Literary Analysis Essay (Analytical Essay)
For this unit, we will be using sections from this comprehensive writing guide:http://www.natomas.k12.ca.us/152220814185937340/lib/152220814185937340/_files/NHS_Writing_Guide_Final.pdf
The rubric I will use to grade this essay is on pages 12- 13 :
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/glencoewriting/HighSchoolRubrics_876544.indd.pdf
We will use this peer edit sheet in class on Oct. 29. IF you are absent, please have a friend or parent complete this for you:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxtc2thbnRlcnNwYWdlfGd4OjdkYTQ0NDAzMTQ5ZjhhNzc
For this essay, you will be analyzing your chosen text on the inferential and evaluative levels of meaning:
3-Levels of Meaning (literal, inferential, evaluative)
Literal Level: What the text says: the things that actually happen in the story. You can point to the text to show the literal meaning. If the text says, "Sally walked around the new Corvette, got behind the steering wheel, and smiled at herself in the review mirror of her most recent purchase," the literal meaning is that Sally just bought a new car.
A. identifying the order of events or a specific event from a sequence of events.
B. identifying a statement or sentence that best indicates the main idea of the selection.
C. identifying directly-stated facts (e.g., actions or events; names of characters, places or things in the selection; special circumstances relevant to the story).
D. identifying directly-stated opinions.
Inferential Level: What the text means: the meanings drawn from the literal level. If the text says that Sally got in her new sports car, we can infer that Sally likes to be sporty and has money to spend on a car.
A. identifying implicit relationships (relationships not directly stated) such as cause and effect, sequence-time relationships, comparisons, classifications and generalizations.
B. predicting probable future outcomes or actions.
C. inferring an author’s unstated meaning by drawing conclusions based on specific facts, events, images, patterns or symbols found in selected readings.
D. inferring the main idea of a selection when it is not explicitly stated.
E. identifying unstated reasons for actions or beliefs based on explicitly stated information.
Evaluative Level: What the text tells us about our world and how the author conveys this information: the ideas that you can draw about the world outside of the story, identifying the theme/themes of the story and what strategies the author uses to convey the theme. For example in the story about Sally's car, we can make the connection that people like new things, or we can conclude that the author is making the point that women like sports cars as much as men do. When the reader is examining the stylistic elements of the writing and examining the effect of those elements, the reader is in the evaluative level.
A. drawing conclusions about the author’s motivation or purpose for writing a passage or story based on evidence in the selection.
B. determining whether the information used by the author to support a conclusion is accurate and/or credible. C. drawing conclusions about the characteristics, values, and habits of human beings.
You will be writing this essay using the rhetorical modes of example, definition, and casual analysis. Honors students will also use comparison and contrast.
RHETORICAL MODES
Following are listed seven rhetorical modes of communication. Some of these you are do
doubt familiar with. We will not specifically address each, but you are expected to be able to
recognize the form. Please note that the following are not definitions. They are examples.
-
Narration: "I was seven years old when I first became aware of the terrible power of
guilt. For piling our toys into a box, Mother rewarded my brother and me with five shiny
pennies. If I had ten pennies instead of five, I could have bought a gingerbread man
with raisin eyes and sugar-frosted hair."
-
Description: Never before had Pedro experienced such a depth of despair and such a
sense of isolation. he began to avoid those nearest to him, returning their friendly
greetings with rough and indifferent replies. Often he sat in his room staring vacantly
into space with hollow eyes. His hands were cold and clammy most of the time; yet his
forehead burned hot with a mysterious fever.
-
Example: Seneca once said, "Every guilty person is his own hangman." The truth of this
observation can be illustrated by the lives of countless villains. Once such is Macbeth,
from Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. At the instigation of his wife, Macbeth
kills the king of Scotland and usurps his throne - an act of treachery for which Macbeth
and his wife suffer torments of guilt.
-
Definition: Guilt is the remorse that comes from an awareness of having done
something wrong. The origin of guilt is psychological. From childhood, we have all been
conditioned by family and society to act within defined standards of reasonableness and
decency.
-
Comparison and Contrast: Although the first two words may seem to share some
connotations, guilt is not a synonym for blame. Guilt must be felt; blame must be
assessed. Guilt implies self-reproach that comes from an internal consciousness of
wrong. Blame hints at fault that has been externally assessed.
-
Division and Classification: The Bible identifies three kinds of guilt: guilt of the
unpardonable sin, redeemable guilt, and guilt of innocence. First, the guilt of the
unpardonable sin...Second, redeemable guilt is guilt that can be erased...Finally, the
guilt of innocence is the guilt that Jesus bore...
-
Causal Analysis: Guilt is caused by the failure of the will. The human mind, according to
Freudian theory, is delicately balanced between the drive for instant gratification that
comes for the id, and the desire for regulation and postponement that originates in the
superego, which is sometimes identified with what we call he conscience.
ACADEMIC WRITING: THE ESSAY
Rationale: Throughout your high school and college career and across curricula, you will be required to write numerous essays and research papers. The essay you are about to write represents a model for many papers that will be assigned in the future.Academic Voice: Most academic papers should be written in academic voice. Academic voice tends to suppress the natural voice of the author in an effort to focus the reader on the material instead of the author's persona. Therefore, you write most academic papers in third person. If you write in first person (I, we, etc.), the reader tends to focus on the author. If you write in second person (you), the reader tends to focus on her/himself. I wrote this handout in second person because I am addressing you, telling you to do something. You want your reader to focus on the material about which you are writing; therefore, your paper should be written in third person (him, her, they, etc.) unless the prompt requires that you add a personal component.
Other general rules for academic writing:
1. Avoid weak language (maybe, possibly, might); act like you know what you are
talking about (even if you do not). Never use the passive where you can use the
active.
2. When providing a personal component, state your points decisively by avoiding weak language "I think"; "I feel"; "I believe"; etc.
3. Avoid slang.
4. When writing about the action in literature, use present tense.
5. State your opinion as fact.
6. Avoid rhetorical questions.
7. Never start a paper with, "This paper is going to be about..." or anything similar to
that. Never refer to your paper.
8. Not all of these rules are set in stone. An occasion may arise where you have to
stretch one.
The elements of focus, support, and organization are necessary in each type of essay. Note the things that make the essays different, and practice using them. Always assume that your audience has never heard of your subject. You must lead them to your main idea carefully and give them plenty of supporting details.
The Focus: An important feature of a good essay is that it is focused. You might want to ask yourself, "What specifically do I want to prove in this essay?" You do not want your thesis statement to be too general. For example:
Too general: "Mark Twain frequently uses symbolism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to create meaning."
Revised: "Although a paradox, the physically confining raft symbolizes freedom in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Coherence: Okay, prove it! Your paper should be concrete; that is, you support your thesis with facts and examples from the novel. Using the example above, you should strengthen your analysis with details and quotes from the novel supporting your contention. Huck states, "Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft" (88). Note how I cite the page number.
Organization: The best method of organization is outlining. You will find that your paper is much easier to write if you use an outline as your guide. Your paper should contain:
Whether it is a simple essay, major research paper or a doctoral dissertation, most academic writing projects follow this model, so you might as well learn it now. Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence containing the point(s) the paragraph reveals. Your body paragraphs should be organized so that you make your most important point in your final body paragraph and your least significant point in your middle paragraph(s). Each paragraph should go from one example or fact to another, explaining how they are related. The paragraphs should be linked with transitional devices.
Vocabulary: You should use a sophisticated vocabulary directed to an academic audience. Be careful not to "over-Thesaurize" you paper - use big words improperly. Don't get me wrong. It is recommended that you use a Thesaurus to expand your vocabulary and avoid repetition of certain words; however, make sure you use the words correctly.
Mechanics (Grammar and Spelling): Your paper must be mechanically sound. Use spell check! Some great papers can be marred by grammatical and spelling errors. They can hinder the meaning of the paper. Have someone proofread your paper, and then edit it. Once you master mechanics, then you can focus on refining the ideas you are expressing in the paper.
2. When providing a personal component, state your points decisively by avoiding weak language "I think"; "I feel"; "I believe"; etc.
3. Avoid slang.
4. When writing about the action in literature, use present tense.
5. State your opinion as fact.
6. Avoid rhetorical questions.
7. Never start a paper with, "This paper is going to be about..." or anything similar to
that. Never refer to your paper.
8. Not all of these rules are set in stone. An occasion may arise where you have to
stretch one.
TYPES OF ESSAYS
Each of the four types of essays has a different purpose and will be organized in a different way. Teachers generally prefer to read typed, double-spaced essays printed in an easy-to-read font. One-inch margins allow teachers room to write comments or suggest revisions. Handwritten essays are often acceptable, and should be legibly written using blue or black ink and double- spaced. Your teachers will let you know their preferences and requirement about assignments. Always ask questions if you are unclear about the instructions.The elements of focus, support, and organization are necessary in each type of essay. Note the things that make the essays different, and practice using them. Always assume that your audience has never heard of your subject. You must lead them to your main idea carefully and give them plenty of supporting details.
1. Expository Essay
An expository essay gives information with supporting statements for each main point. This essay may even look like a report and is often the basis for a business letter. Explaining what qualities make a good teacher or describing the most important theme in a piece of literature are examples of expository writing.
2. Persuasive Essay
A persuasive essay takes a side in an argument and shows why that side is correct. The prompt may ask you to write a letter or a speech instead of an essay. An essay urging students to recycle pop cans would be a persuasive essay.
3. Narrative Essay
A narrative essay tells a story. An essay that describes your most embarrassing moment would be a narrative essay.
An expository essay gives information with supporting statements for each main point. This essay may even look like a report and is often the basis for a business letter. Explaining what qualities make a good teacher or describing the most important theme in a piece of literature are examples of expository writing.
2. Persuasive Essay
A persuasive essay takes a side in an argument and shows why that side is correct. The prompt may ask you to write a letter or a speech instead of an essay. An essay urging students to recycle pop cans would be a persuasive essay.
3. Narrative Essay
A narrative essay tells a story. An essay that describes your most embarrassing moment would be a narrative essay.
WRITING AN EXPOSITORY ESSAY
You write an expository essay to explain. You could be writing to tell differences and similarities, to give results or facts, or to define. When you prepare a literary analysis piece, a report on a project, or compare and contrast elements, you are writing an expository essay. Words that may clue you that you need to be doing an expository essay are as follows: trace, analyze, respond to, clarify, discuss, classify, compare, contrast, define, explain, or summarize. Parts of the expository essay are as follows:-
The introductory paragraph should begin with a hook. A good writer will hook the
reader into reading the essay by grabbing his or her attention. You can grab the reader’s
attention at the beginning of the essay by stating a shocking fact or statistic, or by using
humor. You might begin by asking a question or giving a quotation. You then should
include your thesis statement.
-
The body consists of one paragraph for each main point. Supporting statements in the
body paragraphs should have good solid facts, including supporting quotations.
The concluding paragraph restates your focus. Do not use the same words you used in
the first paragraph. Reword your focus. The last paragraph is not the place to put new
ideas.
THE EXPOSITORY RESPONSE TO LITERATURE ESSAY—UP CLOSE
Sample topic: "The Characterization of Dragons in the Works of Tolkien"
In the literary essay, you are exploring the meaning and construction of a piece of literature.
This task is more complicated than reviewing, though the two are similarly evaluative. In a
review you are discussing the overall effect and validity of written work, while in a literary essay
you are paying more attention to specifics.
A literary essay focuses on such elements as structure, character, theme, style, tone, and
subtext. You are taking a piece of writing and trying to discover how and why it is put together
the way it is. You must adopt a viewpoint on the work in question and show how the details of
the work support your viewpoint.
A literary essay may be your own interpretation, based only on your reading of the piece, or it
may be a mixture of your opinions and references to the criticism of others, much like a
research paper. Again, be wary of plagiarism and of letting the opinions of more experienced
writers swamp your own response to the work. If you are going to consult the critics, you
should reread the literary work you are discussing and make some notes on it before looking at
any criticism.
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ESSAY (RESPONSE TO LITERATURE EXAMPLE)
The Thesis: The thesis is the central idea of the essay. If you were to ask yourself, "What is the main point of this paper?" or "What am I writing about?" your answer, a declarative sentence, should resemble your thesis statement.The Focus: An important feature of a good essay is that it is focused. You might want to ask yourself, "What specifically do I want to prove in this essay?" You do not want your thesis statement to be too general. For example:
Too general: "Mark Twain frequently uses symbolism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to create meaning."
Revised: "Although a paradox, the physically confining raft symbolizes freedom in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Coherence: Okay, prove it! Your paper should be concrete; that is, you support your thesis with facts and examples from the novel. Using the example above, you should strengthen your analysis with details and quotes from the novel supporting your contention. Huck states, "Other places do seem so clamped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft" (88). Note how I cite the page number.
Organization: The best method of organization is outlining. You will find that your paper is much easier to write if you use an outline as your guide. Your paper should contain:
-
Introductory paragraph including thesis statement;
-
Body paragraphs supporting and explaining your thesis statement;
-
Concluding paragraph not only restating your thesis but also explaining the significance of
Whether it is a simple essay, major research paper or a doctoral dissertation, most academic writing projects follow this model, so you might as well learn it now. Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence containing the point(s) the paragraph reveals. Your body paragraphs should be organized so that you make your most important point in your final body paragraph and your least significant point in your middle paragraph(s). Each paragraph should go from one example or fact to another, explaining how they are related. The paragraphs should be linked with transitional devices.
Vocabulary: You should use a sophisticated vocabulary directed to an academic audience. Be careful not to "over-Thesaurize" you paper - use big words improperly. Don't get me wrong. It is recommended that you use a Thesaurus to expand your vocabulary and avoid repetition of certain words; however, make sure you use the words correctly.
Mechanics (Grammar and Spelling): Your paper must be mechanically sound. Use spell check! Some great papers can be marred by grammatical and spelling errors. They can hinder the meaning of the paper. Have someone proofread your paper, and then edit it. Once you master mechanics, then you can focus on refining the ideas you are expressing in the paper.
THE JANE SCHAFFER MULTI-PARAGRAPH ESSAY/TERMINOLOGY
|
ESSAY
|
A piece of writing that gives your thoughts (commentary) about a subject. Most
essays will consist of at least 4 paragraphs: an introduction, 2-4 body paragraphs,
and a concluding paragraph.
|
|||
|
Introduction
|
The first paragraph of an essay, usually comprised of an attention- grabbing
opener at the beginning, and a thesis statement at the end.
|
|||
|
Body Paragraph
|
A middle paragraph in an essay. It develops your point and supports your thesis.
All essays include at least two body paragraphs.
|
|||
|
Conclusion
|
The last paragraph in your essay. It may sum up your ideas, reflect on what you
have said, make connections to the world around you, or give more commentary
about your subject.
|
|||
|
Thesis
|
A sentence with a subject and an opinion (also called commentary). The thesis
statement is essentially your argument. It must be stated in your introduction,
usually as the last sentence.
Sample thesis: Jesse Howl is a character who is irresponsible, yet he has the best of intentions. (Here, the subject is underlined once, and the opinion is underlined twice). |
|||
|
Pre-Writing
|
The process of getting your ideas down on paper before you organize your essay
into paragraphs. Any of the following may be used: web, bubble clusters, spider
diagrams, or outlines.
|
|||
|
Topic
Sentence
(TS)
|
The first sentence in a body paragraph. This must have a subject and an opinion.
The main idea of the body paragraph is set up through the topic sentence.
|
|||
|
Concrete
Detail
(CD)
|
Concrete details provide the backbone of your body paragraphs. Synonyms for CD
include facts, specifics, examples, support, proof, evidence, quotations,
paraphrasing, or plot references.
|
|||
|
Commentary
(CM)
|
Your opinion or comment about something. Synonyms for CM include opinion,
insight analysis, interpretation, inference, personal response, feelings, evaluation,
explication, and reflection.
|
|||
|
Concluding
Sentence
(CS)
|
The last sentence of a body paragraph. It may be a combination of CD and CM. This
final sentence gives a finished feeling to the paragraph.
|
|||
|
Chunk
|
One sentence of concrete detail and two sentences of commentary.
|
|||
|
|
A skill involving the combining of a CD and a CM within a body paragraph, or
varying the order of CDs and CMs. Weaving is considered a more advanced skill,
and will come with mastery of the format
TRANSITION WORDS FOR PARAGRAPHS
|
