...and this is the big project!
...WHAT IS GOING TO KEEP YOU BUSY IN THE FOLLOWING TWO WEEKS. I HOPE.
You will have to compare two pieces of writing, in this case, you will compare two tales, main exponents of American Southwestern Humour, Thorpe's The Big Bear of Arkansas & Mark Twain's The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County.
Format: doc, pdf, Google Docs. No handwritten essays will be accepted.
Length: between 200-250 words. If it is a complete analysis, it shoud never have less than 200 words.
1. Read and listen to the stories. As you do it, write notes about what attracts your attention the most and aspects that will be useful for your analysis (words, expressions, ideas...)
Terms you may research about: frame tale, tall tale, ironic humour, thick southern dialect, yokel.
2. Follow the steps:
a. In your comparison essay you will have to compare and contrast these two works. Start by finding similarities and differences in structure, tone, mood, narrator, setting, characters...
You can make a Venn diagram or a chart to help you quickly compare and contrast two items. To make a Venn diagram, simply draw some overlapping circles, one circle for each item you’re considering. In the central area where they overlap, list the traits the two items have in common. Assign each one of the areas that doesn’t overlap; in those areas, you can list the traits that make the things different. Also, decide the criteria you want to focus on to establish these similarities and differences. You can take the ones I mentioned above.
b. There are several simple questions that you can start with:
What are their titles? What do they describe or depict?
What is their tone or mood? What is their form?
Who created them? When were they created? Why do you think they were created as they were? What themes do they address?
Do you think one is of higher quality or greater merit than the other(s)—and if so, why?
For writing: what plot, characterization, setting, theme, tone, and type of narration are used?
c. And finally and most importantly, your thesis. The thesis of your comparison/contrast essay is very important: it can help you focus and give the reader an argumental line so as not to get lost. Use linkers to contrast ideas. As in any paper, you will want to replace a vague report of your general topic (for example, “This paper will compare and contrast two pieces of writing,” or “These two pieces of writing are similar in some ways and different in others,” or “These two pieces of writing are similar in many ways, but they have one major difference”) with something more detailed and specific. For example, you might say, “Thorpe's Big Bear of Arkansas and Twain's The Celebrated Jumping Frog have similar structures, but the intervention of the narrator in each of them sets them apart and I will explain this in detail”
Remember: From general to specific. First, things in common and then things that separate both writings, going deeper in one of these aspects.
THE FINAL RESULT, what you will send me, will be an essay with well-organised paragraphs. I don't need your Venn diagrams, nor the answers to the questions I proposed. They will just be a help to organize your essays.
You have plenty of time to do a good job. Please, don't leave it for the end.
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