Neil Gaiman’s short story, How to talk to Girls at Parties
short story analysis Using Neil Gaiman’s short story, How to talk to Girls at Parties, examine one or more of the following items in a well organized thesis based analysis or something of your own choosing.
Your draft is worth 50 points and is due on the last day of class for Week 4. I count the essay outline towards your rough draft along with the class work we are doing with it, i.e. the peer review.
1) Theme *choose from the following or formulate your own*: A) Communication and how poor or accomplished Enn is at it B) Alien invaders and/or science fiction genre defense of the story C) Psychological implications of talking to girls such as social awkwardness, teenage angst, friendship between Vic and Enn, world-views of foreign girls, etc.
2) Setting: What does the time period of the story tell us? What about its location in England? Focus on cultural and social relationships.
3) Characters and relationships: How does Enn’s interactions with the girls change in the course of the story? How does his friendship with Vic’s? Does Enn progress more towards a confident communicator who has learned through trial and error or is he just simply making do with what he has? Does Enn as a character present as a more realistic one versus Vic? Think about possible family dynamics in here as well.
4) Science Fiction: Is this story psychological or is it about alien invaders in fact? Or is this story a science fiction tale being employed as a metaphor for how teens really communicate?
5) Drug Use: This does relate to setting so you can discuss drug use in there depending on the time period. Think about how psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs cause symptoms as shown in the story. Is this story really just a euphemism for drug use prevalent among teens at parties?
It’s up to you what you choose or if you choose to compare and contrast it with something else such as another story or a television show. Please make sure you get your topic approved with me if you are not certain of where to go. Your essay needs to follow the five paragraph essay format: Intro with a thesis statement Three body paragraphs that support the thesis A conclusion that effectively ends the essay Be sure to provide a works cited page and use MLA formatting in here. Use references to support anything that we would not consider general knowledge as we have discussed in class. Use of references in the cultural, social, time period, drug use, etc. topics will help the essay tremendously. AVOID "I" and "YOU" in the essay! Remember that your thesis statement needs to be stated at the end of your introduction and should be clear. Avoid vague generalizations. Also make sure to answer the "so what?" and the "why do we care?" part in regards to your thesis, meaning if you can defend your thesis to those two questions, then it will be easier to write the paper. Consider why it is important for us as the readers to think about the story in such a way.
