Purpose: This assignment will enable you to discover a short story's use of elements such as theme, characterization, irony, metaphor, and symbolism. You will conduct a close reading of a short story and discuss the author's use of these devices in his or her structuring and composition of the content. Applying a close reading and composing a literary analysis will prepare you for the many texts that you will read, summarize, and discuss in your future studies and even the workplace.Task:Write an essay analyzing one of our stories from this Unit (by Ron Rash, Ken Liu, or Rebecca Roanhorse) that discusses why and how specific symbols, metaphors, uses of irony, or characters are used to depict one of the themes from Unit 1 (Love, Alienation/Otherness, the American Dream/Nightmare, Quest for Identity/Coming of Age, or Conformity/Rebellion) in a particular way. Your essay should incorporate details and quotes from the story, and you should use your own words to elaborate on the meanings of the details and quotes you use as evidence. Follow these steps:Choose one of the Short Story Selections from this Unit - you can certainly choose a story you focused on in one of the discussion forums, but you don't have to. You will closely read (and reread) your chosen story, considering its themes, characters, organization, dialogue, setting, symbols, metaphors, irony, allusions, and other literary elements. Take notes!To start to compose your working thesis, consider which theme you find most applicable to the story and what elements contribute the most to that theme. How do these elements contribute to the theme? Why did the author choose to use them this way? Compose your outline. Use the MEAL Plan outline to guide the structure of your paper.As you flesh out your outline with evidence and original analysis, be specific in your use of details and use well-chosen quotes to support your thesis. Integrate quoted material logically and grammatically, and use parenthetical documentation with the author's surname. Avoid plot summary.Be sure to maintain an appropriate academic tone (no slang, second-person ["you," "we"], contractions, etc.)Please refer to the Purdue Online Writing Lab for MLA formatting and style guide.Leave time to submit your draft to Free Tutoring for review. Your tutor can help with thesis and content development, organization, grammar, and mechanics. Utilize this free service to write the best draft possible on this major assignment. Don't forget that you can submit your draft to Free Tutoring multiple times during the revision process.Submit your final paper in the Unit 3 Essay: Short Story Analysis dropbox. Remember, your instructor will be able to see your Turnitin results - both your similarity percentage and any phrases or language that appear elsewhere, either online or in Turnitin's database of prior student work, so ensure that your work is scrupulous in its citations and adheres to the standards of academic honesty.When writing your essay, the goal is to demonstrate what spin the story has on a particular theme. Be specific about the ways the theme is used and how the story's use of symbols develops a deeper meaning to the theme. Provide details, including cited direct quotes from the story, but don't forget that you must integrate the quotes grammatically and logically and comment on the quotes you use to explain why they are significant.File submissions: Please submit your file as a DOC.X or PDF file.Criteria on Which You Will be Graded:The specificity and development of your thesisYour supporting claims, logic, and organizationThe quality of your writing, to include paragraph development and organization: topic sentences, conclusions, transitions, etc. See Starting Your Short Story Analysis Essay.Your engagement with the text (how you explain your examples, your choice of supporting quotations)Format: You are required to use MLA style for all writing assignments. Proper MLA citation and a correctly formatted Works Cited page (12-point font, Times New Roman, double spacing, Last name and page number on each page, etc.). Please refer to the Purdue Online Writing Lab for MLA formatting and style guide.Academic Honesty (NO secondary sources are needed or encouraged; however, if any external sources are used, they MUST be appropriately cited using MLA 8th edition format). As always, plagiarism is not tolerated. Please ask if you have questions about citation or academic honesty.Length Requirement: 750-1,000 wordsThesis Statement:The author employs a character who loves snakes and whose goals are to keep these snakes as a symbol of emphasizing the theme of parental support for their children’s goals.The story is Badeye by Ron Rash (2014)

NO PLAGIARISM AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONSThe assignment is divided into two parts, the selection of a topic (Part 1) and the essay (Part 2) due in Week 9.InstructionsChoose one of the problem scenarios listed here as your topic for the assignment, Problem-Solving: Part 2.Write a brief paragraph with your choice and define the problem in the scenario.Submit your topic choice to your professor for approval.Scenario 1:You have worked at your company for 11 years. You have returned to college to earn a Bachelor's degree to increase your chances of a promotion. You are nearly finished with your degree when a supervisor's position in a competing company becomes available in another state. The start date is in two weeks, during your final exam period for your courses. The position offers $15,000 per year salary increase, a car allowance, and relocation expenses. Your former supervisor works for the company and is recommending you for the position based on your outstanding job performance; if you want the job, it's yours. All of the other supervisors at this level in the company have Master's degrees, so you know that you would be expected to earn your Bachelor's degree and continue on to a Master's degree. Your current company offers tuition reimbursement, but the new company does not.Scenario 2:Your child comes home from school with an assignment sheet for a school project. They are very excited about the project and begin work immediately, doing research on the Internet and gathering materials. You read over the assignment sheet and notice that your child is not including all of the required items in the project, and you have some ideas for how to improve the quality of the presentation. You recently read an article in a parenting magazine about the importance of a child developing responsibility for their own learning. You recall the many ways in which your parents took over your school projects. You, on the other hand, want to encourage your child's confidence in their ability to complete a project independently. The next day, you are at the grocery store when you see a parent of a student in your child's class. That parent has spent over $30 in supplies for the science project and is taking a day off work to put the pieces of the project together.Scenario 3:You have two jobs: one during the week from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and the other on Saturday from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. You are taking a class that meets from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. and a second class online. You have two kids: one who plays soccer and one who is in band. You have two elderly parents who no longer drive. You have a sibling living nearby, and your other sibling lives in another state. You have two papers due in your classes the same week that one of your children has a soccer tournament and the other has a band concert. You are coaching the soccer team and are in charge of fundraising for the band. You have a goal to complete your degree in two years. Your doctor tells you that your blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight are too high and recommends several medications that cost you nearly $200 per month after your insurance co-pay.Scenario 4:You are a sales representative for a company that encourages staff to log time in the field and away from the office. You are expected to begin and end your day at the office. You notice that each day when you arrive and return another coworker is already there, and you wonder whether this person spends most of their time at the office. At your weekly sales meeting, you are informed of your coworker's outstanding sales performance. You suspect that this coworker is spending more time flattering the boss instead of working leads in the field and as a result is getting the best client referrals. Your own sales numbers have steadily decreased since this other sales representative was hired.Scenario 5:Professor's choice: problem scenario presented by your professor.Scenario 6:Student's choice: your choice of problem scenario.The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment:

You will watch the BBC's "How You Really Make Decisions" (Links to an external site.) documentary and write a 4-5 page critique of this film. Your critique should focus on the following:Please address the following in your essay:Does this video offer some valid decision-making recommendations?After watching this video, were you left with any unanswered questions?After watching this video, would you change how you approach decision-making?