(Modern American Literature from 1865 to Present
Due: May 5, 2021

Assignment Number Four:

Select and answer only one of the following questions/prompts:

1. Compare and contrast the characters of Delia Jones and Sykes Jones in Zora Neale Hurston’s short story titled “Sweat.” Would you agree with the following statement: “Zora Neale Hurston could just as aptly have titled her story ‘Sweat’ as ‘The Husband from Hell’”? Discuss and explain.

2. In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story titled “Sweat,” would you agree with the statement that “Bertha and the Rattlesnake are symbolically one and the same? Explain.

3. Discuss the role and the concept of “Scapegoat” vis-à-vis the “Negro” / African-American characters in the two short stories by William Faulkner discussed in class, namely, “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning.” To what extent is ‘Blackness’ or being African-American the moral and legal equivalent of a social outcast? Explain.

4. Compare and contrast the characters of the protagonists of William Faulkner’s two short stories titled “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning.” Which of these two protagonists do you admire more? Discuss.