Choose one of the 4 stories (“Going to Meet the Man,” “The Lesson,” “Everyday Use,” or “Battle Royal”) we read. Find and examine a theme of one of the 4 stories and compare it to what’s happening right in America.
- 1000-1200 words examining the theme of one of the 4 stories above and comparing it to what’s happening right now in America
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- Must include one reference from an ACADEMIC JOURNAL (I’ve given you a list of some you can use, see below) in the essay. MLA citation
- Must include one literary device that helps explain the theme
- Introductory Paragraph that explains what you’re going to explore and a little about the story and maybe the author if you feel it’s relevant, and what’s happening today. You also need a thesis (basically the main comparison you want to explore).
- Body Paragraphs that support your thesis. You need to have textual support (quotes) from the story.
- Build your explanation of the theme, citing evidence from the book.
- In at least one paragraph, you will also need to show a literary device that the author is using and how it reflects the theme.
- In at least one paragraph, you must also cite one academic journal that supports your theme (I have listen one for each story below)
- In at least one paragraph, compare how the theme of the story connects to the racial tensions in America today.
- Conclusion that explains why it’s important that we as people living in America today need to understand this comparison.
Writing about Theme:
Each story will have many topics: family, borders, alcohol, culture conflict, racism, etc. This one word idea is NOT a THEME.
- Choose a broad topic that the story talks about. That’s still just a topic. It’s not enough to write an essay on. You need to find out what the story is trying to say about that topic–that’s a THEME.
- To find the theme, you must figure out what the story is saying about that topic. It’s the/a message of the story. This is where your critical thinking comes into play.
- In order to find a good theme, you must be able to find evidence (quotes) from the story that supports the message.
- It must be an idea that is pervasive throughout the story. It can’t be an idea that happens in the first few pages and never comes up again.
- One trick that helps you move from a broad topic to a specific message is research.
- Find all the places in the story that talk about your topic.
- Make a list of them on a piece of paper (or in a document).
- Find out which ones connect to each other–ask yourself how or why these parts connect to each other. This is a big step in finding the message/theme.
- The Theme is your thesis.
- You must be able to PROVE your theme is true with evidence from the book, just like any thesis.
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