Essay 4: Literary Analysis (75 points)
Purpose of the Assignment
For this assignment, you will use the literary element(s) in which you make a claim about a short story (Week 12) you’ve read for this module. Short stories for analysis: “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson or “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright.
You can select the short story you wish to analyze for this essay using one of the prompts below:
Do certain characters, objects, or setting seem to symbolize something or have greater meaning? What criteria will you use for your analysis/evaluation? What debatable claim can be made that others may not have thought about?
What is the relation of the setting to the plot and the characters? What criteria will you use for your analysis/evaluation?What debatable claim can be made about the relationship that others may not have thought about?
How has the point of view shaped or determined the style used in the story? What criteria will you use for your analysis/evaluation?What debatable claim can be made that others may not have thought about?
Compare specific literary device(s) between two of the stories. What is learned about the analysis process when the stories are compared? What criteria will you use for your analysis/evaluation?What debatable claim can be made that others may not have thought about?
Strategies for Success
In a literary analysis, a thesis makes a debatable claim or argument that indicates how the text is complex. In general, a good thesis statement in literary analysis/evaluation will answer the question, “On a deeper level, what does this text mean?” or “What does a careful reading of this text uncover?”
Your arguments should pique your readers’ curiosity—remember that readers should find your main arguments debatable—so foregrounding your thesis early (last sentence of the introduction) is also a way to interest your readers. As a writer and critic, you should try to anticipate alternative responses and answer them in your essay. If your analysis ultimately satisfies the counterarguments your readers begin to raise when they first encounter your thesis, you will have written a persuasive analysis that your interpretation of the story is a valid one.
This essay has a traditional structure for a literary analysis:
The thesis appears at the end of the first paragraph and must be a debatable claim. People who have read the text must be able to DISAGREE with your key claims; otherwise, you do not have an argument. For example, a thesis statement for this assignment might look like the following:
In “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty creates a fictional character in Phoenix Jackson that symbolizes an indomitable human spirit because of the characters’ determination, faith, and cunning. (this is debatable because other readers may think the character represents something else).
The paragraphs in the body each develop and support a part of this thesis. Arguments that take risks—that point out the NON-OBVIOUS, that make debatable claims—are valued in literary analysis. These points of analysis must use evidence from the text to support the claim being made. The need to support an argument with textual evidence and to answer other possibly contradictory arguments with persuasive interpretations of textual evidence prevent literary analysis from being “anything goes” or a simple summary/retelling of the story.
Each paragraph in the body focuses on a single criteria or two closely related ones.
Each paragraph builds on the previous paragraphs. In other words, the paragraphs are connected to one another but avoid repeating the same arguments.
The essay is ordered by logical progression of the arguments rather than by strictly following the chronological order of the literary text that is the focus of the essay.
The final paragraph extends the argument presented in the thesis and answers the question, “What does this short story mean or illustrate?”
