Through these characters and events, what is the author trying to tell the reader about life and how it is lived.

While most of the work in this course is based on the reader (you) and the text, the last tow papers will require a bit of research. You will need to have at least one page of research in our four-page wherein you describe the author’s life (or authors’ lives) i.e., a bit of his or her biography. You may find that people or events in the author’s life influenced the story of poem you are examining.

Rather than comparing your personal life to that of the characters’ in the story, you willl need to think about why the story is appreciated by so many people-what makes it important enough to be considered Literature. To do this you will need to read the story(stories) or poem(s) carefully and underline (and later include in your paper quotes that you find significant, representatice or indicative of the author’s message. Through these characters and events, what is the author trying to tell the reader about life and how it is lived.

These stories, poem, and plays are important for a number of reasons. Your task is to determine why they are significant. Although for the characters and events are fictional, something about the message conveyed in the story is real in a very serious sense. Reading a work carefully often yields an understanding of multiple layers within it. Scrutiny and carful consideration will allow a reader to understand themes and ideas present in the text. It is a bit like pieces of a puzzle, or elements of a mystery.

Remember to introduce quotes in your paper with a sentence introducing the quote, often through a paraphrase. Follow the introductory quote with a colon (:), and then add a sentence explaining what the quote does; how it is connected to the theme of the story; why that set of words is in the text. How do events/ideas/quotes in a story add to, illustrate, or clarify a theme in a story, poem, or a play. Think of a “quote sandwhich” where the quot is sandwhiched between and introductory and an explanatory sentence.