wife’s close friend at first, but then warms to him over the course of the story. Why does he dislike Robert and what role do cathedrals have in changing the narrator’s opinion of Robert? Study and track the character development of the narrator. Document any quotations/passages taken directly from the text using MLA formatted in-text citations. Do NOT use first person (I) or second person (you or your) anywhere in your paper unless it is a direct quote from the short stories. (800-1000 words length requirement.)
3. Topic C: There are three major conflicts in “A Rose for Emily”: man vs. man, man vs. society, and man vs. circumstances. Discuss how Faulkner illustrates each conflict in the story. Document any quotations/passages taken directly from the text using MLA formatted in-text citations. Do NOT use first person (I) or second person (you or your) anywhere in your paper unless it is a direct quote from the short stories. (800-1000 words length requirement.)
4. Topic D: In Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt,” the Hadley’s nursery allows the Hadley children to “travel” anywhere in the world and possibly in their imagination. Why do they repeatedly return to the African veldt? In other words, why are they attracted to this setting? What role, if any, does technology play in this attraction? How does the story serve as a warning against the use of technology? Document any quotations/passages taken directly from the text using MLA formatted in-text citations. Do NOT use first person (I) or second person (you or your) anywhere in your paper unless it is a direct quote from the short stories. (800-1000 words length requirement.)
5. Topic E: “The Cask of Amontillado” is written in first-person point of view. How does point of view affect Montresor’s characteristics? Think about the kind of person he is and the kind of person he is portraying himself to be. Document any quotations/passages taken directly from the text using MLA formatted in-text citations. Do NOT use first person (I) or second person (you or your) anywhere in your paper unless it is a direct quote from the short stories. (800-1000 words length requirement.)
6. Topic F: Symbolism is apparent in the short story “The Birth-Mark.” Hawthorne is not very sly about the meaning behind his tales. He requires you to think a little bit, but he often tells you right in his stories what certain symbols mean. Analyze the following excerpt of what the birthmark symbolizes: “It was the fatal flaw of humanity which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain.” (Hawthorne 391). Document any quotations/passages taken directly from the text using MLA formatted in-text citations. Do NOT use first person (I) or second person (you or your) anywhere in your paper unless it is a direct quote from the short stories. (800-1000 words length requirement.)