Week 9

                                                       

        The groves were God's first temples.  ~William Cullen Bryant, "A Forest Hymn"

Good day, beautiful people.  Hope you had a restful, productive, fun, energizing holiday weekend.  This is the last class before the final, and the last week to write and submit work.   If you are behind, now is the time to get busy.  Below is a discussion of the next assignment and its description.  Before we begin we will review last week's work and a few grammar exercises as well.  If you want to present your paper– "I Believe"–please drop it in the student drive.
 

Read the two short stories presented in class and put together a piece that builds on the topic or theme one or both of these stories take up.  Both are by O'Henry, a much loved short story writer of the twentieth century.  One story is called "The Last Leaf"  http://www.online-literature.com/donne/1303/

and the other is called "The Gift of the Magi" http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html.  

Each story explores themes of love and sacrifice and art, et al,  and each is tied to the season.  Let either one be a spur to an essay that explores the story and the season upon us now in some way.  You may write about the power of illusion, of giving, of Christmas . . . as you see it represented in the story and in your life.  Provide some reference to the story of your choice,  integrate it into the essay you write, and include one quotation or several to illustrate.