Essay #3: Comparing/Contrasting Huze and O’Brien

ENG 102 –Summer 2010

Instructor: Laura Darrow

For this assignment you will choose one of the short stories I asked you
to read from O’Brien and one of the monologues from Huze and then
compare and/or contrast them. I would really like you to focus your
analysis on a single story and a single monologue rather than
comparing the whole texts. This will help you concentrate on specific
passages and language, which enriches literary analysis.

To focus your analysis even further, you might choose to look at

similarities and differences between specific characters or specific
themes. Take a look at the presentation about literary analysis and
the OWL website to see how you might do this. Remember, you need
to bring in quotes from the text and focus on the story. This is not the
place to talk about the differences or similarities between the Iraq War
and the Vietnam War, for instance. We will do historical/contextual
analysis later in the semester, but this is a textual analysis, comparing
and contrasting only what is on the page.

Start of by evaluating each of the stories that you chose to write about
and then draft a thesis about their relationship. For instance, you could
choose “the horrors of war” as the theme and then discuss how Huze
and O’Brien approach that theme differently. You may also choose to
focus in on how the characters deal differently with similar event. Once
you have recognized the relationship between the stories you are
writing about, you need to move from analysis to argument by talking
about how these differences or similarities impact the meaning of the
work as a whole.

Remember, you need a clear, assertive and specific thesis statement,

claims to support it and specific evidence (quotes and paraphrases)
from the texts to support those claims. All your quotes and
paraphrases from the stories must be cited in MLA style both in the
text and on a works cited page. Since you will be quoting from more
than one source this time, you need to include both the author’s last
name and the page number in the parenthetical citations.

Logistics: Your essay should be at least 3 full pages in length and onto
the fourth. Use MLA format, page numbers, TNR font, 12 pt., etc.

Due Dates: If you want me to look at a full or partial draft, please

email me by 10 p.m. on Wednesday June 30th. You must post your
draft to the discussion board for peer revision by Friday July 2nd. The
final draft of the essay will be due Wednesday July 7th through the Safe
Assignment link under “Week Five Assignments.”