Essay on "Faery Handbag One of the Newer Subgenres"

Quoted Instructions for "Faery Handbag One of the Newer Subgenres" Assignment:

I would like you to write *****"The Faery Handbag*****"(feminism), instead of *****"Good Country People*****".

The story you can find at http://smallbeerpress.com/free-stuff-to-read/2005/07/01/the-faery-handbag-by-kelly-link/

the second sources which you can find Feminism in *****"Beginning Theory*****" by Peter Barry.

This is the instructions:

Write a 4-5 page thesis-driven (persuasive/argumentative) paper that interprets either *****Good Country People***** or *****The Faery Handbag***** with a theoretical lens.

The lenses to choose from:

Psychoanalytic: Freudian or Lacanian

Feminist: Anglo/American or French

For example, you might do a Freudian psychoanalytic reading of *****Good Country People***** that focuses on the unconscious desires of one or several characters, or the *****return of the repressed***** (what we resist persists) in the characters, or how you interpret their ids and superegos are in conflict and how they negotiate that. These are all possibilities that could work.

Be sure to focus on a narrow enough aspect to deeply analyze in a short paper. There will need to be close readings of the text, and the more focused you are, the better the paper will probably be*****I wouldn*****t recommend saying *****I*****m going to write about feminism in *****˜The Faery Handbag***** for example, because that*****s too broad. But you COULD write about gender, responsibility, and the role of fantasy/escape and how different aspects of Link*****s story speak to that theme.

But *****gender, responsibility and the role of fantasy/escape***** would be your topic aspect of your thesis. Maybe part of your title. Then you need an opinion, or an argument, which is essentially your interpretation of the story (within the realm of the theory you*****re using). This thesis should be all-encompassing: you need to have a unifying interpretation of the story that is related to a theoretical lens.

Make an interpretive claim that you support with evidence from both the story and from Beginning Theory.

Sample Thesis (borrow aspects if you like, but I want to hear your ideas!) :

In *****˜The Faery Handbag,***** several symbols, stories within the story, and the different choices and attitudes of the characters all speak to the idea that men and women often have different relationships to escape and fantasy. While this may appear on the surface to be a playful, imaginative yarn, in fact what is at stake is of real concern to women and families with absentee partners and fathers.

Identify all the aspects of a thesis statement that are operating here: topic, opinion/argument, roadmap, and significance. What theoretical lens is this?

Can you also edit this paragraph which has relation with the essay, you may also include this idea in the essay:

The men in the story seem to go to the bag when they encounter the problem, such as when Jake was denied by MIT, and his mother*****s illness, he decided to run into the bag (Link 16). Meanwhile, the females didn*****t seem to run away but the become the guardian. This shows that female has advantage than the males. The females in the story also have more responsibilities than the men like for example there is a female librarian. The ladies in the story also keep themselves busy by playing scrabble. In other words, little information has been said about men. As a way of fantasy, the story portrays a scenario where someone like Zofia was given the responsibility to take care of very many people.