A Very Basic Guide To an Analytical Literature Based Essay

1st Paragraph: Please introduce the idea.

Ex) The author’s name + novel or short story, “I am a Short Story and So I Go In
Quotes”/ I am a Novel and So I am Underlined OR Italicized But Not Both, is the story
(This is called general context and is where you speak generally about the plot of the
story – for example you may refer to the main character as “a woman” while in the
next sentence you will call her by her name _______________. Over the course of
the novel/story (this is called specific context and is where you describe in greater
detail the main plot of the work of literature) _______________________. The
primary idea that that author explores is his/her text is (here is where you insert what
you think is the central idea/theme/conflict of the work of literature) Through his/her
examination of (restate the central idea/theme/conflict) Author’s Name Here hopes to
persuade his/her readers that (Here is where you insert the writer’s purpose – what
does the writer want you, the reader, to take away from his/her novel or story?
What is the moral or the message? This is your thesis).
2nd Paragraph: Please introduce and describe the 1 st scene and explain how it
supports your thesis
Ex) The first scene I am going to examine takes place here is where you want to
contextualize
the scene (i.e. in the first paragraph of the story when the reader meets the narrator
for the
first time). In this scene (describe what is happening in the scene, preferably using a
quote).
This scene is important because it shows (explain how the scene is supporting your
thesis –
because this is your first example, this scene may serve to introduce the main idea
while
later scenes may develop or add complexity to that idea).

3rd , 4th and 5th Paragraphs: Please continue to write about scenes show the
development of the central idea/theme/conflict . Remember that an ‘A’ paper will use at
least one quote to anchor each paragraph and support and develop the thesis.

6th Paragraph: Please conclude your essay explaining how the scenes you have
presented to
your readers demonstrate the writer’s intention to convey a larger idea, message, or
moral in his or her work of literature.
Ex) through a careful examination of Author’s Name and the title of his/her work
here it
is clear that one of the most prominent ideas in the novel/story is insert idea here .
Specifically, it is possible to see the development of Author’s names here ideas about
idea
here in a number of scenes, including remind reader of the scenes you have
examined.
 Yet, the question remains, why does Author’s name here seem so intent upon
conveying the
idea that insert idea here to his/her readers. Here is where you can go in a number
of
directions – I think, Perhaps he/she wants the reader to, etc. – as long as you attempt
to
answer the question of why, as long as you are doing more than just showing that an
idea
EXISTS in a novel or story you are writing a successful essay!
 AP English

The Junior Paper Assignment

The junior research paper will account for 50% of your 4th quarter grade (this means that
you can't pass the quarter if you fail to hand in a paper). Here are a few of the basic
requirements:

• The paper should focus on an approved work of literature written by a major

American writer
• The paper needs to offer an in-depth literary analysis of the selected text
• Please use 2 -3 critical sources to help you introduce, develop, and/or support
your original thesis statement
• The paper ought to be 10 - 12 pages in length
• Please use complete and accurate MLA format when you document your sources.

In addition to the final version of the paper itself, you are responsible for handing in (both
individually and with the final paper):

• A thesis statement (you may hand in a draft of the introduction if you like)
• An outline
• A total of 50 note cards (this is the only item that you do not need to hand in with
the final paper)
• At least one draft of the paper

Papers will be graded on the basis of content, organization, language and editing, and
clarity and style. The grading rubric will be similar to those used throughout the year
(see me if you need a copy of an old rubric). Any paper handed in late will lose 10
points daily (this means a paper that is 2 days late would lose 20 points). There are very
few acceptable excuses for a late paper -”My computer ______________" is not one of
them.
 American Literature Book
List
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom, Light in August
Willa Cather, My Antonia, The Song of the Lark, O Pioneers
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, The Custom of the Country, Ethan Frome
Henry James, The American, Portrait of a Lady, The Europeans, Washington Square, The
Wings of the Dove
Frank Norris, McTeague
Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior
Charles Johnson, Middle Passage
Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night
James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room
Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, The Marble Faun, The Blithedale
Romance
Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
Richard Wright, Black Boy, Native Son
Emily Dickinson, selected poem
Kate Chopin, A Vocation and a Voice (short stories)
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell To Arms (please select the book you
did NOT read in class)
Flannery O’Connor, collected short stories
Tennessee Williams, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof , A Streetcar Named Desire , The Glass
Menagerie
Sylvia Plath, selected poems
Edgar Allan Poe, selected short stories
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essays
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Washington Irving, selected short stories
John Steinback, The Grapes of Wrath
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Langston Hughes, selected short stories or selected poems
Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina (because this is a relatively new book, criticism
may not be as readily available)
Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
Sherman Alexie, Reservation Blues
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5
Herman Melville, Moby Dick
Tama Janovitz, Slaves of New York, A Certain Age
Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections
Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction
Joyce Carol Oates, Foxfire, We Were the Mulvaneys (to name 2 of many!!!)

American Realism

1865 – 1910

In a web essay written for the ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre,

Patricia Penrose speaks of the years following the Civil War as a time
when writers, “…waged verbal battles over the ways that fictional
characters were presented in relation to their external world.”
Penrose’s essay focuses on the emergence of American Realism, a
movement in literature supported writers who believed that, “…
humanity’s freedom of choice was limited by the power of outside
forces.” The key word in this passage is limited. For unlike the
Naturalists, a group of writers who believed that, “…individuals had no
choice because a person’s life is dictated by heredity and the external
environment,” Realists seemed to believe that individuals had some
power in determining their own destiny.

American Realists included authors such as Mark Twain, William

Dean Howells, Henry James, Upton Sinclair, and Kate Chopin (to name
just a few). Some of the topics embraced by American Realists
included life in the urban city/factory, marriage and the changing role
of women, and issues of race in America. Another major trend in
American Realism is “regional” writing. With the country in the midst
of a major industrial revolution, many Americans longed for tales of old
ways and old traditions. Some Realist writers chose to set their novels
in specific regions of the country, write about everyday life, utilize local
dialects, and write about ordinary people and their struggles to live
and survive “everyday” lives.

William Dean Howells wrote that, “Realism is nothing more and nothing less than
the truthful treatment of material.” Other basic elements of Realistic Literature include:

• Character is more important than action and plot.

• Humans control their destinies and as a result characters act on

their environment rather than simply reacting to it.

• American Realists render reality closely and in comprehensive

detail.
• Events in realist literature are usually plausible and realistic novels
generally avoid the sensational and the dramatic elements more
commonly associated with naturalistic novels and romances.

• Class is important and the realistic novel has traditionally served the
interests and aspirations of the middle class.

• The purpose of realistic literature is to instruct and entertain.

• The use of symbolism is limited and the realists depend more upon
the use of images.

Naturalism “…was an extension of realism, a reaction against the

restrictions inherent in the realistic emphasis on the ordinary…
naturalists insisted that the extraordinary is real too.”

Naturalists wrote about, “…the fringes of society, the criminal, the

fallen, the down-and-out, earning as one definition of their work the
phrase sordid realism…Darwinism was especially important to the
genre, as the naturalists perceived a person’s fate as the product of
blind external or biological forces.”

**This handout is based upon the research of Patricia Penrose. Both

the quotes included in this handout and the elements of Realistic
Literature are excerpted from directly from her work on the ExxonMobil
Masterpiece Theatre website.
Rhetorical Analysis: Critical Reading

When you are asked to do a "rhetorical analysis" of a text, you are being asked to apply
your critical reading skills to break down the "whole" of the text into the sum of its
"parts." You try to determine what the writer is trying to achieve, and what writing
strategies he/she is using to try to achieve it.

Reading critically means more than just being moved, affected, informed, influenced, and
persuaded by a piece of writing. Reading critically also means analyzing and
understanding how the work has achieved its effect. Below is a list of questions to ask
yourself when you begin to analyze a piece of prose. These questions can be used even if
you're being asked only to read the text rather than write a formal analysis (a sample of
detailed formal analysis follows later in this section). Keep in mind that you don't need
to apply all of these questions to every text. This rather exhaustive list is simply one
method for getting you started on reading (and then writing) more critically.

Questions to ask for a Critical Reading:

1. What is the general subject? Does the subject mean anything to you? Does it bring
up any personal associations? Is the subject a controversial one?

2. What is the thesis (the overall main point)? How does the thesis
interpret/comment on the subject?

3. What is the tone of the text? Do you react at an emotional level to the text? Does
this reaction change at all throughout the text?

4. What is the writers' purpose? To explain? To inform? To anger? Persuade?

Amuse? Motivate? Sadden? Ridicule? Anger? Is there more than one purpose?
 Does the purpose shift at all throughout the text?

5. How does the writer develop his/her ideas? Narration? Description? Definition?
Comparison? Analogy? Cause and Effect? Example? Why does the writer use
these methods of development?

6. How does the writer arrange his/her ideas? What are the patterns of arrangement?
Particular to general? Broad to specific? Spatial? Chronological? Alternating?
Block?

7. Is the text unified and coherent? Are there adequate transitions? How do the
transitions work?

8. What is the sentence structure like in the text? Does the writer use fragments or
run-ons? Declarative? Imperative? Interrogative? Exclamatory? Are they simple?
Compound? Complex? Compound-complex? Short? Long? Loose? Periodic?
Balanced? Parallel? Are there any patterns in the sentence structure? Can you
make any connections between the patterns and the writers' purpose?

9. Does the writer use dialogue? Quotations? To what effect?

10. How does the writer use diction? Is it formal? Informal? Technical? Jargon?
Slang? Is the language connotative? Denotative? Is the language emotionally
evocative? Does the language change throughout the piece? How does the
language contribute to the writers' aim?

11. Is there anything unusual in the writers' use of punctuation? What punctuation or
other techniques of emphasis (italics, capitals, underlining, ellipses, parentheses)
does the writer use? Is punctuation over- or under used? Which marks does the
writer use when, and for what effects? Dashes to create a hasty breathlessness?
Semi-colons for balance or contrast?

12. Are important terms repeated throughout the text? Why?

13. Are there any particularly vivid images that stand out? What effect do these
images have on the writers' purpose?

14. Are devices of comparison used to convey or enhance meaning? Which tropes--
similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, etc. does the writer use? When
does he/she use them? Why?

15. Does the writer use devices of humor? Puns? Irony? Sarcasm? Understatement?
Parody? Is the effect comic relief? Pleasure? Hysteria? Ridicule?
 Developing A Thesis

Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an

opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the
accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of
academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know
what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading
your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me
of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a
topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic.
"Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall
of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion.
(Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every
"thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be
"the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should
"telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is
going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy,
and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and
later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out
the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the
path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up
with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-
such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down. There is nothing as frustrating as
hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by
writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely.
You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time
you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your
thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15
page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more
attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not
required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counter-arguments. Once you have a working thesis, you should think
about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will
also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay.
(Every argument has a counter-argument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it
may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

Michael Dukakis lost the 1988 presidential election because he failed to

campaign vigorously after the Democratic National Convention.

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible
counter- arguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost
because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by
anticipating the counter-argument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the
sentence below.

While Dukakis' "soft-on-crime" image hurt his chances in the 1988

election, his failure to campaign vigorously after the Democratic
National Convention bore a greater responsibility for his defeat.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions

discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in
Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the
water.

A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism
collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect
in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a
section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political,
economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why
communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an
argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational. An ineffective thesis

would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This
is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to
mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may
spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly
disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. "While cultural forces contributed
to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played
the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that
the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the
disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the
disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating
communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking,
"Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to
see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and
abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the
ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful
than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard
University

http://www.mrscassel.com/helpful_handouts.htm
 TP-CASTT
TITLE
Ponder the title before reading the poem

PARAPHRASE
Translate the poem into your own words

CONNOTATION
Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal

ATTITUDE
Observe both the speaker's and the poet's attitude (tone)

SHIFTS
Note shifts in speaker and in attitudes

TITLE
Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level

THEME
Determine what the poet is saying