1. the task
Write an informative analysis essay in which you discuss how “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and two other selections in this unit develop the theme of gender roles and express a view on relationships between women and men.

2. specifications
This is a timed essay assessment of our work this quarter.
You will have one class period to complete the writing assignment.
There is no minimum or maximum length for the essay, HOWEVER, the essay must be long enough to adequately discuss the thematic perspective and development of each text you consider.
Your essay must make use of standard writing expectations for essay writing-- i.e., a series of paragraphs that introduce, develop, and conclude your ideas about your subject.
Your subject is how three different literary works express and develop a view on gender roles and relationships between women and men.

3. Write an informative analysis essay in which you discuss how “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and two other selections in this unit develop the theme of gender roles and express a view on relationships between women and men.

4. Let’s break that down a bit.
Write an informative analysis essay in which you discuss how “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and two other selections in this unit develop the theme of gender roles and express a view on relationships between women and men.
So you really have to do two things.
You have to explain what the text has to say about gender roles and relationships.
You have to explain HOW the text works as a whole to get that message across.
Or to put it another way, you have to explain what the text does to communicate that message.

5. first things first
You already know that you have to use “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.”
But you also have to choose one or two other works we’ve read and analyzed.
Here are your choices:
“Mallam Sile” by Mohammed Naseehu Ali (on “Digital Texts” page of course website, and textbook, pp )
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (on “Digital Texts” page of course website)
“A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf (on “Digital Texts” page of course website)
“The Men We Carry in Our Minds” Scott Russell Sanders (online textbook, pp )
Two poems by Robert Browning (on “Digital Texts” page of course website)
“Pink Think” by Lynn Peril (online textbook, in Collection 2: Gender Roles and in Collections Close Reader 12)
How do you make the choice? …
… Choose the texts you feel most confident about, of course!

6. You’re not going to want to hear this, but …
You should re-read the texts!
… before you really start planning what to write.

7. strategic planning For each text you’ve chosen, answer this question:
What is the point this text is making about women and men in society, and how they relate to each other?
Be as specific as you can. You’ll want to show the unique perspective of each text.
Keep in mind that the point being made may be complex, and may have more than one part.
Remember “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”?
There’s the point about what women most desire. …
And there’s the point about how things work out for a man when he gives a woman what she most desires.
Both of these points are critical to understanding the message of the story.

8. strategic planning, part 2
For each text you’ve chosen, answer this question:
How does this text go about making that point?
That is, what happens in the text to introduce and develop this idea?
And what happens in the text to bring the idea home, to make it clear by the end?
This is the part where you actually support the claim you’re making about the text.
And how do you do that? …
By talking about the text!
By telling what happens in the story to raise the idea, develop it, and bring it home.
By telling what happens in the essay to raise the idea, develop it, and bring it home.
Don’t be afraid to be specific. Detailed support is better support. Dig in. Go deep.

9. strategic planning, part 3
… So, here it is again.
For each text you’ve chosen, answer these questions:
What is the point this text is making about women and men in society, and how they relate to each other?
(This is your claim about the text.)
How does this text go about making that point?
(This is your support for your claim.)
NOTE: In writing your essay you might decide it is better to reverse the order above, first discussing the thematic content of the text and then explaining how this content expresses a particular perspective on the theme of gender roles and relationships.

10. Let’s look at part 2 of the strategy again.
For each text you’ve chosen, answer this question:
(Remember, part 1 was to explain what the point of the text is.)
How does this text go about making that point?
How are you supposed to write about that!
Keeping the message of the text in mind, think about how the text begins. …
(Explain how the text introduces its message.)
Keeping the message of the text in mind, think about how the text develops. …
(Explain how the text develops its message.)
Keeping the message of the text in mind, think about how the text concludes.
(Explain how the text offers its final thoughts on its message.)
If you can do those three things, you’re well on your way to showing how the text develops its message on its theme. (In this case, on gender roles and relationships.)

11. Your Essay Structure … Opening Paragraph
Introduce your topic (possibly show how it is relevant)
Introduce the texts you’ll consider
First Body Paragraph – first text choice
What is the point this text is making about women and men in society, and how they relate to each other?
(This is your claim about the text.)
How does this text go about making that point?
(This is your support for your claim. Talk about specific features of the text.)
Second Body Paragraph – second text choice
Third Body Paragraph – third text choice
Conclusion paragraph
This might be a good opportunity to discuss briefly how the texts are relevant today—what we can learn from them.

12. So how should you begin this whole essay?
The purpose of an opening paragraph is to
introduce your topic and
launch your essay.
It doesn’t have to be long, as long as it does those two things.
… But it can be longer if you want it to be.
It’s your choice.
Let’s think about a longer version option, since that’s more difficult.

13. So how should you begin this whole essay?
You might introduce your topic by talking about how it’s still relevant today.
Think about it …
The topic came up during the past presidential campaign.
There was a massive women’s march on the day after the inauguration of the current president.
Equal pay for equal work is still an unresolved issue in our society.
Women in the military, and especially women in combat, is still a controversial issue for some.
A woman running for high office may be attacked on the basis of her appearance, something that seems unlikely to happen to a man.
We have never had a female president in this country.
Most members of the US Congress are male, despite the fact that women make up at least half the population of the country.
AND …
Last year the US Congress was engaged in a heated, and controversial, debate over approving a man for a seat on the US Supreme Court who has been accused of sexual assault in his younger days, with many men in the debate acting as if they were angry the issue was ever brought up. (As in, the woman should have kept quiet about it?)
Etc., etc., etc. …
… to name just a few.

14. So how should you begin this whole essay?
You might introduce your topic by talking about how it’s still relevant today.
Here’s a good opening sentence for this kind of introduction:
Despite the progress of the past one hundred years in women’s rights and gender equality, the question of gender roles and relationships between women and men is still troubling our society today. …
… You’ll have to take it from there.
… But that’s a great opening sentence.

15. So how should you begin this whole essay?
After you’ve discussed how the topic is still current today, …
you’ll need to transition to your actual focus, that is, the texts you’ve chosen.
That can actually be done very simply in one sentence:
… For these reasons, the perspectives of both historical and modern literary texts on the topic of gender roles and relationships continue to be relevant to the modern debate.
…But I would probably want to add one more, just for good measure.
They may reveal the attitudes of our past and the possibilities for our future.

16. So how should you begin this whole essay?
BUT AGAIN, … the purpose of an opening paragraph is to
introduce your topic and
launch your essay.
It doesn’t have to be long, as long as it does those two things.
… It could actually be as simple as these three sentences:
The question of appropriate gender roles and the proper dynamic in male-female relationships is a recurring theme in literature from both the past and the present. Whether through story, essay, or poetry, authors have apparently found the subject compelling. Within this body of literature, however, we discover a variety of perspectives.

17. So how should you begin this whole essay?
… And finally, …
If you want to, you might say something in your introduction about the texts you’ve chosen to discuss.
This is not necessary, however. You can actually just introduce each text as you begin to write about it.
But if you want to introduce your texts in your opening paragraph, think about the following:
Do they each offer a similar perspective?
Do they offer contrasting perspectives?
Do we see a past perspective in some and a modern possibility in others?
What are your texts, and what should you say about the three of them,
to finally launch your essay?