Barrack Hebrew Academy Mrs.

Pinto
The Sin Essay
For this essay, you have four options. Choose ONE of the prompts below and write a well-organized
and well-supported essay using ONE of the texts weve read in this unit:

The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien
Autobiographical narrative excerpt from A Summer Life by Gary Soto
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
The Knife Thrower by Steven Millhauser
For Mohammed Zeid of Gaza, Age 15 by Naomi Shihab Nye

Option 1:
In the book of Genesis, G-d sends rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights and he wipes
from the face of the earth every living creature [he has] made (NIV. Genesis 7.4). He did it because
he felt that people on earth had corrupted their ways beyond repair (NIV. Genesis 6.12). After the
flood is over, he states what he knows about the nature of man:

man generates in his heart badness from his adolescence (this is the literal translation. Actually, it
reads more like: generates heart man bad adolescence.)

Choose one of the texts weve read in this unit and examine whether or not, in the chosen text only,
this statement proves true.

Option 2:
In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present actions,
attitudes, or values of a character. Choose one of the texts weve read in this unit and examine how
the characters relationship to a past sin affects his or her present and how that contributes to the
meaning of the work as a whole (hint: work as a whole = theme).

Option 3:
Almost 500 years ago, the Italian philosopher and politician Niccolo Machiavelli made an observation
about human nature. He said:

Men in generalare ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of
gain. [They] will all think of their own interests, for men will always be false unless they are
compelled by necessity to be true.
Niccol Machiavelli

Choose one of the texts weve read in his unit and examine whether or not, in the chosen text only,
this statement proves true.

Option 4:
According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Sin is a transgression of a
religious or moral law, especially when deliberate. It is something regarded as being shameful,
deplorable, or utterly wrong. In light of the definition, compare the story The Knife Thrower to
any ONE of the texts we read in this unit (if you choose The Things They Carried, you can focus your
analysis on only one story if youd like).

Your Essay should:
Propose an original, thoughtful, and specific claim (thesis).
Provide an adequate number of examples direct and indirect to illustrate your thesis. Be sure to
cite all examples (page numbers for essays, line numbers for poems).
Draw logical conclusions based on evidence provided
Be approximately 4 pages in length. This is a soft rule.
Be submitted in MLA format. Check online if youve forgotten what this looks like.
Be turned in to turnitin.com before 11pm on Sunday, October 12
th
.