Your essay should hit (or come reasonably close) the last line on page 2.
Explain how symbolism is used in one of the stories from this lesson. This includes “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien or “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne only.
Keep in mind that you should be discussing how the use of symbols helps explain or supports meaning in the story.
In other words, how does the use of symbols help us to better understand the lesson we should learn from this work.
Questions to consider include the following:
What symbol(s) did you notice in this story?
What “big ideas” do the symbols represent?
How do the symbols relate to the story’s meaning or overall theme?
Can these symbols be interpreted in more than one way?