I Stand Here/Depression

*READ SHORT STORY: “I STAND HERE” For this essay you will need to integrate both information from the text (considered your primary text) and from sources addressing the Great Depression or programs affiliated with it (considered your secondary sources).  I have included some material in the Module that you can use–you can take notes from the videos and then cite the source according to Owl.english.purdue (Links to an external site.)–and you can certainly supplement my sources with research of your own. The focus of your essay, and the majority of it, will support a point you make about the story using evidence in the form of direct quotes. You will also need to use evidence from the secondary sources, integrating them into your analysis to expand on your interpretation. One approach could be to use the historical information to place the events of the story in a larger ‘environment’ or situation. That information could help explain why the mother in the story makes the decisions that she does. Or you can use some of the historical information to provide a larger context for the mother’s relationship, extending it to all the Americans affected by the Depression. The purpose of the essay is to use both the story and the other materials to prove a point made in your thesis. When crafting your thesis, consider that the “settings” used in the story (the apartment, the Sanitorium, the school) all interact with the characters and either help shape or explain their behaviors. However, the “setting” in the society (the Great Depression) also has an impact on the characters and their actions and behaviors. So your thesis should make a specific point about the connection or relationship between the smaller ‘setting’ in the story and the larger ‘setting’ of the Great Depression.   I have included an organizational template that might help you organize your thoughts before starting your essay.