For this assignment you will chose one moment/theme/character/object from our first several stories, and write a personal, non-fictional document about yourself and a related experience.

The stories are “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” “Colloquy,” “The Daemon Lover,” and “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.”

Which story you choose, and which aspect of it inspires you to write about your own life will be up to you. This could be as specific as a particular character or object, or as abstract as a single line of dialogue that reminds you of something you’ve experienced. Whatever you choose, be sure to include and clearly describe which aspect of which story you are using as a starting point.

Your draft can be a loose piece of writing about your own experience. Be specific, and use the great writing we’ve explored as examples (remembering concepts like narrative voice, dialogue, setting, symbolism…to strengthen your writing). This is not a typical essay, so feel free to explore and be creative.

We will then share drafts, give feedback, and revise to include two pieces of research.

By using these pieces as a launching point we will explore our own unique experiences, and learn how to incorporate outside sources into a piece of writing – joining the personal with the academic, and yielding a piece of writing that both reflects who we are, and leads to deeper understanding of our experiences.

Time Line:

First Draft Due Tues. 9.22 (before class time)

9.22 – Small group Peer Review

9.24 – Peer responses due / Locate + post research

Final Draft Due Thurs 10.01 (end of day)

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.