ENGL 301 (Section 006, Schedule #26694)
Virginia Commonwealth University
Fall 2012
M 1-1:50pm :: Hibbs 329
Prof. David Golumbia
Office: 324D Hibbs Hall
Fall 2012 Office Hours: W 11:30-1pm, 2-3pm

English Studies: Reading Literature:
Story Today

Second Short Paper Assignment

The assignment is to write a short analytical essay of at least 1000 words on one of the topics listed below. The assignment is due via email or on paper to me by class period (1pm) on Friday, Oct 26.

The essay should be 4 to 5 pages in length, but please use your word processor to count the number of words. An English paper should include quotations from the work you are analyzing, and short quotations DO count toward the total word count for the essay. Long quotations (of 50 or more words) should not generally be counted toward the 1000 word total for the assignment.

This is not a research paper, and you are not expected to consult outside sources except for the primary book or piece of media you choose to interpret. Any sources, including that primary source, should be properly cited in your paper, using any acceptable bibliographic citation format. One very simple format is to use a list of Works Cited at the end of the paper, and indicate by author, work and page number in parentheses the exact quotations within the paper itself. For example, you might make an observation about Titus saying "the moon turned out to completely suck" (Anderson, Feed, 3). Then at the end of your paper put your bibliography:

Works Cited

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002.

Other standard forms of citation (such as footnotes) are also acceptable, but failing to properly indicate sources technically constitutes plagiarism.

Speaking of plagiarism, all work for this assignment and the rest of this course is expected to be your own, and should not include elements from other sources (such as online commentaries on the works you write about), unless you also put them in quotation marks and clearly indicate your sources as described above.

Your essay should address one of the following questions. In general, you should work to develop your own argument, one independent of specific points or analyses raised during class discussion. It's OK and probably unavoidable to reflect some of what we talk about in class, but in general you should do your best to develop an independent topic that shows of your own reasoning.

  1. (Open topic): analyze any work of literature or aspect of a work of literature, asking what role story and narrative technique play. Check with me via email about the work of literature you choose before you begin writing.
  2. Compare the organization and form of Sleeping with the Dictionary with either The House on Mango Street or Rolling the R's. In what ways are the poetry collection and short story collection/novel similar or different? Can you find a parallel narrative in Sleeping with the Dictionary to the one in Mango Street or Rolling the R's?  
  3. Using concrete examples, compare and contrast the presentation of a specific video game through words in Ready Player One with the experience of actually playing a similar game. How are the expe3riences the same or different? How might these similarities and differences impact your understanding of the debate between ludology and narratology?
  4. Listen to a few stories from The Moth that we did not study in class (you can search for "The Moth" podcast in any podcast tool such as iTunes; search for "The Moth" on YouTube; or look through the stories on themoth.org). Analyze one or two of them in terms of the traditional features of narrative: plot, point of view, character development. How are they like and not like fictional or written narratives? You might compare a Moth narrative with one of the other works we've read this term.
  5. Compare the dystopias depicted in one of the novels or graphic novels we've read (Ready Player One, Ronin, and Feed). Compare these dystopias, but in terms of how the narratives present them, not in terms of the characteristics of the dystopias themselves. How do these dystopias fit into the narratives themselves? Why do the authors use them and what parts of the narratives are they trying to illustrate with the dystopias?
  6. Use a specific work of written literature (NOT a video game) to explore the idea of "ludology" (games are a unique media form that is largely independent of story) vs "narratology" (story and narrative are the primary way games make sense to/function for us as players). As we've discussed in class, these perspectives are not really opposed, but in what specific ways would one approach or the other be especially useful for the work of literature you are analyzing.