Q2. Animals appear as characters in Mark Twain’s “A Dog’s Tale” and Ernest Thompson Seton’s animal stories, although Twain is writing more within the ‘classic’ short story tradition and Thompson Seton is pioneering a new type of ‘realistic’ animal story. With reference to Twain’s “A Dog’s Tale” and Thompson Seton’s “Lobo” and “Silverspot”, compare how these two authors portray their animal characters and why.
First Paragraph: This is your introductory paragraph. Use the material from the
lecture notes and readings to identify these two authors’ approach to animal
characters. Connect this approach to the literary tradition they are working in (the
‘classic’ short story for Twain and the realistic animal story for Thompson Seton). Set
out your main thesis by stating what you think is the fundamental difference in their
depiction of animal characters and why. Remember to state clearly at the end of the
paragraph how you are going to go about substantiating your thesis (i.e. what specific
points or themes you will be exploring).
• Analysis: For this part, you should have three or four paragraphs. Make sure you
have a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph to explain what the
paragraph will be about and how it connects to your overall argument. Remember to
include several examples from each of the stories to support your thesis.
• Concluding Paragraph: Summarize your findings, and communicate any questions
that your analysis raised, but which you have not been able to answer.
• Editing: Edit your work: check your spelling, make sure your introduction is clear,
that your sentences and word choices are coherent, and verify that all quotes are
referenced properly
• References: When quoting from the text, please use MLA format. The focus for this
assignment is on a close reading of the short stories. If you do use secondary
sources (i.e. articles or websites about the stories) in direct quotation or in
paraphrasing, make sure you indicate your source of information.
