Write a comparison essay of battle royal and the birthmark

Assignment Help English

Reference no: EM13763955 , Length: word count:1500

For this assignment, you will be analyzing two more short stories, "Battle Royal" (which is the first chapter in Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man) and "The Birthmark." As you read, reflect on the ways each depicts characters that are deemed socially unacceptable because of their outward appearances.

Please write a comparison/contrast essay of 1500 words or more discussing the questions below. Remember to begin your paper with an engaging introduction and clear thesis statement, develop each point in the body of your paper using examples and quotes from the stories, and conclude your paper with a restatement of your thesis and closing remarks. Also, be sure to maintain your credibility by including in-text citations and a reference list correctly formatted in APA style.

1. Setting: Describe the settings of both pieces and identify how the eras in which they take place-with their distinct societal attitudes and customs-affect the main characters?

2. Characters:

a. "Battle Royal:" Discuss the young man and his grandfather. Why do we never learn the young man's name? What do the grandfather's dying words reveal about him?

b. "The Birthmark:" Describe the main characters: Aylmer, Georgiana and Aminadab. What is important to each?

3. Point of View: In which point of view (first- or third-person) is each piece told? If the point of view in "Battle Royal" was changed, would it have made the story more effective, or less so?

4. Symbolism:

a. "Battle Royal:" Analyze the deeper meaning of the following: the "battle royal" itself, the naked blonde, and the young man's dream at the end of the story.

b. "The Birthmark:" What does Georgiana's birthmark signify, first to her and then to Aylmer? What does alchemy represent in the story?

5. Themes: What are the main themes/messages of each piece? What, in other words, do you think the authors, Ralph Ellison and Nathaniel Hawthorne, are trying to communicate about life and human nature in their respective stories?

6. Fear: What role does fear play in both pieces?

7. Discrimination: Both stories address physical appearance, specifically one's skin, and the way people may discriminate against others because of external characteristics they deem inferior. Compare and contrast how discrimination and prejudice are presented in "Battle Royal" and "The Birthmark."

8. Final Thoughts: Author Tim O'Brien wrote, "That's what fiction is for. It's for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth." Talk about how literature might give us "truer" insights into the human experience by appealing to our senses, emotions and empathy. Describe a situation in which you or someone you know may have been discriminated against because of appearance, gender, race or another attribute. What did the experience teach you?

Reference no: EM13763955

Questions Cloud

How much may the corporation pay for stock of the deceased : A corporation decided to repurchase stock of a shareholder who recently died. The corporation was in existence for three years and had lost $50,000 during this period. How much may the corporation pay for the stock of the deceased

Script for the reynolds number of a flow : Write a script that will prompt the user for the Reynolds number of a flow and will print the region the flow is in.

The importance of water for life on earth : Describe the major experiments and scientists involved in the discovery of DNA as our hereditary material and its structure.

Biomedical engineering matlab based problems : Write the governing equation for the situations you wish to solve identifying terms which will cancel or stay.

Write a comparison essay of battle royal and the birthmark : write a comparison essay on Battle Royal and The Birthmark. Describe the settings of both pieces and identify how the eras in which they take place-with their distinct societal attitudes and customs-affect the main characters?

Sole proprietorship-partnership and corporation : Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the following: sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation. Based on these advantages and disadvantages provide a clear recommendation to your client.

Problems based on dna sequence : write a DNA sequence that will encode for at least 5 amino acids.Then make 3 new DNA sequences from this original one, by altering ONLY ONE base either by adding a base or deleting one.

Total cost of producing boats : The accompanying table shows a boat manufacturer's total cost of producing boats.

Income statements and profitability ratios : In this module, you were introduced to the income statement and profitability ratios. In this assignment, you will use this information to create an income statement and then analyze it for profitability.

User Account

All Pages