ENGL 301 (Section 004, Schedule #34560)
Virginia Commonwealth University
Fall 2019
TR 12:30-1:45pm :: Hibbs 430
Prof. David Golumbia
Office: 333 Hibbs Hall
Fall 2019 Office Hours: TR 2-3:30

Introduction to the English Major

Assignment 1

This assignment is to write a paper of at least 1250 words, not counting long quotations (the paper should end up being approximately 5 pages, but please use the word count tool in your word processing program). Choose one of the following prompts. In all cases, your goal is to write a paper with a clear argumentative, interpretive thesis.

All of these prompts refer to stories in the book The Best American Short Stories 2018, edited by Roxane Gay.

1. Consider pace, timing, and/or duration in the story "Boys Go to Jupiter," thinking about topics like when do the various actions in the story take place, when is story being narrated, what parts of the story take place in the past, present, or future. How do some aspects of these temporal concerns reflect the story's content?
2. "Boys Go to Jupiter" is both a story about the life of the main character, Claire, and the specific events that happen to her over a few days in college. In part, we learn a bit about how others in her college community (and beyond) perceive the events, and how Claire perceives them. How do these different perspectives inform your understanding of the story's meaning?
3. What role does the fact that the story is entirely a series of letters written by the main character play in the meaning of the story "Come On, Silver"?
4. Think about the "reliability" of the narrator of "Come On, Silver." It is fair to say without doing too much interpretation that it is suggested to the reader that the narrator has only a partial understanding of the events in the story. How does this partial understanding shape the meaning of the story?
5. The narrator of "Good with Boys" frequently tells the reader about her emotions. How does this narration of her emotional life impact the overall meaning and action of the story?
6. How does the setting of "Good with Boys" impact the overall meaning and action of the story?
7. Open topic: you may choose to write about other stories (besides the ones we discussed in class) in The Best American Short Stories 2018 if you choose; however, you must email me to get prior approval for your topic.

General paper instructions

The essay should be 5 to 6 pages in length, but please use your word processor to count the number of words; word count and not page length is the official metric for the assignment. An English paper should include quotations from the work you are analyzing, and short quotations DO count toward the total word count for the essay. Long quotations (of 50 or more words) should not generally be counted toward the 1250 word total for the assignment.

This is not a research paper, and you are not expected to consult outside sources except for the primary book or piece of media you choose to interpret. Any sources, including that primary source, should be properly cited in your paper, using any acceptable bibliographic citation format. One very simple format is to use a list of Works Cited at the end of the paper, and indicate by author, work and page number in parentheses the exact quotations within the paper itself. You are not expected to use other secondary sources.

For convenience, here is one proper way to cite "Boys Go to Jupiter." Within the paper you might quote "The bikini isn't really even Claire's thing" and then follow it with (Evans, "Good with Boys," page 83). Then at the end of the paper you would include the full citation for the Evans story as follows:

Works Cited

Evans, Danielle. "Boys Go to Jupiter." In Roxane Gay, ed. The Best American Short Stories 2018. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, pages 83-101.

Other standard forms of citation (such as footnotes) are also acceptable, but failing to properly indicate sources technically constitutes plagiarism.

Speaking of plagiarism, all work for this assignment and the rest of this course is expected to be your own, and should not include elements from other sources (such as online commentaries on the works you write about), unless you also put them in quotation marks and clearly indicate your sources as described above.

Last updated  September 21, 2019.