Compare/Contrast “Sweat” & “The Storm”

Compare/Contrast “Sweat” & “The Storm”

DescriptionZora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” and Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” are both set in the south (Florida and
Louisiana), yet their main characters come from very different racial and ethnic backgrounds. In
what ways does “place” (the setting of the stories) influence the character’s actions? In what ways
does “race” affect the character’s actions? Which do you think is more important in each story,
“place” or “race,” and why?

Sweat
http://wwwi.mcpherson.edu/~claryb/en255/handouts/sweat.pdf

The Storm
https://americanliterature.com/author/kate-chopin/short-story/the-storm

Objective: To write a 1200-1500 word essay comparing and contrasting two short stories
Purpose: To demonstrate your critical/analytical thinking and writing skills in the context of analyzing
short fiction as a literary genre; to demonstrate your mastery of key terminology used to discuss and
analyze short fiction
Format: 1200-1500 words, 11 point Calibri font, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, paginated
Audience: Professor, classmates, potential employer

Requirements:
-Body paragraphs between 4-6 sentences; Each begining with clear topic sentence
-Essay, including in text citations, must be written in MLA, HOWEVER, work cited page should be in APA.
-Each paragraph includes primary evidence taken from the literary work under consideration, in the form of direct quotes and paraphrases.
-The concluding paragraph: 1) restates in different words, the thesis of the essay; 2) points to the larger relevance of your essay to an understanding of the literary work in question