The Lich Queen Muses

These are my options for my short fiction essay test (due tomorrow).

1. Who is the narrator of Hansen’s “My Kid’s Dog”? How does his use of language help to characterize him? Write an essay which describes the narrator’s character and, using specific examples of his diction and phrasing from the text, discusses how his own words help to characterize him.

2. Although this story certainly focuses on what it means to be eleven years old, in what sense might it also be considered a meditation on birthdays in general? Write an essay discussing Cisneros’s commentary on birthdays in her short story “Eleven,” using specific examples from the text to support your ideas.

3. Is “Love in L. A.” a love story? Write an essay that discusses the significance of the title in Gilb’s short story.

4. Write an essay explaining how Faulkner’s physical description of Abner in “Barn Burning” furthers the reader’s understanding of his character.

5. In “Good Country People,” Hulga’s perspective on life is ironic, but she is also the subject of O’Connor’s irony. Write an essay explaining how O’Connor uses irony to reveal Hulga’s character.

I don’t want to do any of them.  The one to which I’m most drawn (the first) I have to rule out because I’m already writing my literary analysis essay on the narrator of My Kid’s Dog, and one wants to avoid boring the pants off of the person who is grading your work.