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Objective:
Identify key elements of a literary analysis essay (MLO2)
Draft an outline that could be used to compose a literary analysis essay (MLO3)
Read:
The Little Seagull Handbook chapter W-13, “Literary Analysis Essays”
Lesson Highlights: Literary Analysis Essay
The editors of The Little Seagull Handbook write that the purpose of a literary analysis is to “go below the surface to deepen your understanding of how texts work and what they mean” (94). Thus, writing a literary analysis essay is a practice in critical thinking and in articulating complex thoughts about a text. Literary analysis essays are also great practice in quoting to support a point, and thoroughly analyzing a quote to explain an interpretation of the text. This is a skill that will serve you in any writing assignment that you do, any speech that you make, and any time that you are trying to convince someone (your parents, a friend, your boss) to see your point of view.
For this literary analysis essay, your job is to convince your reader that your interpretation of the story’s theme is valid. You will give reasons why you believe the theme is what you say, use quotes to support your reasons, and analyze the quotes thoroughly.
Review of Expository Essay Structure
This essay, and all essays for this course, should be in expository format. This means that the essay should have an introduction that ends with a thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. The thesis should state what the essay will do and how it will do it, and may use claim + because + reasons format. The body paragraphs should begin with a topic sentence that states what the paragraph will be about. The topic sentences should be supported with quotes from the text. Quotes should be analyzed by explaining 1) what the quote means in your own words and 2) how it supports the point you are using it to make. Body paragraphs end with a concluding sentence that ties the paragraph back to the thesis. The conclusion paragraph brings a sense of completeness to the essay.
Review of Quoting
Whenever we quote, we frame the quote between an introduction of it, a citation, and our analysis/explanation of the quote. Always introduce quotes with signal phrases. Strong signal phrases will be descriiptive and add to the reader’s understanding of the quote. See The Little Seagull Handbook pages 149, and They Say/I Say pages 43-44 for lists of signal phrases. Generally, end the signal phrase with a comma.
Quotes should support your point. Anything written in someone else’s words should be in quotation marks. Quotes longer than 4 typed lines should be formatted as a block quote (See The Little Seagull Handbook page 461).
In MLA formatting, we end quotes with parenthetical citations. The citation should include the author’s last name and the page number of the quote, in parentheses. The end-sentence punctuation goes after the closing parenthesis.
After each quote, explain what the quote means in your own words and how the quote supports the point you are using it to make. Walk your reader carefully from the quote to your interpretation of it, pointing back to the wording, punctuation, etc. of the quote when applicable. Thus, a paragraph should rarely end on a quote.
Here is an example from an essay about Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets”:
This moment is bookended when June May meets her sisters and says, “And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood. After all these years, it can finally be let go” (Tan 306). Just like June May’s mother warns that June May’s Chinese identity is “in [her] blood, waiting to be let go,” meeting her sisters, and seeing her mother through her sisters, “lets go” of June May’s acceptance of her ancestry and culture.
Outline Assignment Guidelines:
Read the Literary Analysis Essay assignment so that you know what you are working toward. Complete the attached outline worksheet, or your own outline or mind map. The attached outline provides basic expository essay structure. Reattach the completed outline for credit. The outline should be complete and thorough enough so that I can understand your plan for the essay and provide you with meaningful feedback.
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