Generally the theme of a story is “what it is about”…but more specifically the theme of a story should provide some insight about life, human nature, or a commentary on society. In other words, it is the “take away” that the author wants us to think about after reading the story. It should be universally applicable, regardless of your personal identity or background. Good literature opens our minds to realities about life and living that we may not have considered before. For this assignment, we are going to analyze the theme in “A Rose for Emily”. Since a theme often involves making moral statements, you are free to express your opinion on whether you agree or disagree with the moral of the story. As with all literary critiques, quotes from the story should be used to strengthen and support your analysis, and should be punctuated correctly. 1) Your essay must be set up according to MLA format (see link below). 2) Word count should be atleast 800 4) You must have an introductory paragraph, body paragraph(s), and a conclusion 5) Create an original title, for example: Parents and Predators in “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. 6) Even if it is in the title of your essay, you must also introduce the author’s full name and title of the short story (always in quotation marks) in your introductory paragraph. After that refer to author by last name only. 7) Integrate quotes from the story to support your opinions and to highlight the most significant parts of the story.
