Kite streamers summary

ENGL 3450

CONTRASTIVE ESSAY

(250 pts)

WHAT’S A “CONTRASTIVE ESSAY”?

Traditional compare-and-contrast essays often devolve into a laundry list of

similarities and differences between two or more texts. I’m asking you to do

something different: to explain how two short stories differently handle the same

topic, theme, or motif, or, in other words, to focus your essay around a single point

of contrast.

RATIONALE

In addition to putting our readings into conversation with one another, contrastive

thinking, as I said on an earlier assignment sheet, can be useful because, by

bringing the differences between two or more superficially similar works into

relief, it can sharpen our perception and understanding of how each work handles

the same theme, motif, or topic. Finally, setting up the essay in this way will give

focus to your discussion (so as to avoid the previously mentioned laundry list).

THE ASSIGNMENT

Develop an essay that helps you to differentiate two of our short stories based on

one of the following sets of questions. Your essay should be primarily analytical

and interpretive (just an attempt to understand the nature of the difference in how

each work handles the shared theme, motif, or topic), not evaluative (a claim that

one is better than the other).

Point of Contrast Options (choose 1):

1) How is the death motif differently handled in James Joyce’s “The

Dead” and Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden-Party”? What idea

about death or life or the relationship between the two does each work

attempt to express through its handling of this motif? (In other words,

how does this motif fit into each work’s meaning (i.e. its symbolic

statement)?)

2) How is the theme of loss differently handled in Yasunari Kawabata’s

“The Moon on the Water” and Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good

Thing”? What idea about loss or mourning does each work attempt to

ENGL 3450

express through its handling of this theme? (In other words, how does

this theme fit into each work’s meaning (i.e. its symbolic statement)?)

3) How is the topic of class antagonism differently handled in two of the

Module 7 stories? What idea about class antagonism does each work

attempt to express through its handling of this topic? (In other words,

how does this topic fit into each work’s meaning (i.e. its symbolic

statement)?)

4) How are feminist themes differently handled in two of the Module 8

stories? What idea, either about gender difference, patriarchy, or

women’s identities, does each work attempt to express through its

handling of this topic? (In other words, how does this theme fit into each

work’s meaning (i.e. its symbolic statement)?)

5) How is the topic of colonialism differently handled in Rudyard Kipling’s

“The Man Who Would be King” and Joseph Conrad’s “An Outpost of

Progress”? What idea about colonialism does each work attempt to

express through its handling of this topic? (In other words, how does

this topic fit into each work’s meaning (i.e. its symbolic statement)?)

6) How is the topic of the enduring effects of colonialism differently

handled in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s “A Meeting in the Dark” and

Kushwant Singh’s “The Wog”? What idea about the enduring effects of

colonialism does each work attempt to express through its handling of

this topic? (In other words, how does this topic fit into each work’s

meaning (i.e. its symbolic statement)?)

7) How is the topic of state oppression differently handled in Nadine

Gordimer’s “Africa Emergent” and Wang Meng’s “Kite Streamers”?

What idea about the effects of state oppression or the means that

individuals use to resist that oppression does each work attempt to

express through its handling of this topic? (In other words, how does

this topic fit into each work’s meaning (i.e. its symbolic statement)?)

8) How is the topic of the scapegoat differently handled in Ursula K. Le

Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and Shirley

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Jackson’s “The Lottery”? What idea about scapegoating does each

work attempt to express through its handling of this topic? (In other

words, how does this topic fit into each work’s meaning (i.e. its symbolic

statement)?)

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Format: times new roman 12 pt. font, double spaced, default margins

Heading: Clever title that points to the subject of your essay

Length: approximately 4-5 pages (minimum 1200 words); it can be longer as long

as it isn’t redundant!

Citations: Use MLA in-text citations for textual evidence that refers to the page

numbers in our anthology or the posted pdfs; you do not have to include

bibliographic information if you are using the assigned editions. (See this website

for instructions: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/.) If you use a

text from outside the course (including any secondary sources!), then you should

still do in-text citations but also include an MLA works cited page. (See this

website for instructions: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/.)

Due: See Canvas

Submission Instructions: Click on the Module 11 Course Content folder. Select

the “Contrastive Essay #1” page, then upload the file with your composition.

STRUCTURE:

Introduction: DO NOT USE A GIMMICKY OPENER!!! Put the two works

immediately into conversation with one another by acknowledging some of their

most obvious differences (e.g. where they are set, etc.). Use this brief discussion of

differences to provide the kind of basic information about each story necessary to

set up your discussion for your reader. (Do NOT write a general and unfocused

plot summary for the stories.) Transition from these differences to the theme,

motif, or topic that will serve as the point of contrast. Finally, pose one of the

above sets of questions. (Note: For prompts 1) and 2), you will need to slightly

rephrase the questions to identify the two works you plan to discuss and whether

you will focus on a theme, motif, or topic. You do NOT need a traditional thesis

for this essay!)

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/

ENGL 3450

Body: You should dedicate 2-3 paragraphs to each work (for a total of 4-6 body

paragraphs). Each body paragraph should make use of a topic sentence that

identifies a subtopic that will help you to differentiate the works in relation to your

overarching topic. Furthermore, each body paragraph should provide (at least one)

concrete and specific textual or narrative example, well situated for your reader,

that conforms to that paragraph’s subtopic and that will help you to differentiate

how the work under consideration handles the shared topic, motif, or theme.

Finally, you should use your second question to perform a local analysis of this

example or piece of evidence (i.e. given the piece of textual or narrative evidence,

how does the work handle the topic, motif, or theme?). To put it slightly

differently, your body paragraphs should explore specific differences in how each

text presents this common element, establishing the fact of their difference. And

each body paragraph should attempt to account for the significance of this

difference for the way each text imagines or conceptualizes the common element.

In your analysis, pay particular attention to the language of the text, especially the

use of figurative language or analogies, its tone, and/or specific word choices, and

its style on the level of the sentence. (An analysis of the language used in each text

is especially useful for your discussions of works originally written in English, and

thus unmediated by a translator.) Don’t discuss these narrative or textual elements

for their own sake; explain how this language helps you to begin to answer your

overarching questions. Try to use your close attention to the evidence to make your

discussion of the set of questions as nuanced as possible in each paragraph.

Counterintuitive findings, ones that reveal something about the evidence and

short story that goes beyond simply paraphrasing, will be the most highly valued.

Each of your four to six body paragraphs should address a different subtopic

related to your overarching topic (i.e. help you to answer the question you’ve

posed), and you should include transitions between them. As far as how you order

your discussion, I recommend doing an analysis of one work and then using that

analysis to frame your discussion of the other work, but if you only plan to discuss

sub-points of contrast1 rather than asymmetrical differences2, you could go back

and forth between the stories. However, save any comparative analysis for your

penultimate paragraph. (See below.)

1 For example, if your point of contrast was the handling of Dark Romanticism in “The

Sandman” and “The Birthmark,” a sub-point of contrast that you might discuss in your body

paragraphs is the difference between Nathan’s madness and Aylmer’s. 2 An asymmetrical difference would involve discussing an aspect of one text, say, the

supernatural in “The Kibitsu Cauldron” that doesn’t have a counterpart in the other, say, “A Cask

of Amontillado” (if the handling of revenge was my overarching point of contrast).

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Penultimate (i.e. next-to-last) Paragraph: In this paragraph, bring together your

preceding discussions. Given your discussion of the works in your body

paragraphs, how do they differ overall in their handling of the shared topic, theme,

or motif? Don’t just assert, explain. More importantly, don’t just summarize what

you’ve already said, synthesize your answers from the preceding paragraphs by

putting them into conversation with one another. What’s further revealed by

juxtaposing the two works in relation to the shared topic, theme, or motif? Develop

a nuanced claim that differentiates the two works in relation to this common

element.

Final Paragraph: Your final paragraph should be evaluative. Some questions to

think with: What is appealing or unappealing in how each short story treats the

shared theme, motif, or topic? Is one more appealing than the other (though they

might be equally appealing for different reasons)? Do they seem relevant to

contemporary life (in America or in the world)? Why should we still read these

works? Does one seem more relevant or useful or emotionally powerful? Why?

The point of this paragraph is to explain the value of the interpretive and

analytic work you’ve just done. In other words, this paragraph should still

build and reflect on the previous argument but in a slightly different way.

As you write, other things to consider:

 Feel free to develop this essay out of one or more of your journal entries or discussion posts. That is, you have permission to incorporate your language

from those assignments into this essay. Of course, don’t just copy and paste;

rework and integrate those previous writings so that they are seamlessly

incorporated into the present one.

 Be sure to use quotations from the texts—specific words, clauses, and sentences—in the course of your analysis. You may also discuss concrete scenes

or specific characters or settings from the texts. Explain what is significant about

the textual evidence and how it helps you to develop your thinking.

 Don’t just offer a list of differences. Say why those differences are significant.

 Limit summary! Try to use plot summary only as a tool to orient your reader to the textual or narrative evidence.

ENGL 3450

 Where relevant, manifest an awareness of the socio-historic milieu as well as the formal and generic elements of the text. (By all means, use the keywords we’ve

been studying; however, don’t misuse them!)

 You should interpret and analyze, not evaluate or judge the works except in the final paragraph.

 Draw implications from what’s explicitly stated in the short stories, but make sure you have good reasons for doing so (and explain those reasons to your

reader). Be careful about making claims with little textual evidence or flimsy

reasoning behind them. Still, be provocative and intellectually challenging,

rather than playing it safe.

Rubric

Total Points: 250

Proficient

(High Pass)

Competent

(Pass)

Acceptable

(Low Pass)

Novice

(Not

Passing)

General

Instructions

Followed

(25 pts)

All general

instructions

followed

correctly (25

pts)

One of the

general

instructions has

been

disregarded,

other than the

length

requirement

and structure

directions

(22 pts)

More than one

of the general

instructions

disregarded,

other than the

length

requirement, or

structure

directions

partially

disregarded

(19 pts)

It falls short

of the length

requirement

or structure

directions

mostly

disregarded

(13 pts)

Introduction

Instructions

Followed

(10 pts)

All instructions

for the

introduction

followed

correctly (10

pts)

One of the

introduction

instructions has

been

disregarded

(8 pts)

More than one

of the

introduction

instructions has

been

Introduction

directions

mostly

disregarded

(5)

ENGL 3450

disregarded (7

pts)

Topic

Sentences

for Body

Paragraphs

(15 pts)

All body

paragraphs have

topic sentences

that identify the

subject of the

paragraph and

make clear its

relation to the

overarching

questions

(15 pts)

The majority of

the body

paragraphs

have topic

sentences that

identify the

subject of the

paragraph and

makes clear its

relation to the

overarching

questions

(13 pts)

Less than half

of the body