For this paper you will assert a written judgment of the Stephen King novella, “Hope Springs Eternal: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.†Your judgment/critique will be based on certain criteria and standards that serve as the basis of the assessment as outlined in Wilhoit’s text chapter 6.
The three important points needed in the critique will be to analyze it (what parts to focus on for the review), evaluate it (what kinds of questions to ask of each part to focus on for the critique), and defend it (examine specific scenes from the film that support your judgment). All three parts are very important to the success of this argument paper. The paper will need a clear and argumentative thesis that puts forth a judgment on the quality of the novella.
Start with identifying 3-4 criteria points that you will do each of the above steps with in the paper. Everyone is REQUIREDto use one criteria point that shows how closely the movie follows the novella by Stephen King that we have read in class. Additionally, everyone is required to use one criteria point to evaluate the accuracy of prison history in the novella. Then pick 1-2 other criteria points from this list.
• How the characters of the film portray humanity (a flawed being)
• How the film depicts a Christ-like figure through its imagery and language (differences in the film and novella)
• Representation of institutionalism (differences in the film and novella)
• Representation of power in both the film and the novella
**Remember to use some of the language of literature that we have reviewed and used in class.
Required Sources:
• Stephen King’s novella
• The film Shawshank Redemption
• One movie review of the film from a newspaper or magazine (absolutely no blog entries will be accepted!) Direct quotation or summary of that writer’s main argument is required.
• One of the historical readings or the documentary we covered in class. Direct quotation or summary of that writer’s main argument is required.
Length: 6 typed pages of text, works cited page will be page 7.
Rubric
/15: A clear claim regarding the worth of King’s novella that is fully supported throughout the essay.
/20: A clear organization of the essay which includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a successful conclusion.
/20: Body paragraphs that make use of the required sources through some direct quotes, paraphrases, descriptions of scenes, and examples that help to prove the claim.
/10: The essay uses clear, concise, college-level prose with very few spelling and grammatical errors.
/10: Correct MLA works cited page and correct MLA citations within the essay.
Total: /75