The Literary Analysis Paper

Contrary to what many think, giving Poly a writing assignment is never an easy task. It is true that he is an eloquent writer for a thirteen-year-old. However, he is also perfectionistic and stubborn about what he thinks is a proper assignment. Thus whenever I give him a writing assignment, he often comes back and tries to negotiate the assignment. Our discussion ususally turns into a stalemate with many tears. Besides, he can never stick to a deadline because every writing assignment ends up being a semester project, another magnum opus. I suppose that is one disadvantage to homeschooling. As a mother, I'm too flexible and soft-hearted, and he knows he can bend the rules. So, in general, to minimize conflict and frustration, Poly gets only one writing assignment every term.

I'd decided that this semester he would have to write a literary analysis paper since I had listed American literature as one of the subjects on his school record. We had just finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. I asked him to compare and contrast the three slaveowners Tom had. Yesterday afternoon he came to me, almost in tears (again), complaining that he does not want to write it according to the outline we'd agreed on. "It's stupid," he said. We ended up spending the next two hours arguing over the assignment: why it's doable or not doable, why it's stupid or not stupid, etc. After two hours of precious time--personal time I had allotted for my Bible study preparation--I was no closer to convincing him that the assignment is sound, and that one can make a good paper out of it. I even pulled some sample compare-contrast papers off the internet for him, to no avail.

Finally, to prove to him that I would never give him an assignment that is not doable, I told him I'd crank out a paragraph right then and there just for him. "When I'm done, I don't want to hear any more excuses!" I said. So I sat down in front of my computer at six in the evening. Instead of making dinner I wrote a 280-word paragraph. "Tell me," I said as I handed the paper to him, "does that look stupid to you?"

After that real-time demonstration, Poly went quietly back to the drawing board. He actually said "thanks" to me for showing him how it's done.

As homeschoolers we pull out all the stops to motivate our children. I doubt that any teacher of English would do an assignment on demand just to prove a point. Of course, I wonder, too, if Poly would bulk at an assignment this much if he were in an English class with twenty other kids. I wonder how other homeschoolers teach high-school literature? Do they have an easier time handing out assignments?