Additional Writing Assignments

1. Source Assignment. Analyze themes of “The Story of an Hour” or another literary work from an earlier era and assigned by your instructor. Which themes are relevant now? How do they relate to twenty-first-century readers and their issues?

   For more on writing a comparison-and-contrast essay, see Ch. 7.

2. Source Assignment. Write an essay comparing and contrasting a literary element in two or three assigned or optional short stories or poems.

3. Source Assignment. Write an essay comparing and contrasting a literary element in a short story and another type of narrative such as a novel or film that tells a story. For example, for “The Lottery” (a short story) and The Hunger Games (either the novel or the film), you might compare themes (such as the power of traditions like the lottery and the reaping), settings (such as the village and the Seam), or characters (such as Tessie Hutchinson and Katniss Everdeen or Mr. Summers and District 12’s escort Effie Trinket). Use specific evidence from each narrative to support your conclusions.

   For another poem by Robert Frost, see the Additional Writing Assignments in Ch. 11.

4. Source Assignment. Read the poem below by Robert Frost (1874–1963). Write an essay using a paraphrase of the poem as a springboard for your thoughts on a fork in the road of your life—a decision that made a difference for you.

   The Road Not Taken

   Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

   And sorry I could not travel both

   280

   And be one traveler, long I stood

   And looked down one as far as I could

   To where it bent in the undergrowth;

   Then took the other, as just as fair,

   And having perhaps the better claim,

   Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

   Though as for that the passing there

   Had worn them really about the same,

   And both that morning equally lay

   In leaves no step had trodden black.

   Oh, I kept the first for another day!

   Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

   I doubted if I should ever come back.

   I shall be telling this with a sigh

   Somewhere ages and ages hence:

   Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

   I took the one less traveled by,

   And that has made all the difference.

5. Source Assignment. Read the poem below by Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935). Have you known and envied someone like Richard Cory, a person everyone thought had it all? What happened to him or her? What did you discover about your impression of the person? Analyze the poem and draw on experience as you write a personal response essay to compare and contrast the person you knew with Richard Cory.

   Richard Cory

   Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

   We people on the pavement looked at him:

   He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

   Clean favored, and imperially slim.

   And he was always quietly arrayed,

   And he was always human when he talked;

   But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

   “Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.

   And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—

   And admirably schooled in every grace:

   In fine, we thought that he was everything

   To make us wish that we were in his place.

   So on we worked, and waited for the light,

   And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

   And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

   Went home and put a bullet through his head.

   For more about analyzing visuals, see Ch. 14. For more on analysis in general, see Analyzing a Subject in Ch. 22.

6. Source Assignment. Write a critical analysis of a song, a movie, or a television show. Play or view it several times to pull out specific evidence to support your interpretation. If your instructor approves, present your analysis in a podcast, a multimedia format, or a series of Web pages.