Assignment: Women’s Health and Well-Being Experienced Through Literature

  

For this Assignment, you take on the role of a  literary critic. The job of the critic is to read, question, and dissect  the technical and substantive elements of a work of literature to gauge  quality, effectiveness, and ability to convey information. Imagine, for  the sake of this activity, that you are writing an article for a  literary magazine on the short stories of two notable female authors.  Your article provides an evaluation of each story’s ability to convey  perspective on women’s health and well-being.
To prepare for this Assignment:

Review characteristics of a short story in the “Glossary of Terms  and Techniques for Literature and Creative Writing” document located in  this week’s Learning Resources.
Define health and well-being. Do these terms have different meanings to different people?
Compare and contrast depictions of physical and psychological health and well-being in the stories of Gilman and Chopin.
Consider how the authors convey their perspectives on health and well-being. 

The Assignment:

Write a 2-page analysis of Gilman’s and Chopin’s works on women’s  experiences of physical and psychological health and well-being. Explain  how your own definition of health and well-being can be applied to each  piece.

Note: Do not write a biography of  Gilman’s or Chopin’s personal experiences. Instead, write an analysis of  their writing using the techniques you have practiced in previous  weeks.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the use of literary techniques in  each author’s story. Using literary terms, provide explanations for why  it is or is not well written.