Assignment 4

Submission deadline: midnight, 15 November.

Life, by its very nature, presents us with an endless round of conflicts. Literature is an expression of those conflicts in varying lights and from different perspectives. Often you may discover that a story, poem, or play explores a conflict similar to one you have experienced in your own life or have observed others experience. This is not to suggest that you have suffered the same problems of an Antigone literally, nor taken part in avenging someone's murder. However, if you look at the various conflicts examined in "Trifles," Antigone, and Hamlet in their larger meanings (i.e., generalized and abstracted from the text), you should find some points of contact.

As one writer suggests, "One way to show your understanding of both the work and your own experience is to write a personal essay comparing the two." That will be your task for this assignment. Thinking about the plays mentioned above, select one and write a 500 to 750 word personal narrative (i.e., using the first-person point-of-view) which explores one of the conflicts expressed and shows its relationship to your life.

Some guidelines:

After selecting a play, identify the protagonist, his or her external and/or internal conflicts and the outcome or resolution.
Identify the principal conflict and write down details about both sides of it and the resolution.
Write down details about a situation you have experienced that parallels this conflict and illustrates the same meaning.
Write an introduction which identifies the work and author, the major conflict to be explored, the meaning of the conflict and its resolution, and offers a transitional sentence which states how the conflict you have examined is related to a conflict in your own experience.
The conclusion should explain the resolution of your experience, what you learned, and relate your insights to the work you discussed in the introductory paragraph.

While use of sources outside the textbook is not required for this assignment, you are to follow MLA guidelines for parenthetical documentation, and you are to provide a "Works Cited" entry for the play. (Consult the FAQ; study the sample essay; and review the MLA Quick Guide.)

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