Estimated Time: 45 - 60 minutes

One way to become a better writer is to read good writing.

Read:

This week read "Turning Japanese" by Heidi Julavits in The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition on page 98.

Writing Project

Your writing project for this month will be to complete a theme essay from The Alchemist. This week you will focus on finding and writing about the themes you see so far in the story.

From your reading this week, make notes about the primary characters:

• strengths/weaknesses
• actions
• what they are saying or thinking

This should lead you to some possible themes. Remember that themes are complete sentences and do not include a character's name!

Share your theme ideas in the comments below.