Pick the most significant passage (no more than 100 words) in one of the works we've read so far and explain how it ties the entire work together.  You should type the passage at the top of the essay.  Then in your introduction you should contextualize the passage (explain where it is located in the larger work) and explain in general why you think it is so significant.  Your thesis will be something like "This passage unifies X because . . . ."  In the body of the piece, you will do a close reading of the passage -- that is, take apart its elements (words and phrases) and explain them in detail -- and tie the parts of the passage to the larger work and explain how the part (the section of the passage) embodies/exemplifies the whole (larger issues or motifs that recur in the work). 

Length:  2-3 pages