Reference no: EM132331449

Literary Response for Setting

Sources: Choose one of the stories
• "To Build a Fire" by Jack London
• "The Storm" by Kate Chopin
• "This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" by Alexie
• "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe

Prompt (What are you writing about?):

How does Setting affect/contribute to the plot of your chosen story?

Note: Remember that Setting is not only the place in which a story occurs. It is also mood, weather, time, and atmosphere. These things drive other parts of the story.

How to get started:

• Choose a story from this unit and discern all the elements of the Setting.
• Decide in what three ways the setting contributes to the plot of your chosen story.
• Formulate a thesis about setting and these three areas.

Mini lesson on thesis statements:
• If you were writing about Star Wars, a sample thesis might read:

The setting in the Star Wars movies contributes to the desperateness of the Resistance forces, provides a vast space for action and conflicts to occur, focuses on how advances will affect society.
Broken down, this thesis would read:
The Setting in the Star Wars movies:
a. contributes to the desperateness of the Resistance forces (write a supporting section with text examples)
b. provides a vast space for action and conflicts to occur, focuses on how advances will affect society (write a supporting section with text examples)
c. focuses on how advances will affect society (write a supporting section with text examples)

• Ask yourself, what is the setting of my story and how does it affect the plot in the story?

For example, it is apparent that in London's "To Build a Fire," you would devote a supporting section to how the weather conditions drive both the conflict and the character's actions.

• After you have made connections to the three areas that setting affects, then form your thesis. Here is a template for your thesis:

The Setting in author's name and title of the story, contributes to first way in which the setting affects the story, second way in which setting affects the story, third way in which setting affects the story.

Instructions:
– Select one of the short stories to write about.
– Your audience for this essay is people who have read the stories.
– Your essay prompt is: How does Setting affect/contribute to the plot of your chosen story?
– Your essay will have the following components:

o An Introduction
o A thesis at the end of the introduction that clearly states how setting affects the story
o Supporting sections that defend your thesis/focus of the essay
o Text support with properly cited in-text citations
o A concluding paragraph
o A reference page

Requirements:
• Length and format: 2-3 pages.
• The title page and reference page are also required, but they should not be factored into the 2-3 page length of the essay.
• It should also be double spaced, written in Times New Roman, in 12 point font and with 1 inch margins. Essay should conform to APA formatting and citation style.
• Use the third-person, objective voice, avoiding personal pronouns such as "I," "you," "we," etc.
• Please use the above sources and any outside sources you need to create a properly-formatted APA reference page.
• Use APA format for in-text citations and references when using outside sources and textual evidence.
• Skills to be assessed with this assignment: creating effective thesis statements, incorporating text, responding to literature.