“The Modern Proposal” By: Jonathan

Objective: Show how a piece of prose literature creates meaning.

What does this mean? You need to show me why you think a short story means what you think it does.

Sources: A short story from our anthology

Outside Sources: None

Length: 5 pages

Format: MLA

___________________________________________________________________

Prose is not simply words that sit flatly on a page. It may not always have the same lyrical quality and passion of a poem, nor does it necessarily have the fire of a live performance like drama; however, Prose has the opportunity to develop the thoughts, the motivation, and the very soul of its characters, its plot, and its message.

In a 5 page MLA format essay, argue the meaning of a piece of prose and how this piece creates this meaning through character, narrative, tone, and language. In essence, take a story from our readings and show me step by step how the piece functions. Do not simply summarize the plot, but rather show me how that story is influential, powerful, or masterful due to the construction of narrative, characters, tone, and language. You may also choose to show how a piece fails to do this by pointing out the flaws in the piece’s construction. Again, do not summarize the story; analyze it. The key here is to not just tell me what the story means to you, but rather how that meaning is communicated via the structures within narrative, character, tone, and language.