Often in literature, a character’s tragic flaw leads to his or her downfall. Think about a literary character who displays a tragic flaw, such as pride, selfishness, greed, or envy. Consider how this tragic flaw leads to the character’s downfall and why it is important to the literary selection as a whole. Be sure to cite evidence from the literary selection when supporting your ideas (you need at least three pieces of cited text integrated into your essay).
Your essay should be at least 750 words.
Joan Didion’s 1967 essay, “Goodbye to All That,” recounts
the author’s experiences as a young woman living in New York City. Didion
describes how she loved New York at first, feeling it to be a place of such
great possibility and wonder that it scarcely felt real to her. Later, however,
Didion begins to feel unsettled and depressed in New York. She comes to believe
that she can no longer manage the small tasks of everyday life.
Read the final section of “Goodbye to All That,” beginning
with the sentence, “I could not tell you when I began to understand that.” Then,
answer the question.
1. In
“Goodbye to All That,” Joan Didion writes that the “lesson” of her story is
that “it is distinctly possible to remain too long at the Fair.” What does she
mean? How does the final section of the essay portray how she came to this
understanding, her feelings about it, and the consequences of it?
Assignment
Write an analysis based on your close reading of the final
section. In your analysis, be sure to include an analysis of the life choices
Didion makes and the literary devices she uses to relate her experiences.
The other two files contain more instructions on how to write your analysis essay. Be sure to use the bolded prompt above and the unbolded question prompt listed afterwards to compose into one essay.
Refer to the Student Sample Essay as a reference. This is a sample essay that the teacher wants us to follow as a guide. Your final essay should look something similar to this but with your own points and ideas.
Source will need to be cited in MLA format as so: (Didion, Joan. “Goodbye to All That.”
Explorations in Literature, 1967, pp. 142-152.)