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literary analysis
Please feel free to choose one of those topics:- • Discuss how the authors used foreshadowing and suspense in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Ed Park’s “Slide to Unlock” • Discuss how the authors present the value of family tradition / heritage / legacy in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Leroy Quintana’s “Legacy II” • Discuss how the authors use tone and theme in Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” and Martin Espada’s “Why I Went to College” • Discuss how authors use point of view (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person point of view) to create the strongest effect for their work (any of the pieces we read this semester could apply)
Write a 2-3 page essay analyzing the stories and poems we have read this semester. Choose ONE of the suggested topics below:
- Discuss how the authors used foreshadowing and suspense in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Ed Park’s “Slide to Unlock”
- Discuss how the authors present the value of family tradition / heritage / legacy in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Leroy Quintana’s “Legacy II”
- Discuss how the authors use tone and theme in Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” and Martin Espada’s “Why I Went to College”
- Discuss how authors use point of view (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person point of view) to create the strongest effect for their work (any of the pieces we read this semester could apply)
If you can think of a different topic / approach for one or more of the literary pieces we have read this semester, you can ask me if that will work instead of choosing one of the above topics. Your literary analysis can concentrate on the theme of the work, and in doing so, you may consider the characterization, setting, point of view, tone, symbolism, etc.
In order to create an organized and persuasive paper, you must begin with a clear and specific thesis statement, which directly states the aspects you will address in the body of the paper.
I am not looking for you to retell the events of a short story or poem, so only summarize details that are necessary to prove your thesis / make your points. Assume the reader knows what happened in your chosen pieces. Your goal is to evaluate the events, characters, language, style, etc.
You MUST use examples to support your thesis / argument. These examples should come in the form of details and quotations from the work. Please note that I am NOT looking for you to research what a piece of literature means. I want to see how you think and interpret information. As such, papers that use information taken from other sources without proper citation will receive a failing grade. Note that you may use outside sources to supplement your understanding of a writer’s background, but you should not use Spark Notes.
Try to write with an open, yet assertive, voice. Do not rely on “I think,” “I feel,” or “In my opinion” statements; most statements are more convincing without these phrases preceding them. Avoid informal pronouns such as first person “I,” “we,” and second person “you.”
Use a double-spaced, four-line MLA format heading at the left: your name, my name, the course name, and the date. Give your paper an original title, for example: Self Discovery in “Legacy II” and “Why I Went to College”
Note that poem titles and short story titles belong in quotation marks.
You should use MLA format in order to cite the references in your text. For instance, when you include a quotation from a story, add the author’s last name (and page number if possible) where you found the quote in parentheses at the end of your sentence. When quoting lines of poetry, please note that all punctuation marks should be copied exactly, line numbers are cited afterward, and a slash (/) is used between complete lines of poetry. For example, you might write the sentence: The narrator recalls, “He spoke their names as if they were / one of only a handful of things / a man needed to know” (Quintana 12-14).
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