"Patriotism" by Yukio Mishima (Japanese) Not found online, but ask for paper copy.

Things go wrong in an attempted coup. 

Writing Choice 1: Write an essay discussing the roles and relationships between man and woman in Japanese culture as presenting in the story.  .

Writing Choice 2: Write an essay discussing traditional morality and modernity in pre-World War II Japan as presenting in the story. 

Writing Choice 2: Write an essay discussing the dilemma between friendship and duty as presenting in the story. 

"The Man who was almost a Man" by Richard Wright (American)

An impoverished young man's life takes a sharp turn when he gets a gun. 

"Study Guide".  Ali Nihat Eken Blog. 
Mitrevski, George.  "Study Guide".  Auburn University.   

Contains dialect.  Uses the N-word. 

Writing Choice 1: Write an essay discussing the gun as a symbol.   

Writing Choice 2: Write an essay discussing the story as a portrayal of White oppression of African-Americans. 

Writing Choice 3: Write an essay discussing "The Man" as an initiation or rite-of-passage story. 

Writing Choice 4: Write an essay discussing the irony of Dave's choices in "The Man Who was Almost a Man" 

"The Grave" by Katherine Anne Porter

The graves are empty, and the children play there, and hunt...

Writing Choice 1:   Write an essay discussing "The Grave" as an initiation or rite-of-passage story.

Writing Choice 2:  Write an essay discussing the use of symbols in "The Grave".

"Love: Three Pages from a Sportsman's Notebook" by Guy De Maupassant (French) 5  1/2 pgs

A hunter goes on a trip in which he learns something he didn't expect. 

Writing Choice 1: Present a case interpreting what the narrator learned about sportsmanship and humanity. 

Writing Choice 2: w

"The Library of Babel" by Jorgé Luis Borges (Argentinean) 8 pgs

A bizarre, fantastical world consisting of only an endless library

Writing Choice 1: Write an essay discussing the use of symbols in "The Library of Babel". .

Writing Choice 2: Write an essay discussing the use of symbols in "The Library of Babel". .

"The Ring" by Isak Dinesen  pg 1070, Literature Text, Holt, Rinehart, Winston Series, Sixth Course (Purple cover)

A desperate man, a naïve woman

Writing Choice 1: Write an essay discussing "In the Shadow of War" as an initiation or rite-of-passage story.

Writing Choice 2: Write an essay discussing the use of symbols in "In the Shadow of War".

"Lost in the Fun House" by John Barth

Advanced students only

Need help?

Writing Choice 1:

Writing Choice 2:

Other Stories for Term Papers:

"Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville (American) 8 pgs
"The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol (Russian) 23 pgs
"The Secret Sharer" by Joseph Conrad (Polish, writing in English)
"The Blue Hotel" by Stephen Crane
"Nine Lives" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner
"Death of Ivan Ilych" by Leo Tolstoy (Russian) 44 pgs


Back to First Page