Peyton Farquhar is a static character

Minimum requirements to earn credit:

• Length: 2 pages (plus additional Works Cited page)
• Sources: Use 1 primary source
• Documentation: Correct MLA documentation is expected, including in-text citations and a Works Cited page. If you include any source material without giving proper credit, you risk either earning a zero on the assignment or an F as your final grade in the course.

Purpose:

This assignment will help you practice literary analysis skills that are essential to your success in this course:

• Skills: Create an interpretation of a character based on close reading of a story.
• Provide evidence from the story to support your interpretation.
• Use MLA documentation, including correct source integration, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
• Connect your analysis to a larger context, such as the time period when the story was written or set.
• Practice the writing process by planning, drafting, revising, and editing your essay.
• Knowledge:
• Vocabulary terms about character, including sympathetic/unsympathetic and static/dynamic

Assignment:

Create a character analysis essay built on close readings of one text from Module 1. You will focus on one specific aspect of the characterization and provide support from the text. Remember that characterization may be revealed through the character’s own thoughts, speech, and actions; through another character’s speech, thoughts, or actions toward that character; or through the narration.

Choose a specific topic from the list below or create your own topic with my approval. If you choose a unique topic, it must be approved by the instructor before you begin. If you write on an unapproved topic, you will not earn credit. (Note: you only need to choose ONE of these topics for your paper; you do not need to select one topic from the sympathetic/unsympathetic section and one from the static/dynamic.)

• Approved topics:
• Choose one of these characters and discuss whether he or she is sympathetic or unsympathetic. Be sure to discuss how the author creates (or does not create) sympathy for the character.
• Rip Van Winkle from Irvings Rip Van Winkle
• Protagonist from Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper
• Paul from Lawrences The Rocking-Horse Winner
• Choose one of these characters and discuss whether he or she is static or dynamic. Be sure to discuss how the character changes (or does not change) in specific ways over the course of the story.
• Goodman Brown from Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown
• Peyton Farquhar from Bierces An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
• John from Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper
• Hester from Lawrences The Rocking-Horse Winner

Tasks:

A strong essay will:

• Open with an introduction paragraph that catches the reader’s attention, includes relevant background information, and ends with your thesis statement. Your thesis should state your interpretation of the character (sympathetic, unsympathetic, static, or dynamic) and main reasons.
• Include 23 well-developed body paragraphs, and incorporate text-based evidence from the story (such as quotations and specific scenes or details), explaining how each piece of evidence supports your analysis of the character.
• End with a conclusion that briefly sums up your main ideas and connects your discussion of this character to the culture and values of its time and place.
• Use an academic voice with third-person point of view (no you or I except within direct quotations), and use formal grammar and spelling.
• Follow MLA paper formatting guidelines and MLA documentation style (correct source integration, in-text citations, and Works Cited page).

Your essay should avoid:

• Unsupported claims – you should not invent new scenes, dialogue, or backstory; avoid hypotheticals or guessing about what might happen; you should not make statements about the character that cannot be supported with clear evidence from the text.
• Biography – you should not use background information on the author or text (from the course Content or the textbook) within body paragraphs. Body paragraphs should discuss evidence from the short story only. You may use background information on the author or text in the introduction or conclusion if it is relevant.
• Plot summary – assume your reader is familiar with the story; avoid summarizing it or providing an overview; use only the relevant evidence to prove your thesis.
• Large copied passages quote sparingly; use ellipsis as necessary; avoid block quotations

Sources:

You must use and cite the primary source; you should not use other sources.

• A primary source is a text by the original author. You will use one short story from the Module 1 readings.
• You should not use additional sources. You should be able to complete these responses based upon your opinion and the assigned class readings.

You may NOT list any sources on your Works Cited page that you do not use in your paper. Also, you may NOT use (through quotation, paraphrase, or summary) any sources that you do not cite in the essay and on the Works Cited page this is plagiarism and grounds for failing the assignment.

Reminder:

All assignments submitted for this course must be your own work – your ideas and your words – created for this course in this semester. Please review the policies for plagiarism and Artificial intelligence (AI) content in the Syllabus and contact the instructor if you have any questions.

What I have from my thoughts:

Peyton Farquhar = Static

A man standing at the brink of death with a noose around his neck envisions the greatest escape of his life. This man is Peyton Farqhar, the protagonist of Ambrose Bierces short story called An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. The story is set during the American Civil War. Farquar, who is a wealthy Southern planter and a Confederate supporter, was tricked by the Union Soldiers and sentenced to hang for attempting to damage a Union railroad bridge. Farquhar then takes the readers through his illusion of a vivid escape from death. Throughout the story, which is filled with suspenseful and dramatic events, his character does not change, and for these reasons, Peyton Farquhar is a static character.

Peyton Farquhar kept his beliefs and motivations the same throughout the story, showing the static nature.

Peyton Farquhars escape is a fantasy and did not transform in the story. In the story, he goes through a very sensory, detailed adventure to get to safety. He drops into a moving river, swims as quickly as he can, dodges bullets, and returns safely to his home. While reading the story from the reader’s perspective, it may seem like he transformed, but it is only in his mind and does not show any positive or negative character trait change. He is still the same man who is rationalizing his death through illusion, which underlines his inability to grow or gain insight at the brink of death.

The storys unexpected, shocking turn reinstates that Farquhar is static; he dies without realizing the truth of his reality. The final revelation, which was his bolt of freedom occurring moments before his death, shows that he never achieved self-awareness or grasped the truth.

Works Cited

Bierce, Ambrose. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. The Story and Its Writer, edited by Ann Charters, Bedford/St. Martins, 2019, pp. 61-67.