Women in America: Single Women

Directions & Requirements: Write a 6-8 page analysis essay on one of the following topics below.

I would prefer that you not use secondary sources unless there is a need to include biographical/historical information. Rely on your own reading of the stories and not on the reviews/critiques of others.
Follow MLA formatting guidelines.
Students are required to participate in the peer critique process in order to earn full-credit for this assignment. A student who does not participate in peer-critique will be eligible to have a full grade deducted from the final essay.
Students should not recycle (reuse) essays from previous courses. To do so is to plagiarize.

Read both stories again, underlining any passages that you find interesting in regards to single women before marriage. For example, there is a short section in “The Journey” that gives the reader a glimpse of the woman’s life as a teacher. Obviously, she did not find life all that great. She looked at marriage as something that would make her life much more pleasant (and seems to have genuinely loved the man). She would not have to work anymore—but look at that section. Now, ironically, marriage did not turn out all that great for the young woman because her husband soon became ill. What was her role then? What did she have to do?

When he dies, she is terrified of being thrown off the train. Why? What has put this in her mind? And even if she is afraid of this, does her fear seem to be over the top in a sense? Think about her state of anxiety, which is very high. Is her fear of being thrown of the train—where?—perhaps a symptom of a deeper fear? What might she be frightened of? What does she think about the way other people on the train are looking at her? Why do they make her uncomfortable?

I think the story does a great job of getting into the young woman’s mind and her emotional state.

What is remarkable about Old woman magoun is that she is such a strong woman—without a man. In fact, look for the passage that describes the building of the bridge. Whom is she bossing around? Up until this point, she has tried to protect Lily by having her look young, too young to lust after. But in the end, she cannot protect Lily. Why not?

After you have re-read both stories closely, ask yourself: What image of single women is presented to the reader in each story? These characters are, on several levels, pretty different.

Make a list comparing the two, beginning with some obvious details: one is young; one is old. One is middle class; one is poor (and so forth). See what you come up with. Are there any similarities between the two?

i would like to use these two stories to write my paper on