Essay Topics for The Stars Are Fire

Choose one of the following topics for your essay:

1.     Well-written characters, according to those who give advice to people who wish to write good fiction, are characters who have both good and bad traits, for who would want to read a story, much less an entire book, about people who do and say all the right things? Choose two characters from The Stars Are Fire for in-depth analysis.

Review the chapter on Character in your textbook to remind yourself of important terms, and take time to look through the novel and your notes to be sure you don’t omit important information about the characters you choose. You do NOT need to write about two main characters for this topic.

2.     Plot is another element essential to good fiction. Certainly, in The Stars Are Fire, the plot fits Kennedy and Gioia’s definition of plot as “the artistic arrangement of [the] events” (15). There are many complications, and lots of foreshadowing, flashbacks, and other narrative techniques.

Write an essay in which you analyze Shreve’s use of plot in The Stars Are Fire. (Remember that you will not simply be summarizing the events of the

novel. Again, review the material on plot in your textbook. Try making a graph if you’re visually inclined.)

3.     Symbolism, another element of fiction that we have been studying this semester, obviously can be found in this novel. You may write an essay on the major symbols in The Stars Are Fire, but be sure that after identifying the symbols, you explain what they symbolize, and how Shreve’s use of symbols helps convey the theme of the novel.

Review the chapters on symbol and theme in your textbook if you choose this one. Choose more than one or two symbols—there are many.

4.     Parents are a powerful influence on our lives. In The Stars Are Fire, Shreve offers us a number of parents. Sometimes we see two parents with children, such as Gene and Grace, Tim and Rosie, Matthew and Joan.

Other times, we have a living parent, such as Marjorie, and an adult child.

But Grace also has memories of being younger when her father was still alive. We never meet Gene's mother, Merle. We learn about

her through her house, her clothes and jewelry, her bills. We don't learn about some parents, such as Gene’s father, though we might have a better understanding of some of the characters if we did.

Write an essay in which you analyze the importance of parents in this novel. What might Shreve be saying about parents to her audience?

5.       If there is another topic that you would like to write about that allows you to analyze the novel in a different way, let me know, and we’ll decide if it’s an acceptable alternative to the four options above.

Paper Length

4-5 pages (no longer), plus a Works Cited page.

Size 12 font. Double space your essay.

Separate Works Cited page at the end of your paper in correct MLA format. The edition of the novel I ordered for you should look like this:

Shreve, Anita. The Stars Are Fire. Vintage Books, 2017.

If you refer specifically to material from our textbook, you should include a reference to whatever section(s) of that book you are using as well. For example, if you use something from the chapter on Symbol in your essay, your Works Cited entry should look like this:

Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia. “Symbol.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing, edited by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, 13th ed, Pearson, 2016, pp. 234-236.

Since Kennedy comes before Shreve alphabetically, the above entry would be before your entry for Shreve on your Works Cited page.

If you use any other sources for this essay, be sure to cite them in correct MLA format, both in the body of your essay and on your Works Cited page. If you need help with this, see the chapter in your textbook on Writing Research Papers (Chapter 46). You can also ask me, of course, and get help at the Writing Center.

Structuring your Essay

You should state the title of the book in italics and the author’s full name in the first few sentences of your paper. Your introductory paragraph should also make clear exactly what the focused subject of your paper is, and it should include your thesis statement.

Remember to give page numbers for all material from the novel, even if paraphrased or summarized.

Do NOT summarize/retell too much of the novel. Stay focused on YOUR topic. Remember that your given audience, as in the first essay, consists of educated people who have read the book.

Be very careful to avoid inferences that you do not support with material from the text.

You should double check all references to material from the novel and quotations for accuracy.