Select one of the following topics and write a Two to Three page essay.
What is the significance of the fence in August Wilson’s Fences? What does the fence represent to Troy and to Rose? How does Wilson use the fence to develop theme?
Troy talks a great deal about the importance of independence and self-reliance, but he is also a user and manipulator of others. Does this make him a liar? Something else?
How does Troy’s character change over the course of the play? Support your opinion with specific examples from the play.
Are Troy’s problems self-created or out of his control? Support your opinion with specific examples from the play.
To what extent is Troy wrong about how American society has changed during his lifetime? To what extent is he right?
Writing the Essay
Your essay should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
The introduction should do the following:
Interest the reader with an effective opener
Identify the subject, work, and author (give author’s full name)
Introduce essay’s topic
Define key words, if necessary
Present a clear thesis statement
The Body should do the following:
Have logical organization
Have unity – present one central idea per paragraph and be coherent
Provide sufficient information to explain each point in the thesis statement
Have paragraphs that are unified, coherent, and adequately developed with details and evidence.
The conclusion should do the following:
Restate the thesis
Summarize the main points
When writing about literature, remember to do the following:
Place quotation marks around the titles of poems, short stories, essays or chapters of a book and italicize the titles of novels or plays.
Use the present tense. For example, when explaining what a narrator says, you would write this: The narrator describes the people gathering for the lottery: “Soon the men began to gather, surveying their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes” (233). Notice that the verb describes is in the present tense.
Incorporate quotes into your writing by introducing the quote as I did above or by blending the quote into your sentence like this: The men discuss “planting and rain, tractors and taxes” (233).
Document quotes from the literary works by placing the page number from the prose work in parenthesis and the line number from a poem in parenthesis. Then write the source cited on a works cited page like this example:
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature – An Introduction to Reading
and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry Jacobs. 5th ed.
Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998. 233-238.
Give your essay a title which reflects the content of your essay.
Remember that your essay should be double-spaced with your name and page in the upper right corner.
Plagiarism: Any student found guilty of plagiarism will receive a 0 for the assignment with no opportunity to rewrite.
