Literary Analysis Essay
This assignment will require you to compose a comparative essay on one of the topics below. To learn more about how to approach a comparative essay, see this link
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.
Option 1: Select two of the assigned stories from Week 2 (Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers,” or Wharton’s “Afterward”) and explain how and why these stories use the gothic genre as a vehicle for critiquing patriarchal society. If you choose this option, you will need to perform close readings of relevant supporting quotations.
Option 2: Although produced 20 years apart, Hitchcock’s Rebecca and Psycho have a lot in common. If you choose this topic, you will need to identify the ways in which these films establish tension and terrify viewers. And beyond the ways that these films build suspense (through lighting, music, etc.), what makes them scary? That is, what deeper fears do they tap into? Choosing this prompt means that you will need to engage in scene analyses to support your argument.
Option 3: Propose your own prompt (you must compare 2 of the works we have encountered in this class). If you choose this option, you must obtain my permission no later than Wednesday of Week 3.
To aid your argument, you must cite from two secondary, scholarly
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sources in your essay. You must locate these sources via either the JSTOR or Project Muse databases, which you can access via the WLAC library website using your LACCD login credentials. You may not cite from Wikipedia, Sparknotes, or websites found via general Google searches.
Structure:
Before you begin writing, read this handout on writing a literary analysis
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. These tips will be helpful even if you choose Option 2 (although if you choose Option 2, you will also want to review the reading assignment from Week 3, “Film Analysis Tips & Tools.”
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Your essay should include an introduction
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that introduces the topic and ends with a clearly worded, 1-2 sentence thesis statement.
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Each supporting paragraph (there should be at least 3) should begin with a strong topic sentence
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and should incorporate evidence, including direct quotations from secondary scholarly sources. Direct quotations should be incorporated using the quotation sandwich method
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and proper MLA in-text citations
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. The essay should also contain a strong conclusion
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. The final page of the document should consist of a Works Cited
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page. Specific tips for formatting electronic sources can be found here.
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Formatting Tips:
Your document should be 5-7 pages in length, typed and double-spaced, in Times New Roman font, size 12. Your paper should have 1-inch margins and should include a properly formatted heading and a title. Your Works Cited does not count toward the minimum page count.
Tips for Success:
As you study your selected story, develop a solid thesis about this topic–some conclusion you have arrived at–and make sure you cite lots of examples and details from the story to support and illustrate your thesis and sub-points. And make sure you discuss and explain your evidence.
And please read “Organizing Your Paper
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”(online). One thing you do NOT want to do is to produce a paper that just answers each of the above questions, one after another. There is no particular reason or purpose in the order of the questions, so you would end up with a very unfocused and disorganized paper. It will also help to read this handout on paragraph development.
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Check out some samples! There are several student samples located in the Week 4 Module. Note that these essays have been written in response to slightly different essay prompts than the one you’re answering in this essay. Nonetheless, they offer excellent examples of what I’m expecting in terms of organization, close reading of the works being analyzed, and engagement with scholarly sources.
You must cite scholarly sources in this paper. You must include all sources cited in your essay (both the primary texts, i.e. the short stories, as well as any outside sources) in your Works Cited page. This page, which will be the final page of your document, must be formatted according to MLA requirements. This page should list all works referenced in your paper (including your short story).
Use standard in-text citation (author and page), and put the source information on the final page of your document labeled “Works Cited”). Follow MLA directions.
See this short summary of MLA style: MLA Formatting and Style Guide
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(online), created by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab. Scroll down the page to find a long list of links for in-text citation and bibliographies, including how to do electronic sources
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(online).
Also check MLA Style: MLA Style: Frequently Asked Questions
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(online).
A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
https://nmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1345.pdf
“Afterward” by Edith Wharton
https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/163603/Afterward%20-%20Edith%20Wharton.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/The-Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/theliteratureofprescription/education/materials/WhyIWroteYellowWallPaper.pdf
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