In this journal entry, respond to the assignment/questions listed below. Your response should be cohesive (in paragraph form, not as a list). Use academic writing conventions, and proofread before submitting. For journal entries, always copy and paste text into the journal entry (do not attach files; do not write in the comments box). Don’t consult any outside sources. If you’d like to quote an article, be sure to include an MLA-style citation. All quotes should be in quotation marks (see MLA Help in Resources area for advice on this).

Your journal entry should be a cohesive 400-450-word entry.

Clicking on the assignment name above should open the submission screen, please follow the directions listed there to submit your assignment.

Respond:

Think about all of the stories we’ve read for this class so far. 

• “A&P”
• “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”
• “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
• “The Lottery”
• “Sonny’s Blues”
• “Miss Brill”
• “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• “A Pair of Tickets”
• “Volar”
• “The Things They Carried”
• “The Birth Mark”
• “Wildwood”

For this journal entry, write about two of these stories that either (a) share a theme, which means that both stories essentially make the same point in their own ways or (b) share a topic, but have differing themes, which means they make different points about the same topic. For example, if there are two stories about growing up that seem to make the same point, that would be option (a); if there were two stories that each made a different point about growing up, that would be option (b). 

In your journal entry, write about the two stories and their themes. How are they expressed in the story? What other literary elements contribute to the theme (symbol, setting, etc)? What quotes show or emphasize the theme? Is the theme the same as the lesson learned by the main character?

Be sure you include the names of the stories and authors. If you use quotes from the stories, be sure to include page numbers. Do not consult or use outside sources for this assignment. Be sure you follow the assignment, answer the questions, proofread carefully, use complete sentences, and include details to support your points. Be sure to follow MLA formatting guidelines for all journal entries.