Essay I


 

"It isn't necessarily what happens that is momentous--it's what happens as a result of the event. What did you learn? How did you change?" (85)

 

"Perhaps the event gave you insight into the type of person you want to be. It might have enlightened you intellectually, or it might have made you stronger. Some events change us immediately, while others affect us more gradually" (85).

 

 

 

 

Essay I: Narrative

 

WOW ch. 5

 

2-4 pages

MLA Style and Format

 

150 points

 

 

 

Essay I Rubric

Sample Narrative Essays

Excerpt from Douglass

"Road Trip"

"Momma's Encounter"

 

Student Samples

"A Declaration of Independence"

 "Caught You Caring" 

"Summer Trial"


 

Breakdown of Essay I Components (Due Dates listed on schedule)

 

Invention Exercise Assignment

Invention Exercise Workshop 

Rough Draft Workshop/PRI

 

 

Final Draft:

  1.  Rubric (filled out and paperclipped on top) 
  2. Final Draft
  3. Edited Rough Draft from PRI 
  4. PRI document (blue)
  5.  Signed Invention Paragraph

 

 

 

*In order to be accepted for grading, final drafts must contain all required documents

*All paragraphs/drafts/finals must be typed in MLA format

*You must be present in class and have the required documents in order to participate in the PR

 

 

MLA formatting instructions:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

 


 

 

 

Narrative Conventions

 

relates events in sequence. 
The creation of specific scenes set at actual times and in actual places. Show, don't tell. Re-create an event by setting it in a specific time and space. 

 

 

A story's plot is what happens in the story and the order it happens in.
For there to be story, something has to move, to change. Something goes from point A to point B. 
Think half-hour TV sitcom.  

A physical event (Point A = psycho killer is picking off everyone in town. Point B = police arrest the killer).

A decision (Point A = character wants to practice law like his father. Point B = character decides to be a ballet dancer).

A change in a relationship (Point A = They hate each other. Point B = They fall in love)

A change in a person (Point A = character is a selfish jerk. Point B = character has learned to be less of a selfish jerk.)

A change in the reader's understanding of a situation. (Point A = character appears to be a murderer. Point B = The reader realizes that character is actually innocent and made a false confession.)


This change could even be the realization that nothing will ever change. (Point A = your character dreams of escaping her small town. Point B = her dream escape is shown to be an hopeless.)

 

 

 

 

Freytag's Pyramid

 


 

 

 

 


 

Figurative language changes the literal meaning, to make a meaning fresh or clearer, to express complexity, to capture a physical or sensory effect, or to extend meaning. Figurative language is also called figures of speech. The most common figures of speech are these:

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Topics and Composition

 

Choosing a topic: WOW pgs. 103-104

 

Oftentimes, the best short narratives (2-4 pages) are not about huge, life-altering events (life, death, accidents, etc.) but about important moments in an individual's life in which he/she learned something about him/herself or the world around him/her.

 

Think about the narrative examples we have read and discussed. They zero in on a very specific incident, and the action is limited to a short time frame. If necessary use flashback to provide background information relevant to your purpose.

 

 

flashback(flash-BAK): “an interruption of the chronological sequence (as of a film or literary work) of an event of earlier occurrence” (Merriam, 288). A flashback is a narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current events, in order to provide background for the current narration. By giving material that occurred prior to the present event, the writer provides the reader with insight into a character's motivation and or background to a conflict. This is done by various methods, narration, dream sequences, and memories (Holman et al, 197).