Beginning very early in our lives, we are defined and constrained by our gender. Boys are taught not to cry when they are hurt, to “keep a stiff upper lip.” Girls are excluded from activities characterized as “unladylike.” From the time we are born through our adulthood, we struggle with who we are, our sense of ourselves, and part of that struggle revolves around gender roles. Using a minimum of three of the works assigned for this essay, write an essay that explores the struggles and conflicts men and women, boys and girls, face regarding gender.

The essay can focus on just men, just women, or both although it may be easier to focus on just one gender. The thesis should identify the theme to explore in relation to gender. The body paragraphs should develop that theme as it applies to specific works.

Primary Sources

• Carver, Raymond - "Cathedral"
• Ehrlich, Gretel - "About Men"
• Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"
• Mason, Bobbie Ann - "Shiloh"
• Munro, Alice - “Boys and Girls”
• O'Brien,Tim - "The Things They Carried"
• Stanton, Elizabeth Cady - “Declaration of Sentiments”
• Walker, "Everyday Use"
• Wright, Richard - "The Man Who Was Almost a Man"

Requirements

• Length: Minimum of 750 words.
• Documentation Format: MLA formatted Works Cited page that includes correctly formatted internal citations for all source material used.
• Sources: Restricted to the works assigned
• Number of sources: Minimum of three works

For this essay, students must not use any sources other than those assigned. Students may use a dictionary to help them understand words with which they are not familiar but should not refer to the dictionary definitions in their essay. Students' analysis of the theme should be based on their own close reading of the works they have selected. Students must use a minimum of three of the works assigned.

Students must use MLA style documentation. Internal citations should identify authors. When referring to lines within a poem, students should identify them by page number and line number (line number only for electronic sources). When quoting from the poems, students should quote exactly without changing punctuation or capitalization except for, as needed, end punctuation. Students should use a slash ( / ) to indicate a line break in the original poem. If the end punctuation is not needed at the end of a quote, students may eliminate it or replace it with the punctuation they need to end the sentence. For example, in the following sentence about Shakespeare’s poem, “That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold,” the comma at the end of the line from the poem is unneeded, but a period is needed to end the sentence: Shakespeare compares his life to “the twilight of such day / As after sunset fadeth in the west.” Notice the / indicating the line break and the period which ends the sentence replacing the comma in the original.

Finally, students should proofread carefully their final drafts for spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as clarity, conciseness, and completeness.