For this assignment, you will write an analysis of one of the texts from the first half of the semester. The list of texts is below.
Your essay will forward an analytical argument or thesis that interprets an aspect of the text. Most importantly, the bulk of your
analyses will be limited to one section (1-2 paragraphs or stanzas) from the text. Your thesis might be something like,
“This section is important because it reveals…..”
The essay will be 3-4 pages long, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font. Do not consult any outside sources. If you use a
website (and don’t cite it), you will receive an F.
Here is what I am grading on:
1. Original approach/thesis
2. Correct and effective quoting
3. Original and compelling analysis
4. Overall coherence, correctness, and elegance.
Here are the texts you can choose from:
“Popular Mechanics,” Carver
“Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway
“Trifles,” Glaspell
“Incident,” Cullen
“Mother to Son,” Hughes
“Harlem,” Hughes
“Wild Geese,” Oliver
“Summer Day,” Oliver
“Hearts and Hands,” O’Henry
"Superman at Hogback Ridge," Fordon
“Maidencane,” Anderson
“Cat Person,” Roupenian
A few guidelines:
- Your introduction should be brief. It must include the name of the author, the title of the text and the thesis statement.
Example:
E.A. Robinson’s poem “Richard Cory” suggests the unknowability of other people. The last stanza, in particular, suggests that we often misread or misinterpret the world around us.
- Do not repeat the interpretations we reviewed in class. You may build on your responses or on the ideas we discussed, but this is not simply a rehashing of what we already went over.
- If you are working with poetry, you may write about two poems. However, your thesis should concern itself with where they overlap/where they differ. That is, two poems are not “doing” the same thing, although they may both engage with the same idea or message.
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