PROMPT: Write a 650-750 word critical analysis on ONE of the following texts:
• Mark Twain, "Advice to Youth" (550)
• Brian Doyle, "Joyas Voladoras" (502)
• Chief Seattle, "Letter to President Pierce, 1855" (532)
(Numbers in parentheses above are beginning page numbers in The Norton Reader)
Please Read: A critical analysis should be an essay wherein you explore the meaning of the text you choose and how the text conveys that meaning. An analysis is the process of recognizing the different "pieces" or "parts" (literary elements and for rhetorical strategies) that make a text "work." It "often entails taking something apart and then putting it back together by figuring out how the parts make up a cohesive whole" (McGraw-Handbook).
Successful critical analysis can only be achieved with thorough critical reading: spend time with the text you select. Question why the author addresses his or her topic in the way he or she does: What is the overall feel/tone of the piece? How did the author achieve this? Does the author use specific sentence structure, language, or vary punctuation to create an effect?