Reading & Comprehension

NFG: Read Chp. 7: Analyzing a Text (39-59). NOTE: You will not be writing an essay on this chapter; rather, the reading provides valuable context and direction for the literary analysis.

NFG: Read Chp. 14: Literary Analyses (137-46) and Chp. 55: Literary Analyses Samples (662-714). When you read the samples, pay attention to how authors embed intertextual citations into the body of their essays according to MLA standards—you will be expected to do likewise.

Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper."

Owl @ Purdue (Grammar): Read Quotation Marks and Dangling Modifiers.

Essay #2
LITERARY ANALYSIS

Here is your assignment for the literary analysis: Based on your reading of Chp. 14 in NFG, write a 3-4 page essay on "The Yellow Wallpaper" in which you argumentatively defend ONE of the following three thesis statements with AT LEAST FIVE pieces of textual support. No paraphrasing. All textual support should take the form of word-for-word citations. These citations must be woven into the body of your text according to MLA documentation style standards. Inclusion of parenthetically noted page numbers for each citation is mandatory. DUE DATE & TIME: Friday, Oct. 23, 5 p.m.

Thesis #1: "The Yellow Wallpaper" uses descriptive imagery to chart the progression of Jane's madness.

Thesis #2: Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" in the form of a diary kept by an allegedly hysterical woman who uses the diary as a means of escape.

Thesis #3: The end of "The Yellow Wallpaper" suggests that freedom can only be obtained through insanity.

FINAL NOTE: You are neither encouraged nor required to include secondary sources in your literary analysis. I am interested in how you alone interpret Gilman's story, a primary source, by way of the story's details and formal elements.

Assignments

WebCT: ln the discussion forum, post three 100-150 word responses—one for each of the above thesis statements—in which you elaborate on how you would develop the thesis statements into essays, citing specific details from Gilman's story. You are encouraged to respond to one another's postings, but it is not required; at the very least, read one another's postings and get a sense of your peers' ideas, which may help you develop your own ideas. DUE DATE & TIME: Friday, Oct. 16, 5 p.m.

Essay #3 (Introduction): Choose a thesis and write the introductory paragraph for the literary analysis. Additionally, complete this Literary Analysis Outline. Submit via WebCT. DUE DATE & TIME: Friday, Oct. 16, 5 p.m.