Breaking Barriers

How can fictional literature inform our understanding of how current social, economic, and/or political issues impact individuals? Write a well-developed essay in which you synthesize two or more fictional works with non-fiction sources to analyze how fiction can provide insight or guidance on a single real-world issue. 

This is a “synthesis” paper, which means you are synthesizing a variety of perspectives: two or more authors as well as your OWN perspective.

Some notes on this kind of essay:

• You will be using the poems or stories of your choice as representative of the author’s perspectives.

• In other words, you can say that “W.S. Merwin argues that it is vital to be grateful even in the midst of tragedy”. 

• You can then point to specific lines in his poem to support your thinking. 

• You can then talk about whether or not you agree or disagree with Merwin’s thinking. 

• You can shift to another author, like Charlotte Perkins Gilman, for example, and talk about her perspective. 

• You might say, “While Merwin asserts that we need to give thanks even in difficult times, Gilman disagrees. The protagonist in the ‘Yellow Wallpaper’ has no ability to be grateful; she can’t be thankful because all of her power has been stripped away. All she can do is defy her oppressors by retreating into her own world. It is good to be thankful, but sometimes we don’t have the power to make that decision.”

Your essay must have a works cited page at the end of the essay, in proper MLA format.

CCSS.RL.2.11-12 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.W.8.11-12 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.