Narration/Point of view

PSCC Fall 2020
English 1020
Essay #1: Narration / Point of View
Points Breakdown:
Drafts: If you want me to look at a draft, please email it to me no later than Friday, 9/11, by
noon.
Final Draft: Worth 100 points, due by 11:59p on Monday, 9/14; upload to Brightspace.
Prompts:
Listed below are some possibilities for your first essay; you will select one:
1) Dr. Watson is the first-person narrator of “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” What
effect(s) does Watson’s narration have on the reader? Is Watson’s point of view limited in any
way? What does only having Watson’s point of view do to our perception of Sherlock Holmes?
Why do you think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided to write the story from Watson’s point of
view?
2) Compare and contrast the first-person narrators of “The Cask of Amontillado” (Montresor)
and “A&P” (Sammy). How are they alike – if at all – and how are they different? Does their
point of view skew the reader’s perception at all? Are the narrators convincing in their story
telling? In other words, is their first-person perspective important to the story?
3) Sister is the narrator of “Why I Live at the P.O.” and the telling of events comes from her
perspective alone. How does this affect your reading of the story? Do you believe that
everything happened the way that Sister says it does? What evidence from the text can
support your claim?
4) “Barn Burning” has third-person limited narration. For most of the story, we are privy to
Sarty’s thoughts. Why do you think Faulkner chose Sarty instead of say, Abner, as the
character whose thoughts we know? For this prompt, the ending of the story is quite important.
Are we still in Sarty’s head at the end? What effect(s) does the ending have on readers?
PSCC Fall 2020
Please don’t feel obligated to pick one of the above topics; they are simply suggestions for
those of you who may struggle to come up with a topic on your own. If you want to choose
your own topic, you must let me know beforehand. All essays must be about point-of-view and
narration.
What Am I Looking For?
Your essay must be strongly reasoned. You must provide evidence from the story or stories that
you are writing about in the form of at least five direct quotations. There are no secondary
sources required for this essay. I want this essay to be your thoughts, backed by evidence from
the story(ies) alone. Look in the Samples / Examples / Templates folder on Brightspace to help
you with MLA formatting. Remember, whenever you make a claim, you should support it.
What Am I Not Looking For?
Simply put: anything that doesn’t relate to the topic at hand: point of view/narration. With this,
as with all your writing, you must stay on topic.
Requirements:
Paper length should be between 1000-1500 words1
(equal to about 3-5 pages,). Papers should be
typed in 12-point Times New Roman (or some other legible typeface) and double-spaced. The
first page of your paper should include the heading we discussed in class, and all pages should
have a page number (formatted as we discussed). Essays must include a Works Cited page.
Each work that you cite should be on the Works Cited page. I’ll provide a template on
Brightspace, so all you have to do is plug in the appropriate author(s) and title(s).
1 Word count does not include your heading, title, or Works Cited page. Word count consists of the introduction,
body, and conclusion of your essay.