Process
1. Please clearly label your responses so that I know what you are answering.
2. At the end of each response, include the word count.
Directions
1. Below, you will find four topics. Respond to four.
2. You Must Write on Works Assigned in Different Weeks: For all of the topics, you must compare
and contrast works assigned in two different weeks. For a list of works and their corresponding
weeks, please refer to the reading list on page two.
3. Standards for Responses:
• Responses must be written in complete sentences and properly structured paragraphs.
• Each response must be 150-250 words; you must include the word count at the end of
each of your responses.
i. Word Count: Follow the word count guidelines carefully; do not go under or over the range.
• Responses must clearly address the prompt and follow all directions.
5. Quotations: You must use specific examples and details from the texts you analyze, but you may
not quote or paraphrase.
6. Research: Do not research your responses formally or informally. Your responses should
demonstrate your understanding of the texts and concepts.
Topics
1. Compare and contrast how two characters from works assigned in different weeks react to frightening experiences.
2. Compare and contrast how two characters from works assigned in different weeks reveal perceptions that differ from reality.
3. Compare and contrast how the narrators and/or speakers from two works assigned in different weeks provide insight into the inner lives of characters.
4. Compare and contrast the representation of the persona (per Jung’s Archetypes of the Self) in two works assigned in different weeks.
(According to Jung, The persona is “the image that we show to others. It is the mask that we put on for the external world; it may not be at all what we think ourselves to be inside”)
Reading List
Below, bold headings reflect groupings by the weeks when they were assigned. To write on two works assigned in different weeks, be sure to select works under different headings.
Week 2
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
Ken Liu’s “The Paper Menagerie”
Simone St. Pierre Nelson’s “Quarantine from the closet: A love story told through missed calls”
Week 3
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”
Alison Wisdom’s “The Mothers in the Woods”
Week 4
Virginia Rangos’s “Self-Contained, Underwater”
Li-Young Lee’s “The Gift”
Aracelis Girmay’s “Second Estrangement”
Week 5
Kiley Reid’s “Playing Kerri Strug”
Delia Cai’s “Big Fan”
Week 6
Jemaine Clement’s “Return of the Baron”: What We Do in the Shadows
Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Famous”
Jung’s Archetypes of the Self
