A pair of tickets short story summary

Instructor: Dr. Regina L. Golar ENG 102 Fiction Essay

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Fiction Essay Guidelines

For this essay, you will apply ONE literary device to ONE short story. Your three-point thesis will state

the three things you are arguing about the short story. Be sure to argue a thesis statement that goes

beyond the obvious and is worth proving. (Note: This paper is worth 200 points toward your overall

grade.)

DIRECTIONS: Write a five-paragraph literary analysis on ONE of the following short stories.

(Remember, you are not summarizing or describing what happens in the short story. You are analyzing.)

Each short story was categorized with a specific emphasis; however, you do not have to analyze the short

story based on that particular emphasis. For example, “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner was

categorized with an emphasis on character; however, you may choose to analyze “Barn Burning” based

on plot, setting, symbol, etc.

The literary devices are the following: plot, narration, point of view, character, setting, symbol,

figurative language, and theme.

The literary works are the following:

“Sonny’s Blues” p. 91

“The Cask of Amontillado” p. 173

“Barn Burning” p. 217

“A Pair of Tickets” p. 293

“The Birth-Mark” p. 385

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” p. 451

Within your literary analysis, be sure to provide at least one direct quotation for each body paragraph,

which means you will have a minimum of three direct quotations for this essay. (Note: View page 5 of

this document to learn how to cite your direct quotations correctly. The page is typed in green-colored

font.)

Sample Thesis Based on Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets”

The theme of family relations is used throughout “A Pair of Tickets” to demonstrate the importance of

avoiding lifelong regret, understanding one’s identity, and remaining faithful to family even beyond

death.

Note: Students cannot use “A Pair of Tickets” to write about theme because it is used as an example.

However, students can use “A Pair of Tickets” for other literary devices (such as plot, character, setting, etc.).

Also, students cannot use any part of the thesis statement provided here.

Commented [GR1]: Students cannot use “A Pair of Tickets” to write about theme because it is used as an example. However,

students can use “A Pair of Tickets” for other literary devices (such

as plot, character, setting, etc.). Also, students cannot use any part

of the thesis statement provided here.

Instructor: Dr. Regina L. Golar ENG 102 Fiction Essay

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Fiction Essay Guidelines

Sample Body Paragraph of Analysis Based on Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets”

First, the theme of family relations is used to illustrate the regret that plagues an individual when he or she

does not value family. The story opens with Jing-Mei on a journey to meet her family members in China.

However, in actuality, her journey began long before. In a conversation with Auntie Lindo, Jing-Mei tries

to explain why she is hesitant about meeting her twin half-sisters. Their mother has died, but the twins

(who were abandoned when they were babies) are unaware. Tan notes, “They’ll think I’m responsible,

that she died because I didn’t appreciate her” (296). One who does not understand the underlying

theme of family relations would consider this statement to be absurd. One would wonder how someone

could die due to being unappreciated. However, Tan writes, “And Auntie Lindo looked satisfied and

sad at the same time, as if this were true and I had finally realized it” (296). This exchange between

Jing-Mei and Auntie Lindo is provided to provoke the reader to examine his or her own treatment of

family. The look of satisfaction on Auntie Lindo’s face confirms Jing-Mei’s fears. The implication that

underappreciating a family member will quicken his or her death is heart-wrenching. The use of theme

compels the reader to appreciate his or her family in order to avoid the plague of regret that is sure to

come after the death of family members. A simply reading of this short story would compel one to value

family. However, a closer look at the short story’s theme emphasizes the consequences of not valuing

family—lifelong regret upon their deaths.

Note: Students cannot use any of the information provided here within the example.

ESSAY SUBMISSION: The complete submission should include only one document: your final draft.

Essays should be submitted to Canvas. Each student will have only one opportunity to submit an essay to

Canvas by the deadline. Therefore, students should be sure to submit the CORRECT draft of the

assignment when they submit.

SOURCES: You will NOT use any outside literary resources to help you write this essay. You will rely

on your own reading of the short story, form your own analysis, and construct your own argument. In

other words, sparknotes.com, cliffsnotes.com, and all other cheat sites are prohibited!!! You will study

the short story and provide your own interpretations based on evidence from the short story. (Note: An

outside source can be used ONLY for the hook. See page 4.)

Commented [GR2]: The information typed in blue is summary. (You may include a few sentences of summary, but the majority of

the paragraph should be analysis.) You have to go beyond summarizing the story. You have to explain to the reader what he or

she should understand that is not stated in the story. Analysis goes

beyond the words that are written in the pages of the short story. If your paragraph has only what is written in the pages of the short

story, then you are not analyzing. Until you write something that is

not found in the story, you have not analyzed.

Commented [GR3]: The words typed in green are analysis. Here, the paragraph goes beyond Amy Tan’s words. It analyzes the

effect of Amy Tan’s words on the reader and on the reader’s life. Why should the reader care about the direct quotation? You have to

explain why you have chosen a direct quotation. What impact does it have on the reader? What impact does it have on someone’s

understanding of the story? Remember, your audience has already

read the short story. When you quote a passage, analyze the

passage, and explain why it has significance beyond what the

author has written in the short story.

Instructor: Dr. Regina L. Golar ENG 102 Fiction Essay

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Fiction Essay Guidelines

FORMAT: The essay is to follow MLA guidelines for format and documentation. (Note: View page 7

of this document to learn correct MLA format. The page is typed in orange-colored font.) A Work

Cited page is required for this essay. (Note: View page 6 of this document to learn how to format your

Work Cited page correctly. The page is typed in red-colored font.)

You will follow five-paragraph essay structure. All components of an essay are required: hook, three

sentences of background, three-point thesis, transitional words, topic sentences, the thesis restated in the

conclusion, and five sentences minimum per paragraph. (Note: View page 4 of this document to learn

five-paragraph essay structure. The page is typed in blue-colored font.)

The essay should be formatted as a Microsoft Word document so that it can be graded within Canvas.

Essays that are not formatted properly will not be graded, and re-submissions will be subject to a late

penalty. If you do not have Microsoft Word on your personal computer, then load the essay onto a jump

drive/flash drive or email it to yourself as an attachment. Once you get to campus, you may then open the

document on one of the computers and convert the file to Microsoft Word.

Do not use your cell phone to upload documents. There is a glitch that occurs between the systems.

RECYCLING ESSAYS: Recycling essays is the practice of re-submitting essays for one class that

originally were submitted to another class. Recycled essays will not be accepted—even if the essays were

submitted in a previous semester for the same class with the same instructor.

ESSAY REVIEW POLICY: If students desire feedback, they are welcomed to email the first two

paragraphs (introduction and body paragraph A) of an essay to the instructor for review before the essay’s

due date. However, if a student wants the instructor to review a larger portion of an essay before its due

date, then the student should schedule a face-to-face conference with the instructor before the essay is

due.

RESOURCES: (1) The SOAR Institute, which is located on Shelton State’s Martin Campus, should be

open for free tutoring before this essay’s due date. (2) Smarthinking (an online, 24/7 tutoring program)

should be available before this essay’s due date. (3) As always, I am here to help.

***I ABSOLUTELY ENCOURAGE you to email your thesis to me in advance to ensure you are on

the right path BEFORE you write the entire essay.***

Instructor: Dr. Regina L. Golar ENG 102 Fiction Essay

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Five-Paragraph Essay Structure

Note: Each paragraph should have a minimum of five sentences.

Paragraph One: Introduction

 Hook – interesting statement that grabs the reader’s attention. The hook should be the very first

sentence(s) of the essay. Here are some ways to create an interesting hook to begin your essay:

o Begin with a quotation from a piece of literature. (Be sure to cite the source!)

 Example: In “Roman Fever,” novelist Edith Wharton writes, “So these two ladies

visualized each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope” (119).

o Begin with a quotation from someone famous. (Be sure to cite the source!)

 Example: Actress and singer Reba McEntire states, “To succeed in life, you need

three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone” (www.brainyquote.com).

o Tell a personal short story. (Keep the story short, and do not get TOO personal!)

o Ask an interesting question. (Make sure the question is actually interesting!)

o Define a word. (The word should be important to the topic of the essay!)

 Example: Merriam-Webster dictionary defines heroine as, “the principle female

character in a literary or dramatic work” (“heroine”).

 Background information – provides information about the topic of the essay. The background should

be a minimum of three sentences in length. The background is NOT the hook, and it is NOT the

thesis. The three sentences of background are separate from the hook and the thesis.

 Thesis – main idea of the essay. The thesis should have three points that you plan to discuss in the

essay (point A, point B, and point C). The thesis is never a question; it is a one-sentence statement.

The thesis is the last sentence of the introduction.

Paragraph Two: Point A from the thesis

 The first sentence of the paragraph is the topic sentence.

o Topic sentenceprovides the main idea of the paragraph.

 Be sure to use a transition in the topic sentence.

o Examples of transitions: To begin, First, Second, Next, Also, Last, Furthermore, etc.

 Be sure to use a keyword from the thesis.

o Keywordthe main word(s) stated in point A of the thesis.

Paragraph Three: Point B from the thesis (See notes above about Point A.)

Paragraph Four: Point C from the thesis (See notes above about Point A.)

Paragraph Five: Conclusion

The conclusion provides the final thoughts about the topic. Here are ways to create a conclusion:

 Review the main ideas of the essay.

o Restate the thesis. Note: Do NOT restate the thesis word-for-word as stated in introduction;

change the wording and the sentence structure just a bit.

OR

o Summarize main points of the essay. To summarize the main points, take the three points

from the thesis and turn them into three separate sentences.

Note: Be sure that the conclusion has at least five sentences (just like the other paragraphs should have at least

five sentences).

Instructor: Dr. Regina L. Golar ENG 102 Fiction Essay

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Quoting Literature within Your Paragraphs

As you analyze the short story, you will need to quote certain sentences from the short story as

evidence.

Below is a brief review of how to incorporate direct quotations:

1. Include a signal phrase. [Example: Douglass writes, ] 2. State the actual direct quotation. Remember to enclose the borrowed language in

quotation marks. [Example: “--------------” ]

3. Provide a parenthetical citation, which is the page number enclosed in parenthesis. [Example: (75)]

Be sure to vary the verb that you use in your signal phrase. (See below for a list of verbs that can

be used in a signal phrase.)

acknowledges claims disagrees observes

admits comments disputes points out

Remember that you do not have to follow the 1, 2, 3-model above. You can also follow the 2, 1,

3-model.

Sample

(1) signal phrase: Douglass writes, (2) direct quotation: “I never saw my mother—to know her as such—more than four or five

times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night”

(3) parenthetical citation: (14). 1, 2, 3 model:

Douglass writes, “I never saw my mother—to know her as such—more than four or five times in

my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night ” (14).

2, 1, 3 model:

“I never saw my mother—to know her as such—more than four or five times in my life; and

each of these times was very short in duration, and at night,” Douglass writes (14).

The FIRST time you mention a source:

Remember, the FIRST time you mention a source, you should include title of the source, a brief

introduction to the author, and the author’s full name:

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, well-known American abolitionist Frederick

Douglass writes, “I never saw my mother—to know her as such—more than four or five times in

my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night” (14).

NOTE: The title of the short story should be enclosed within quotation marks—not

italicized. The titles of books and plays should be italicized.

Instructor: Dr. Regina L. Golar ENG 102 Fiction Essay

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Work Cited [SAMPLE]

Tan, Amy. “A Pair of Tickets.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter 13th ed., edited by

Kelly J. Mays, W.W. Norton & Company, 2019, pp. 293-306.

***********************************

Explanation of the Information Above:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Short Story.” Title of Anthology, edited by Anthology

Editor’s First Name Last Name, Publisher, Date, pp. #.

***********************************

Note 1: The title does NOT say “Works Cited” because there is only one short story. Do not

include [SAMPLE] as you type your Work Cited page.

Note 2: This example is what you follow when you have only one short story to cite.

Note 3: Our textbook is called an anthology because it is a textbook that has different poems,

stories, and plays from different authors.

Note 4: The Work Cited should be on its own page—not typed at the bottom of the last page of

the essay.

Instructor: Dr. Regina L. Golar ENG 102 Fiction Essay

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Student’s Last Name Page Number

Student’s Name

Dr. Regina Golar

ENG 102

Day Month Year

Student’s Title of the Essay

Begin typing essay here…