Literary Analysis of Poetry and/or Short Stories

For your first essay, you will write a literary analysis essay about two texts of your choice from the assigned poems and short stories ( I chose “Corner” from poems and “Bartleby” from short stories). You will develop a theory about both texts: you can compare the motivations or personalities of two characters, apply a shared theme or idea, explore gender roles or economic issues, or something else.

The following are suggestions for approaches to take. You can follow one exactly, use one as a jumping off point (that is, you don’t have to answer each part of the question if you don’t want to), change one, combine two, or make up your own. 

  1. Apply a theme or idea of your choice to two texts by performing a close reading of them. In close reading, we focus very tightly on the language the author useswhat meaning we can extract from the language: word choice and placement, details included or not mentioned by the author, the structure of the text ,and any patterns that arise. In close reading, we want to stick as closely to the words on the page as possible, drawing whatever meaning we can from them alone. Form a theory about what the texts mean, compare how each text relates to the theme or idea, and support it using evidence from the text.
  2. Some of the poemsCorner, Suicide Note, 12 hour nightand the storiesfocus on a conflict between the individual and society. Form a theory about what one or more of these texts suggest happens when the desires / ethics / perspectives of one person are different from those of society as a whole. What sort of pressure does society use when an individual goes against its norms?
  3. Suicide Note, Bitch, and The Bridegroom all deal with the position of women in modern life. These may be comments about, defenses of, or reactions to gender norms and/or patriarchy (the power system of male rule). form a theory about the status / condition / of women as the author(s) see it. How are men shown to act and how does society want them to act?
  4. Form a theory about how punishment and rehabilitation figure into Bartleby and The Bridegroom. What is the stated purpose of the prison system for the characters Bartleby and Baowen? What is the actual effect on these two menare they corrected by them? What might the authors be saying about human nature and our efforts to change it? What do they seem to think about the ability of prisons and hospitals to change bad behavior?
  5. Perform a character analysis on two characters of your choice from two different texts of your choice. Look closely at their actions, words, appearance, and relationships with others to form a theory about this characters inner qualities. You should choose two characters that share something in common so you can compare/contrast them in your essay. You may want to focus on a few important scenes and explain how these shed light on the characters’ essence. What explains their motivations?
  6. Form a theory about what Bartleby, The Bridegroom, and 12 hour night (choose two) are telling us about the workplace and what it does to individuals. Each one explores the obligations that employees have to their employers and vice versa. What does work do to these characters? You may want to explore what the authors are saying about capitalism and its values.
  7. Investigate ideas about suicide in two of the texts. In Western culture, suicide is often shameful, considered to be “giving up,” “taking the easy way out,” or a cruel act towards one’s family and friends. Do the characters and authors seem to be supporting this view or treating suicide in a different way? 
  8. Choose a topic of your own. You must run it by me before you write on it, however.  Email me to get my approval before you start writing.

Guidelines

  • Make sure you have a bold, clear, arguable thesis statement about the meaning of the texts. A reasonable reader should be able to disagree with your thesis or else you don’t have enough to prove in your essay.
  • When making claims about the meaning, always support them with evidence from the text: direct quotes and summaries of important scenes and actions. Do not go on and on summarizing the plot of the story. Tell us what the plot points show us about the meaning.
  • Ask yourself constantlyam I analyzing the text, or just describing/summarizing it? You should do both, but at least half of the essay should be explaining the meaning (analyzing).
  • Make sure to follow the 2106 MLA format. That means use in-text citations when quoting and summarizing (last name of author page # if there is one). You also much include a Works Cited page, even if you only use the assigned texts. (See Instructions below for resources on using MLA format.) You are encouraged not to use outside articles about the texts you choose, but if you do, be especially careful about citing the author. If you use words or ideas that are not your own but do not cite them, you will get a zero.
  • Minimum length is four full pagesmaximum is five. If your essay is shorter than the end of page four, your grade will be penalized depending on how short it is.