ENG 1102
Essay #2 Analytical Essay Assignment: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Assignment:
The men in The Things they Carried deal with uncertainty, fear, and death around them in sometimes surprisingly tender, irreverently funny, or horrifyingly brutal ways. Choose three characters from the story to examine how these characters respond to their circumstances and the men around them. What conclusions can you draw about men and war through these examples?
· Be sure that you cite specific examples and quote specific passages from the novel to support your analysis.
Format: MLA Format with a works cited page. Length: 3-4 pages, NOT including the works cited page.
Content: Essay must have an introduction with a clear thesis. Paragraphs must support your thesis with specific examples and quotes from the story. Quotes must be thoroughly discussed and their relevance to the topic sentence and the thesis made clear. Textual support must come from various areas in the story. You must also use one peer-review journal article from the MDC library database to support/inform your ideas.
Grading: 50 points total
| 50-45 points | The student effectively provides his/her readers with ample textual evidence/analysis; in addition, the student’s essay is well-organized, contains no surface errors, and properly uses MLA formatting. |
| 44-40 points | The student provides his/her readers with only some textual evidence/analysis; in addition, the student’s essay is at times disorganized and contains some surface errors and MLA mistakes. |
| 39-35 points | The student’s essay does not adequately respond to the prompt; in addition, the student brings in little to no textual evidence/analysis, and the overall organization is difficult to follow and does not use MLA formatting. |
