EN12: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

First Essay Assignment

The first essay is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, February 8. The paper should be about 5 pages long.

In this paper, you should carefully compare and contrast any two of the fairy tales that we have studied. You may choose two version of the same tale (such as Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” and the Grimms’ “Little Red Cap”) or similar versions of different tales (such as "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Little Thumbling").

Be very careful in choosing the texts you want to write on, since you want to choose the ones most appropriate to your topic. You should have a precise topic focusing on a specific theme. I hope you choose the theme you are most interested in; some suggestions are: the depiction of childhood; the depiction of nature; the depiction of animals; the depiction of human nature; the depiction of men; the depiction of sexuality; the depiction of girls or women; the depiction of marriage; the depiction of family; the depiction of poverty.

For class on Monday, February 5, bring a thesis for your first essay. This thesis should be typed and should be stated as a single, complete sentence. The thesis of the essay is the one, central idea that you want to convince the reader of. A good thesis is one that can be proven (that is, there is objective evidence in the texts to support it) and that needs to be proven (that is, it is not obvious or self-evident). A thesis does not have to be a single sentence, but it is a good exercise to write it as a complete sentence since it forces you to articulate the single, coherent idea that drives the essay as a whole.