This week you will learn about themes, symbolism, and imagery in short fiction. You will also practice writing about these things in short fiction.
Short fiction is meant to be entertaining, but it reaches the status of “literature” once the author communicates significant meaning through the use of symbol, imagery, and/or theme. Significant meaning is shaped by the culture of the author and the reader and your job as a reader of literature is to do more than “be entertained.”
This week you will contribute to a discussion about symbolism and how culture can sometimes affect our interpretation of symbols.
Informal Writing Assignment: Symbolism in the Short Story
Choose one of the following short stories for your subject (you don’t have to read them all if you don’t want to):
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”
Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants”
Alice Walker, “Everyday Use”
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark”
Haruki Murakami, “Town of Cats”
Then, in MLA format, do the following:
pick a symbol or image from the story and write at least 500 words about what it means OR choose a theme from the story and write at least 500 words about what it means.
Remember, don’t summarize the plot. I’ve read the story. I want to know what you think it means.
Expectations:
The writing exercise above is worth 25 points. I will be looking for the following:
- Proper MLA formatting in both the paper and the Works Cited page.
- 500 words minimum.
- Your paper should be highly focused on the meaning of a symbol, image, or theme in a short story. Again, no plot summary!
Lesson 3 Submission Checklist:
- Informal Writing Assignment #2: Symbolism in the Short Story. This and all other writing assignments should be submitted via Canvas.
- Discussion #2 (remember to also paste your discussion post into Word and submit to the assignments tab in Canvas).