In this paper, you will choose a social or moral issue (an issue with stakes for our society) from N.K. Jemisin’s “The Ones Who Stay and Fight.” Then, you will construct a complex claim which makes an interpretive argument about how the text addresses and presents that issue (use evidence from the text to prove the “how”), what stakes the issue has in society today (i.e. the “Why” — is the story critiquing contemporary society? Warning us? Offering a solution?

Prompt:
In this paper, you will choose a social or moral issue (an issue with stakes for our society) from N.K. Jemisin’s “The Ones Who Stay and Fight.” Then, you will construct a complex claim which makes an interpretive argument about how the text addresses and presents that issue (use evidence from the text to prove the “how”), what stakes the issue has in society today (i.e. the “Why” — is the story critiquing contemporary society? Warning us? Offering a solution? A comparison in order to achieve action?). Since Jemisin is directly responding to Le Guin, you should also consider how/why she uses Le Guin’s story to make her argument.
In other words: what’s the issue? how does the text present/treat/argue it? why might the text create the effect it does? what are the stakes?
Evaluative claim (don’t do):The dystopian society in “Ender’s Game” is bad because there is no place for emotions. The text wants us to value emotions, even though contemporary society is increasingly focused on valuing logic and the sciences.
Interpretive claim (DO): Though “Enders Game” engages with many social issues that are relevant to contemporary society, the extremes to which they are carried out, and the lack of emotional depth in the characters makes it difficult for readers to immediately recognize how similar the two worlds are. By gradually showing the transition of Ender from “playing” to “killing”, the fine line between violence and games becomes more clear. This slow reveal encourages the reader to critique the dystopian world and, eventually, their own.
Your paper should:
Have clear Stakes
address a Counterclaim
Provides substantial Evidence from the text (you must quote!)
be 4-4.5 pages in length
be in Times New Roman 12pt font
be double spaced
be in MLA format
Include a Works Cited Page
include a writer’s memo (in a paragraph) that discusses your goals for this paper, what you found difficult, what you need to work on, what you’d like help with/specific feedback on.

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