First, choose one short story we have read in class from the list below that you would like to write about:
Hanif Kureishi’s “My Son the Fanatic”
James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”
Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
Hwang Sok-Yong’s Familiar Things
Reread the story, looking specifically for 2-3 different kinds of pitfalls of critical thinking, or fallacies, that the characters make. Do not make the mistake of conflating the author with the character and claim that the author is using faulty reasoning; you must assume the author is intentionally having the characters commit fallacies for a reason. Make sure you name the specific fallacy and not just the category (for example, discuss biased consideration of evidence, not just an error of procedure). Consider:
What is the effect or use of that fallacy within the story? In other words, how is it being used as a rhetorical device by the author?
What impact does that fallacy have on the characters and/or the plot?
What is the through-line across those examples/fallacies? What theme, topic, issue, or pattern unites them?
How does that rhetorical device allow the author to provide some kind of social commentary?
What might the author be saying about the theme or issue that you have identified?
What is the lesson or takeaway for readers?
Use research to help you contextualize the story, allowing you to extrapolate an accurate, specific social commentary and overall argument from the work. Consider:
When and where was the work written?
What socio-historical, cultural events, or other real-world phenomena happened around that time and place?
How do you see these influencing the story?
How does it inform the social commentary you see, and how relevant is that social commentary to our current context?
Just as with the last paper, there should not be any sources about the story itself, so do not include the title or author in any of your search phrases. You also should not cite the textbook for definitions of fallacies; instead, show me your grasp of the definitions through your analysis. To support your claims, you will need to find sound, college-level sources that help you establish the context of your short story, speak to the real-life influences on and implications of the text, and build strong connections to the textual evidence (the fallacies) from the story.
Remember that I am not looking for a summary of the story. We have all read the stories and discussed them in class, so summarizing will not be giving any new or original information. If you find that most of your essay is making factual claims about the characters or plot points rather than interpretive, analytical claims that utilize the critical thinking concepts above, you probably need to condense the summary significantly and add more analysis.
