Write an analysis on one of the works we have encountered, and don’t go outside the topic.
That is, though my assignment below gives some range of flexibility regarding topic and focus, the stories we read provide the range of possibility.
For simplicity’s sake, here is the assignment in short: Write a three page plus essay in MLA formatting on one of the topics listed below or one of your own focused design. This means three (full) text pages (your discussion/analysis) plus Works Cited page, so at least four total pages.Anything less will receive an automatic zero.
*This current assignment, and final major writing assignment, is a literary analysis, at least three pages in length, using ONE additional source besides literature source or sources.
Information and source materials are in Modules in Literary Analysis Resources.
This one will be submitted email attachment, preferably as a Word document. Due, Email attachment. (144 points)
Standard literary analysis (interpret the themes of one or more of the short stories listed and linked below).You will be using multiple sources (2 or more, with at least one that is NOT a literary text). Source materials are the library’s databases resources, most specifically Gale, and then the Literary Resource Center, but you can do your own research as well. Go to the library’s page; open Gale; scroll down toward the bottom to find the LRC; Do a title or keyword search.
MUST USE PROPER MLA FORMATTING.
Literary analysis is argument based upon a literary text. You read, comprehend and analyze the story, looking for thematic relevance. What is the story ultimately about? A good topic starting point is to look into the Discussions we have had. My initial questions may help you, but also any disagreements you found yourself having with others’ interpretations offer you a good place to focus your argument. In literary analysis and scholarly discussion, we thrive on disagreement, since it gives us good material to prove and support. Remember, I don’t have to agree with you; you simply have to strive to prove your interpretation by supporting your statements with the text.
Remember, this is a composition course (essay writing), thoughts about a topic strung together into sentences which connect into paragraphs into an essay.
Don’t stray into expounding upon the sorry nature of our society or the way a story comments on our political arena, and so on. In short, stick to the story–keep to the text. Of course, if it is relevant, then explore any of these aspects but only as it fits into the text of the story(ies). As a writer and analyst of the story, you just have to walk a fine line between delving into these matters as pertinent to the texts and testifying. Best advice based upon my reading of others’ papers: go to the text, go to the text, go to the text; that’s where your evidence/support is. You must also include secondary source material.
Stories and ideas:
Please see research information and MLA formatting information/Works Cited in Modules. Your first step is to narrow your choice to the story or stories you wish to explore in further depth. The following make for good comparative couplings, if you choose to follow that direction, but remember that comparison requires you to weave the two or more stories together in discussion–not simply two parts in one essay.
Be careful here. These are perspectives on the readings and themes. You don’t have to address any or all. These are just ideas to prompt your own exploration.
Here is the basic topic approach:
1. Analyze what any one of the stories or do a comparative analysis, two or more stories, of how the story or stories explore the theme of innocence to experience, romantic notions to disillusionment.
2. Analyze any one story, or any combination of the stories, as cautionary tales, discussing specific what lesson is meant for the characters to have learned. As coming of age stories, several have an underlying warning/message.
3. “The Story of an Hour” could be basically stand-alone, since we only addressed it briefly.
“The Story of an Hour” with “Marriage Is a Private Affair,” “Shiloh,” and “The Wife of His Youth”: Ideas on love, marriage, women in a pre-feminist era, minimalist style, sensuality, generational differences, tradition versus change.
“A&P” and “Where. . .” for young male and young female contrast regarding sexual maturation and acting on impulses without regard to consequences or for exploring the differences in a young male’s romantic and sexual growth– innocence to experience.
Include early in your essay the following: author’s name, full title of story, any contextual information, and a thesis.
Your introductory paragraph should work the same way any other introduction works; lure the reader into wanting to read further, and provide a solid foundation for your discussion.
