Your next writing assignment is to do a critical analysis essay of about III pages in length on a story OR poem of your choice(choose from the readings assigned in Weeks 2-9). Focus your analysis ononeof the following elements of literature:

For fiction:

• point of view
• character
• setting

For poetry:

• word usage
• imagery
• figurative language

Follow these guidelines in writing your essay:

• Include a title of your own creation that relates in some way to the content of your paper.
• Start with an Introduction that 1) includes the title and author of the story or poem you are writing about, 2) gives asummary of the text, and 3) states your main idea or thesis about the selection's significance and what you think it means.
• Use the Body of your essay to focus on the most important aspects of the text, looking very closely at the author's use of language. Be sure to include in your analysis an application of some of the key terms from class that relate to your chosen element of literature. Also, be sure to include at least three direct quotations (MLA style) from the text as support for what you write.
• Write a Conclusionthat does not simply restate your main idea but relates your analysis of the text to what you see to be its overall message or theme. What is the main idea you think the text is trying to convey? Does this idea have any meaningful application or value to "real" life?
• Include a properly formatted Work Cited entry for the selection at the end of your paper.

The reading is Harlem by Langston Hughes.

Harlem BY LANGSTON HUGHE S

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?