Student Literature Resources:
Paper Ideas
See also:
Intro to Literature
Course Objectives
Gallery of student projects and papers
Some suggestions for
papers
Below are a variety of prompts and topics for Introduction to Literature papers.
If you already have your own idea, all the better. These topics are suggestions
only.
or go back to Resources for Students.
General advice for Introduction to Literature Papers:
You can alter the descriptions of the topic to suit your own interpretive purposes.
These topics and descriptions are meant to give you some ideas but not to restrict
you or to overdetermine what you write. All papers should have a thesis, preferably
stated somewhere near the end of the first paragraph. All papers must use specific
textual references to support the argument. (References below are to Kirszner
and
Mandell, Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, compact 4th edition)
Remember, you are writing for readers who have already read the text. Don't summarize too much. Make brief references. Quote sparingly. No long quotes. If you want to quote more than a phrase, be sure you also comment specifically on the words in the quotation. All drafts and papers should be typed or computer-printed, double-spaced (in Microsoft Word, highlight the entire paper, then click on "Format" at the top, then select "Paragraph," then in that dialog box, look for "line spacing" and select "double").
Sample paper topics:
These samples generally refer to a specific story or text and suggest
that you write about it. Feel free to adapt these liberally to help you produce
a paper topic for your own project. It's a good idea to check with your instructor
to make sure you're on the right track before you write too much.
- Discuss the function of setting in "Mericans" or in "Deportation at Breakfast." (select one). A possible thesis statement: "In this story nearly every detail of the place is significant in terms of the story's theme."
- Discuss the plot of "Deportation at Breakfast." In what seems to be a very ordinary day in an ordinary diner, the extraordinary event of deportation occurs; yet no one except the narrator seems to notice the cook's disappearance. Discuss the significance of this. Why do you think the narrator takes over the job? Does this action have larger significance?
- The use of contrasts in "Mericans" as a structuring device. Discuss how almost everything in the story is seen as contrasted to or paired with something else.
- Analyze the contrasting personalities of the narrator and the ex-husband in "Wants." Illustrate your assertions about their personalities with evidence. Discuss what each wants and how their personalities are illustrated by their wants. Are such different personalities necessarily incompatible? Does the story suggest that they are, or are not, inevitably incompatible?
- The surface plot and the deeper plot in "Say Yes." Discuss the deeper significance of the surface dialogue in "Say Yes." What is the plot? What really happens in the story, and why does it matter? What do you think the story suggests about human relationships, and why?
- Discuss how the writer confronts stereotypes about race in either "Mericans" or "Deportation at Breakfast." What stereotypes about Mexicans or recent immigrants are exposed and/or refuted? How does the writer go about showing that the stereotypes are inaccurate?
- Discuss "Yours" as a story that confronts stereotypes about age differences in marriage. Why do people seem to have trouble believing that a couple with such a large age difference might have married for love? Do people assume that a younger woman cannot love an older man? Show what assumptions about motives, aging, health, and death are exposed in the story. How successful was the story at getting you as a reader to discard some of your assumptions? What made it work?
- Discuss the function of literary point of view in "Say Yes" or "Hills Like White Elephants" or just about any story. Suggest exactly how the story would have been different had it been presented in a different point of view. Show how what the particular point of view in a story leaves out (cannot show) is just as important as what it can show. (Review the definition on p. 1828 of the glossary).
- Images of motion and stagnation in any story. Show how these images resonate throughout the story, enhancing the story's thematic power.
- Discuss the use of irony in "Mericans." (Verbal irony involves a discrepancy between what is said and what is meant.) Analyze, for example, terms like "the awful grandmother" and how we are to understand what the narrator really means.
- Discuss the characters of Leroy and Norma Jean in "Shiloh." Do they change or develop throughout the story? If one definition of the major character or protagonist is that the character changes during the story, does this story support that definition? What is significant about the fact that the story is told in third person limited, from Leroy's point of view?
- The role of the parrot in "Why the Tortoise's Shell Is Not Smooth." Discuss how important a minor character or characters can be; show how this story depends upon the parrot. OR: Analyze the plot of the story, and show why the plot's turns are effective in structuring the story as a work of art.
- Does race matter as much as the husband says, or as little as the wife says, in "Say Yes?" Would the story be different if this were a black couple? Why, or why not? How would it be different if the narrator were the wife instead of the husband? Do the race and gender of characters matter? Of readers? Do you think you would read this story differently if you were of a different race or gender? Show why or why not.
- "Twisted Apples." Discuss the theme of difference in "Paper Pills" and how Anderson uses symbolism. Show the reader how the characters are like the twisted apples, and then discuss how this story critiques social conventions.
- Discuss the significance of Barbie dolls and what they represent in American culture in general, to girls in general, and to the girls in "Barbie-Q" in particular. How does Cisneros use the Barbie dolls as a symbol in the story? Some possible questions to consider might include: if there is one basic standard meaning the Barbie doll has in American culture, do the characters buy into this standard meaning? Do the characters redefine the standard meaning of Barbie dolls? Do you find it sad that the characters are so fixated on Barbie dolls? If so, why? Or do you think that the characters have turned the dolls to their own purposes and thereby have created their own meanings? If so, why? You might wish to refer to the checklist on Symbol and Allegory on 257-259.
- Discuss how Cisneros uses the setting of "Barbie Q" and how the setting must be examined carefully in connection with the characters. Use the setting checklist (136-137) and the character checklist (95-96) to brainstorm. Show us how much we learn about the character from the way the character is defined within her setting.
- Discuss the narrative voice in "Barbie Q" and how the first-person subjective, participant point of view from this young girl makes the story special. Prove to the reader that the story would not have been so effective if it had been told from a different point of view. (Refer to the checklist on point of view on p. 177-178 and review the definition of point of view thoroughly before you write. Remember, literary point of view does NOT mean a "point" or position on an issue. It means, rather, the angle of view, the lens through which we see the story.) Discuss how the style of the writing (informal style; find particular examples that illustrate a young girl's way of speaking or writing as opposed to an adult's) reveals much about the character. Show how analyzing point of view and style also helps us in analyzing character.
- Discuss the character of the mother in "Two Kinds." Is she a bad mother? Do you view her as cruel to her daughter? If so, what has made her behave this way? Analyze the motivation of the mother. What does she want for her daughter, and why? Why does she assume that the piano lessons are the way for her daughter to achieve what she wants? Why does she ignore the evidence of her daughter's mediocrity? What alternative choices do you wish the mother had made, and when and where exactly in the story? Why didn't she make those choices? How does the story make us look twice at what the mother does and perhaps complicate our judgment of the mother's character? Use the character checklist on 95-96 to help you brainstorm. Why doesn't the story refer very much to the father?
- Discuss the character of the daughter in "Two Kinds." What are some examples of things she had no choice about? What are some examples of things she chose to do or not to do? Were there ever any alternative choices that she might have made? When and where in the story? Do you think that she changed in the story? If so, how did she change? Did she change her opinion of her mother, or her understanding of her mother? If so, how? What is significant about this change? Why should it matter, after her mother is gone?
- Analyze the plot of "Two Kinds." Use the plot checklist on 70. Show how the story builds tension from the beginning. Show where the crisis and the climax is, and show how the plot shows us everything about the characters-argue that we can best understand characters by their actions, and that each action or reaction in the story reveals something significant. Plot the crucial actions and discuss how the story would have been different if any single moment was removed from the plot. Show what would be missing. Show how the story achieves completion as an artistic whole largely because of its handling of plot.
- Discuss the images in "A Worn Path" and show how the important images you select to discuss reinforce the story's theme or reveal much about the characters. Try to avoid paraphrasing the essay in the book. Assume that your readers already understand that the story is about a journey or quest, and that they know this is an important theme. Now, can you take us further into the story's details, and show how even perhaps small details help reinforce the theme or reveal qualities of Phoenix's character? If you wish to argue that some images are symbolic, again be careful about not repeating the essay, and be sure to prove with evidence that the image functions as a symbol-you'll have to show a consistency of images with the theme throughout the story.
- Analyze the characters of Jing-Mei in "Two Kinds" and Dee (Wangero) in "Everyday Use." Discuss each of these characters as daughters and discuss similarities or differences in their relationships to their mothers. Avoid the mistake of a thesis arguing that "there are some similarities and some differences." That is not a thesis. Brainstorm first, and decide whether you think that the similarities are more important, or the differences are more important. Then focus your paper so that you acknowledge the similarities, but primarily discuss the differences, or vice-versa. You need a clear focus emphasizing what you perceive to be the essential similarity or difference between these two characters in two different stories.
- Or write a paper similar to the idea in number 8, but this time compare or contrast the two mothers in "Everyday Use" and "Two Kinds." Remember, you want to emphasize primarily EITHER the similarities or the differences in your discussion. But acknowledge briefly the opposite view.
- Another version of topics 8 or 9 is to compare mother-daughter relationships as presented in "Two Kinds" and "Everyday Use." In "Everyday Use" you will need to discuss not only Dee but also Maggie as evidence of the mother-daughter relationship. You will also want to come up with some conclusion about how each author, Amy Tan and Alice Walker, respectively, has portrayed mother-daughter relationships in each story. What aspects of this key relationship do these stories show us, and why?
- Discuss point of view in "Everyday Use." Read topic #3 above for some tips. You want to show why this story has to be written from the mother's point of view. What advantages does this perspective have, as opposed to possible other angles of narration? Why isn't the story narrated by Dee? Why isn't it narrated by Maggie? Why isn't it narrated by a third person omniscient narrator?
- Select just one or two, not more: discuss imagery, setting, character, plot, point of view, symbolism, allusions, style, OR any other literary aspect of any of the stories we've read. Show how any of these literary elements helps to reinforce the theme (or a theme) of the text. Remember to look up definitions of these terms in the back of the book so you can understand them and use them effectively.
- Select any combination: discuss Lawrence Ferlinghetti's use of colloquial diction, repetition, rhyme, line, simile, metaphor, alliteration, assonance, and allusions (or any other poetic elements) in any of his poems. Show how the way the poem is crafted helps to reinforce its meaning. Show how by closely analyzing the poem's language and techniques, we can understand it more clearly and experience its power more fully. Be sure to look up key terms in the back of the text and to go to the pages that explain the terms.
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