James 1

[Sample primary source paragraph]

Paul James

Dr. Kinnamon

English 112.[section no.]

30 Jan. 2006

            Although there are obvious and important differences between M. Loisel in Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and Ms. Johnson in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” the two characters share one common trait: a kind of generosity, which in both cases is extended to people whom they do not fully know or understand. M. Loisel is an ordinary man of simple needs and tastes—he can appreciate the wholesomeness of a plain though “good pot-au-feu” (beef stew)—who senses his wife’s longing for a grander life and thus, for instance, goes to “awful trouble” in his successful attempt to obtain an invitation to a “select” social event, although she at first dismisses it “with disdain” (de Maupassant 56). . . . [Other evidence should be cited at least briefly: looking for the lost necklace, going into debt, etc.] . . . Ms. Johnson is even more unpretentious and far less privileged; thus, her generosity to her ungrateful daughter Dee is even more remarkable. In this case also, there is an awareness of discontent. The Johnsons are genuinely poor, but Walker shows that the hardworking, tireless mother is conscious of one daughter’s desire for more: “Dee wanted nice things” (429). So her mother tries to provide them. . . . [Other evidence: raising money for college, better clothing, extraordinary patience, etc.] . . .

[For this assignment, you will be writing on two primary sources, hence, the need to include authors’ names along with page numbers. If an author’s name is included in the sentence, however, only the page number is needed in parentheses. Quote key words and phrases, but avoid isolated quoted sentences.]

Work Cited [separate page]

de Maupassant, Guy. "The Necklace." Forty Short Stories: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Beverly Lawn.

            2nd ed. Boston: Bedford, 2004. 55-62.

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