09 Jul Literary Analysis

Literary Essay Assignment

American Literature II

Your assignment is to write a 750+ word essay about a specific aspect of a chosen literary work (short story or poem). Your work must be chosen from our anthology or written by an author in our anthology. The literary work must have been published after 1865 (post-Civil War).  This essay must have a focused thesis that provides a statement of argument and persuasion; in other words, it describes what you (the writer) say the author is trying to say about the topic.  This essay must also use support (at least three events from your chosen work) to support the thesis.  You should use quotes (one or two per paragraph with a minimum of five in the essay).  All of your support and quotes should clearly connect to the thesis/event from the work.  Three sources are required for this essay and should be properly documented in the text of the paper and on a Works Cited page using MLA documentation style.

Note about thesis Writing about literature is not merely summarizing literature.  Your thesis is a claim about the meaning or effect of the literary work, not a statement of its plot.  And your paper is a demonstration of your thesis, not a retelling of the works changes or events (taken from p. 121 of Jane Aarons LB Brief). 

Questions for Literary Analysis (taken from pp. 122-24 of Jane Aarons LB Brief)

• Plot the relationships and patterns of events.

• What actions happen?
• What conflicts occur?
• How do the events connect to each other and to the whole?

• Characters the people the author creates.

• Who are the principal people in the work?
• How do they interact?
• What do their actions, words, and thoughts reveal about their personalities and the personalities of others (indirect characterization)?
• Do the characters stay the same, or do they change?  Why?

• Point of view the perspective or attitude of the speaker in a poem or the voice who tells a story.

• First person told as a participant using the pronoun I.  This narrator may be reliable or unreliable.
• Third person told by an outsider using the pronouns he, she, it, they.  This narrator may be omniscient (knows what goes on in all characters minds), limited (knows what goes on in the minds of only one or two characters), or objective (knows only what is external to the characters).
• How does the narrators point of view affect the narrative?

• Tone the narrators or speakers attitude (joyful, bitter, confident, etc.).

• What tone or tones do you hear?  If there is a change, how do you account for it?
• Is there an ironic contrast between the narrators tone (for instance, confidence) and what you take to be the authors attitude (for instance, pity for human overconfidence)?

• Imagery word pictures or details involving the senses of sight, sound, touch, smell, taste

• What images does the writer use?  What senses do they draw on?
• What patterns are evident in the images (for instance, religious or commercial images)?
• What is the significance of the images?

• Symbolism concrete things standing for larger and more abstract ideas

• What symbols does the author use?  What do they seem to signify?
• How does the symbolism relate to the theme of the work?

• Setting the place where the action happens

• What does the locale contribute to the work?
• Are scene shifts significant?

• Form the shape or structure of the work

• What is the form?  (For example, a story might divide sharply in the middle, moving from happiness to sorrow.)
• What parts of the work does the form emphasize, and why?

• Themes the main ideas about human experience suggested by the work as a whole.  A theme is neither a plot (what happens) nor a subject (such as mourning or marriage).  Rather it is what the author says with the plot about the subject.

• Can you state each theme in a sentence?  Avoid mentioning specific characters or actions; instead, write an observation applicable to humanity in general.  
• Do certain words, passages of dialog or description, or situations seem to represent a theme most clearly?
• How do the works elements combine to develop a theme?

• Appeal the degree to which the work pleases you

• What do you especially like or dislike about the work?  Why?
• Do you think your responses are unique, or would they be common to most readers? Why?