Lessons from the Young

Assignment: Answer the following question: In consideration of “Rime of the “Ancient Mariner,” “The Transformation,” and what we’ve read so far in Frankenstein, what is a key lesson we can learn from these three young people? Remember, all three narratives are told by older people who look back on their youth and tell us the hard lessons they’ve learned… or what we can learn from their mistakes.

NOTE: Each story should support the overall lesson in a unique way. For example, if your main point is that being impulsive has consequences, you might have a supporting paragraph that deals with “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and it show that being impulsive can endanger your life. Another paragraph might show in another story another consequence of being impulsive.

Directions:

1. Your essay should be 3-4 double-spaced pages long. 3-4 pages means at least 3 complete pages [and at least 5 full and focused paragraphs]. So, please do not “pad” your paper to make it appear longer than it really is. To be honest, a good paper will typically take up the full 3 pages and possibly even a little more.
2. Use Times New Roman 12 point font. Your margins should be 1”. And please left-align your
3. You should have a nuanced thesis statement [meaning it states what your supporting arguments are]. Your thesis should come at the very end of your introductory paragraph… remember, clearly state what the overall lesson is.
4. The introductory paragraph should also “introduce” your reader to the paper. Briefly lead the reader into what your topic is and finish off your introduction with your thesis. Be sure to mention/introduce the two authors and the three works. The introduction should be no more than ½ of a page in length.
5. You’ll need least 3 supporting paragraphs, one for each character in each of the three Start the paragraph off with a topic sentence that says which character it is and what the lesson is. You’ll need two quotes per paragraph, each providing a different example of what we can learn from the character. Introduce your first quote, no more than three or four lines. Then explain the quote [try for 2-3 sentences of analysis here]. Then do the same for the second quote. HINT: Most students have the first quote show a mistake and then have the second quote show a direct consequence to that mistake. As a general guideline here, please keep your quotes to less than four lines of text in your essay.
6. The last thing to do in each body paragraph is to explain / sum up what the lesson is that the reader can take away from this. Try for 2 or more sentences for this part. Pretend this is a At the top is your thesis. Everything below it [your supporting Paragraphs] should support it/hold it up. And each supporting paragraph should support your thesis in its own unique way.
7. End your paper with a conclusion. This conclusion is where you should spend some time finding connections between the characters and what we can learn from them. Base what you say here on what you put into the body paragraphs. Try for around ½ – ¾ of a page or so.
8. Rewrite/revise until your paper says exactly what you want it to say, and you feel confident that it’s the strongest essay you can make
9. Proofread/edit until your paper is as free of errors [grammar, spelling, punctuation] as you can make This is when it’s ready to submit to me as a first draft.

Timeline:

• Due: Thursday 9/23 – Essay #1 1^st Draft or outline or just questions
• Due: Thursday 9/30 – Paper #1 Final Draft
• ***Due: Thursday, 12/16/2021 – Paper #1 Rewrite [Optional for papers scoring less than 85%]

• NOTE: I do this last step because, even though many of you will earn passing grades on \ the initial grade, I do want to leave the door open to an even higher score, should you want to take time to earn it.