The literary essay fulfills its purpose of explaining how "Rip Van Winkle" reflects the emergence of an American mythology. The
essay contains a complete analysis of the characteristics and explains how these characteristics affect the story and the reader's
experience of the story.
The literary essay presents a valid thesis and contains examples of three of the four characteristics of stories that participate in a
nation's mythology:
• They are set in the past, often in remote or exciting places and times.
• They are filled with remarkable, strange, or exaggerated characters.
• They feature incredible, heroic, impressive, magical, or mysterious events and their consequences.
• They convey a positive message about a nation or its people.
The three chosen characteristics are clearly supported by evidence in the form of relevant paraphrases, quotations, and examples
from the story. The writer explains the connections between the evidence and the creation of an American mythology. The writer
concludes by explaining the effect of the characteristics on the story and on the reader.The essay identifies the title of the story and the name of the author and presents a thesis in the introductory paragraph, and ends
with a concluding paragraph that summarizes the main points or restates the thesis of the essay. The body of the essay contains
paragraphs that support the essay's thesis. The essay consistently follows an organizational pattern such as order of importance.
Transitions are well placed and make meaningful connections between ideas and paragraphs.
The writer uses effective, compelling language to express key ideas. He or she considers purpose, audience, and tone in language
and word choice. The essay uses present tense when referring to the story. The essay incorporates literary terms and contains no
colloquialisms or slang expressions. The essay is written in the third-person point of view without first-person expressions of
opinion. The literary essay is written in a formal style.