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Writing Prompt In an essay of at least 1500 words, describe a specific insight or awareness about the human condition that you’ve gleaned from any two pieces of literature that we have read in this class thus far this term. In literature classes, we often discuss what the texts suggests about “The Human Condition Links to an external site..” While this term might seem confusing, don’t over think it! It basically refers to anything that makes us human. In fact, even though I had not brought up the term until just now, you all have been discussing the literature we’ve been reading in terms of what it suggests about the human condition: We’ve thought about a soldier’s sense of duty, a husband’s disillusionment with his marriage, a mother’s complicated feelings about her newborn, a teenager’s challenges as she moves through the process of maturation. These all are aspects of the human condition. When you write your essay, avoid using the phrase “the human condition”; I think you’ll agree this phrasing is unclear and a bit awkward. Rather, simply use the language of your topic (for example, a soldier’s sense of duty, a husband’s disillusionment with his marriage, a mother’s complicated feelings about her newborn, etc.). The thesis concept should provide a comparison of how the works of literature impart similar meaning, or how the works of literature offer different perspectives on a similar theme. Specific points of your essay should reflect your understanding of the six elements of fiction we’ve been studying and other literary devices. Be sure to include a works cited page in which you list your two primary texts. Requirements: Your essay should be at least 1500 words and have an engaging introduction and conclusion. See Writing Introductions and Conclusions Links to an external site. and heres a list of other ideas. Links to an external site. Your thesis and topic sentences should all be asserting strong claims Links to an external site. about the text and have strong L1 unity Links to an external site.. Here is a link to the Google Doc Links to an external site. in the video. Your body paragraphs should be in AXES Links to an external site. or SET Links to an external site. format, with the majority of the words in the paragraph dedicated to the E –the explanation. The stronger your AXES paragraphs Links to an external site., the higher your essay will score. Any quoted material should be no longer than two lines. Body paragraphs should end decisively and connect back to the thesis. Do not end body paragraphs with support! Specific points of your essay should reflect your understanding of the seven elements of fiction Links to an external site.and of the concepts from the literary devices site Links to an external site.. Each body paragraph should analyze how at least one fictional element or literary device develops the argument made in the topic sentence. Be sure your essay follows MLA guidelines for formatting Links to an external site., in-text citations Links to an external site., and works cited page Links to an external site.. I already have my outline and first paragraph done Both The Rocking-Horse Winner and Woman Hollering Creek expose cultural expectations that identify wealth and marriage with fulfillment, pressuring individuals to sustain the illusion of success, at the expense of emotional well-being. In D.H. Lawrences The Rocking-Horse Winner, Paul is raised in a home where love feels transactional, shaped by his mothers belief that money is essential to happiness. Although the family lives a comfortable lifestyle, his mother, Hester, repeatedly represents herself as “unlucky, identifying luck with financial success rather than emotional fulfillment (Lawrence). Her dissatisfaction isn’t a private affair, it echoes chaotically throughout the entire household. The house came to be filled with the unspoken words: There must be more money! There must be more money! (Lawrence), converts financial anxiety into a constant reality that defines the family. Instead of the home providing comfort, it becomes a space littered with pressure and expectations. Paul is under illusion by believing that if he becomes lucky, and wins money, that he can earn his mothers affection and return to harmony. Similarly, in Sandra Cisneross Woman Hollering Creek, Clefilas enters marriage believing it will fulfill the romantic ideal she has once longed for. Influenced by the telenovelas she watches, the romantic novels she reads, and the songs she sings, she longs for, the kind the books and songs and telenovelas describe when one finds, finally, the great love of ones life, and does whatever one can, must do, at whatever the cost (Cisneros 220). To Clefilas, marriage first feels like proof she has done everything right. A visible achievement, a symbol proving that she attained the life she is meant to have, something she can point to on her finger, a statement others can see and admire. As her marriage continues the excitement she once imagined, dimmed and is replaced by silence and isolation. What once was seemed as fulfillment slowly becomes something restrictive, highlighting that what looks successful from the outside is not always secure within. Through Paul and Clefilas, both of the stories unveil how these cultural expectations of wealth and marriage can push individuals to value the illusion of success rather than their own emotional stability. Texts: The Rocking Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence and Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros Thesis: D.H. Lawrences The Rocking Horse Winner and Sandra Cisneross Woman Hollering Creek demonstrate that when individuals are guided to seek fulfillment through money or marriage, they become confined within an arrangement that prioritizes appearance over well-being, often at great personal sacrifice. Topic sentence #1 : Both The Rocking Horse Winner and Woman Hollering Creek unveil cultural norms promoting wealth and marriage as sources of gratification, motivating individuals to prioritize appearances of success over their emotional stability Support 1: In The Rocking Horse Winner Paul’s mother views happiness with financial success, always being dissatisfied with her life, despite having wealth already, which motivates her son, Paul to make money to try and make his mother happy. Support 2: Lawrence embodies the house as whispering for more money, symbolizing the constant strain to maintain and uphold the financial burden, while ignoring the emotional well being of others. Support 3: In Woman Hollering Creek, Cisnero highlights Clefilla’s marriage as a socially approved image of contentment,she enjoys being culturally valued even at the expense of her own emotional fulfillment. Topic sentence #2 :Lawrence and Cisnero both show how money and marriage, once imagined as sources of fulfillment, can become confining rather than sources of love. Support 1: In The Rocking Horse Winner Paul’s entire childhood is defined by the anxiety to make money, turning financial stress into a burden instead of a genuine expression of parental love. Support 2: In Woman Hollering Creek Cleofila’s marriage confines her to an emotionally isolating relationship, where love is replaced by silence and loneliness. Support 3: Both authors dramatize confinement through use of setting, Lawrence places Paul in a money hungry household, while Cisnero secludes Cleofila in an emotionally draining domestic space, reinstating the idea that fulfillment can become a form of imprisonment. Topic sentence #3: The authors in both stories suggest that people would rather endure suffering, rather than abandoning the versions of fulfillment that we are taught to desire. Support 1: In The Rocking Horse Winner Paul endlessly pushes himself to earn money, regardless of his physical exhaustion and emotional harm in order to maintain the belief that financial success is necessary for love. Support 2: In Woman Hollering Creek Cleaofila stays in her marriage even as it becomes emotionally and physically harmful, demonstrating her willingness to endure suffering to keep up with the socially valued image as a wife. Support 3: Paul ultimately collapses under the pressure of his desire for more money, while Cleofila continues to suffer in her marriage until outside assistance allows her to escape and re-claim her freedom.