INSTRUCTIONS – Read every word of this assignment before beginning your work.
During this term we have, thanks to the ideas from Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer and lectures provided by your instructor, considered the art of writing fine fiction through the examination of the building blocks from which great writing is made: words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, dialogue, and details.
Write a paper in which you consider how Raymond Carver utilized words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, dialogue, and details all in support of characterization in his short story “Cathedral.” You must address all six of the building blocks in your paper in your examination of Carver’s characterization of the story’s narrator and any other of the characters in the story. Use examples from “Cathedral” and cite also Francine Prose Reading Like A Writer – relevant sections (both are attached)
**Show how all the writing building blocks are used in service of characterization, so how words support characterization of the characters, how sentences show characterization of a character, etc. show how each writing building block (e.g. a word, a sentence,, a paragraph or a paragraph break, narration, dialogue, details ** TAKE THE BEST EXAMPLES FROM THE NOTES I PROVIDED.
Use the same writing style as the MidTerm paper attached. Look into the comments as well to understand even better what I’m looking for. I need to get a better grade of the MidTerm Paper (which was a B+, I need to get an A.)
Be direct in the introduction. In the thesis statement & intro do not say “this paper will analyze”. Hint at what you have concluded about Carver’s use of words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, dialogue, and details.
Narration: for the narration section, state first what kind of narration it is, analyze quickly the narrative distance and then delve into how narration is used in service characterization of the narrator and other characters.
Order the paragraphs from the least important in terms of characterization to the most important.
Attached are some notes with some (good) examples that need to be used in the paper. Please read these notes and use examples that are covered there, just expand on them. DO NOT GO INTO analyzing THE MEANING of something, rather, go into how that supports and is used in service of characterization.
For each building block show concretely how each element supports characterization.
Use one body paragraph per each building block (even if they’re going to be long) or if appropriate split into smaller paragraphs but do it with a reason behind it.
Provide an original title, using an interesting title with colon.
