LITERATURE (Choose AT LEAST TWO works to analyze in your essay):
Nathaniel Hawthorne: “Young Goodman Brown”
Abdullah Shoaib: “Pretty Ugly”
James Joyce: “Araby”
Alan Feldman: “My Century”
Robert Frost: “The Road Not Taken” and “Birches”
Kate Chopin: “Désirée’s Baby”
Choose from one of the following essay topics to develop a 900-1200 word (about 3-4 pages), double-spaced, typed essay. Indicate the topic choice number in your essay’s title. Be sure to use specific evidence from the text for your analysis and conclusions, not mere speculation. Remember to correctly cite and document your quotes and paraphrases. Be careful not to summarize the story!
You may choose any combination of literature; for example: two short stories, a poem and a short story, or two, three, or all four of the poems.
Essay Topic:
The Loss of Innocence is a theme that many authors have written on in their works. Identify a character’s loss of innocence in at least two different works, by addressing this prompt and all the following questions:
a. Analyze the character: How did he/she lose innocence? Consider what the character does or says, does not say or do–and why.
b. Identify and explain any significant changes the character undergoes as a result of the loss of innocence.
c. Focus on the Literary Elements in the works, such as symbolism, imagery, allegory, irony, and tone. How are these elements evidenced in the works, and how do they affect the overall impact of the literature?
d. Reflect on the role (if any) that society had in the character’s loss of innocence.
