Assignment:
Essay: Literary Analysis
Objectives:
Through this assignment students will learn to:
- Comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate short stories;
- Further develop and apply their understanding of critical thinking and analysis to literature;
- Understand and identify literary elements (plot, theme, mood, tone, symbolism, metaphor, motif, characterization, foreshadowing, narrator, personification, setting, imagery, irony);
- Practice close-reading strategies;
- Draw conclusions and support arguments regarding the literary elements of a specific text; and
- Engage in writing as a process (prewriting, drafting, revision, reflection, etc.) while interpreting literature.
Overview:
For this assignment, students will study literature through the medium of the short story. Students will explore a selection of famous literary short stories through class discussions, various short writing assignments, and ultimately, an academic essay in which students analyze the literary elements utilized in the essay. Need Assignment Help?
We will read the following short stories:
- Venita Blackburn's "Halloween"
- Randall Kenan's "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel"
- Lorrie Moore's "Charades"
- Octavia E. Butler's "The Book of Martha"
After reading these short stories, students will select one short story and analyze at least four of the literary elements that we have discussed in class (See the Literary Analysis PowerPoint for more information). Determine how successfully the author has utilized these elements. Examples of these literary elements are as follows: plot, theme, mood, tone, symbolism, metaphor, motif, characterization, foreshadowing, narrator, personification, setting, imagery, irony, etc. At least one of your subtopics must be a theme.
Please note: Students will provide only one paragraph of summary after the introduction paragraph. If you select plot as a literary element that you will analyze, choose specific moments from the story to illustrate the effectiveness of this element. Students should cite directly from the short stories they are analyzing to use as evidence for the conclusions they are drawing. Students may choose to consult scholarly articles to help further support their analysis.
Analysis involves examining the parts of something in order to determine how they function as a whole. We are writing a Literary Analysis, in which we are analyzing pieces of literature to ascertain how successfully they incorporate literary elements, such as characterization, plot, narration, mood, tone, setting, irony, various themes, etc. Analysis is not the same as summary. Summary refers to "what happened." Analysis probes to determine what the events mean. Students should identify and explain multiple examples from the text (for each subtopic) as evidence.
Essay Requirements:
- This essay should be a minimum of 1000 words.
- Use either MLA (Modern Language Association) format or APA (American Psychological Association) format.
- There is no set number of required sources for this essay.
- The majority of the content for this essay should come from your own analysis of the short story, and the Reading Comprehension assignments that we completed weekly.
- Please note: You must cite the short story you are analyzing on the Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page.
- Use third person ("he/she"), and avoid second person ("you").
- Please note: Text summary sources that provide summaries or interpretations of the short stories such as Cliffs Notes or Spark Notes are not permitted. Students should write their own summaries of the short story.
- Only original work will be graded. Do not use Generative AI to create the essay. Multiple submissions or other instances of intentional plagiarism will receive a grade of zero.
Literary Analysis Prewriting:
1. Which of the four short stories have you selected to analyze for Essay? Why have you chosen this one? The short story you analyze for this essay must come from the list in your writing prompt.
2. In a minimum of 5-8 sentences, write a summary of the short story you have chosen. You can use the Reading Comprehension Assignments to help with this.
3. Which four literary elements do you plan to use in your analysis? Why have you chosen these? Which specific theme will you be using? See the Literary Analysis Lecture Notes PowerPoint for subtopic options and more information.
4. Outline: Below, state your judgment on each subtopic (positive or negative), provide at least one direct quote or example from the short story to serve as evidence, and explain why this example supports your judgment.
a. For a positive judgment, you are stating that the author does use that literary element effectively. For a negative judgment, you are stating that the author does not use that literary element effectively.
1. Literary Element #1: THEME of
i. Judgment (The literary element is used effectively in the story? Or not?):
ii. Evidence from Text:
iii. Explanation:
2. Literary Element #2:
i. Judgment (The literary element is used effectively in the story? Or not?):
ii. Evidence from Text:
iii. Explanation:
3. Literary Element #3:
i. Judgment (The literary element is used effectively in the story? Or not?):
ii. Evidence from Text:
iii. Explanation:
4. Literary element #4:
i. Judgment (The literary element is used effectively in the story? Or not?):
ii. Evidence from Text:
iii. Explanation:
5. Write a draft of the thesis sentence. Include the short story title, judgment (this can be overall positive, negative, or a mixture of both) and list the literary elements that you will be analyzing. Keep in mind that the order in which the subtopics are listed is the order in which you should address them in the body paragraphs.