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Literature: a Mirror of Life Essay Example

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Literature: a Mirror of Life Essay Example
For this assignment, you will be analyzing two more short stories, “Battle Royal” (which is the first chapter in Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man) and “The Birthmark.” As you read, reflect on the ways each depicts characters that are deemed socially unacceptable because of their outward appearances.

Please write a comparison/contrast essay of 1000 words or more discussing the questions below. Remember to begin your paper with an engaging introduction and clear thesis statement, develop each point in the body of your paper using examples and quotes from the stories, and conclude your paper with a restatement of your thesis and closing remarks. Also, be sure to maintain your credibility by including in-text citations and a reference list correctly formatted in APA style.

Setting: Describe the settings of both pieces and identify how the eras in which they take place—with their distinct societal attitudes and customs—affect the main characters?
Characters:
“Battle Royal:” Discuss the young man and his grandfather. Why do we never learn the young man’s name? What do the grandfather’s dying words reveal about him?
“The Birthmark:” Describe the main characters: Aylmer, Georgiana and Aminadab. What is important to each?
Point of View: In which point of view (first- or third-person) is each piece told? If the point of view in “Battle Royal” was changed, would it have made the story more effective, or less so?
Symbolism:
“Battle Royal:” Analyze the deeper meaning of the following: the “battle royal” itself, the naked blonde, and the young man’s dream at the end of the story.
“The Birthmark:” What does Georgiana’s birthmark signify, first to her and then to Aylmer? What does alchemy represent in the story?
Themes: What are the main themes/messages of each piece? What, in other words, do you think the authors, Ralph Ellison and Nathaniel Hawthorne, are trying to communicate about life and human nature in their respective stories?
Fear: What role does

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