Select from the following short stories and write a paper on one or more, using library databases to find
three secondary sources appropriate for college-level academic work.
Black River
“The Shawl”
“St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”
“Dolan’s Cadillac”
Any of the assigned poems
Note that you can write about “The Cask of Amontillado” in conjunction with another story, but please
don’t focus on that only as it’s not strictly speaking a contemporary piece.
For your topic, choose something that interests you and something on which you can find good
secondary sources (a secondary source is a piece written about the story) in the databases.
Suggestions for topics—you can come up with your own, too. Obviously, do not choose a topic you
used for Paper 1.
Postmodern elements in any of these stories
Irony in any of these stories
Point of view and perspective and their impact on the reader’s experience in any of these storiDo your research early to be sure you can find enough secondary sources on your topic. See the
Your Paper Assignments, Library Resources and Support module for help.
Other selected literary elements in any of these stories
A character study of the major characters in any of these stories
Hulse’s treatment of the myth of the American West in Black River.
A comparison of Hulse’s treatment of the myth of the American West with Proulx’s treatment of
the myth (this will work as long as you didn’t write about Proulx’s treatment of the myth for
your first paper)
Compare a classic Western film to Hulse’s work.
The elements of magical realism in “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”
How an understanding of Ojibwe spirituality and beliefs informs your understanding of “The
Shawl”
How “Dolan’s Cadillac” reflects Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.”
How the conventions of the horror genre are followed or disrupted in “Dolan’s Cadillac”
A comparison of King’s novella with its film version (caution: this is rated R)—I think you can see
this on Amazon if you have a Prime account; do not attempt this topic unless you can talk
intelligently about film as an art form. Simply pointing out changes in plot structure between the
film and novella will not be adequate. You will need to discuss which accomplishes the theme,
symbolism, character development, etc. more effectively; which point of view is more effective
and why; which follows the conventions of literary/film horror genres more closely, etc.
Imagery in any of the poems
