Remember That A Literary Analysis Should Provide Insightful

Remember That A Literary Analysis Should Provide Insightful Explanation

For your revisions, I suggest focusing on: 1. Remember that a literary analysis should provide insightful explanation to a piece of fiction. If you look at two or three of a character’s actions (as suggested by the prompt), remember that you are not merely looking at them, but examining them. You should be addressing why they happened. Why did Jackson do the things he did? What were his motives? What influenced him to make those decisions? 2. The introduction to a paper is a very important section, in that it sets the expectations of the reader. While there is no one formula for a good introduction, in general, an introduction to a formal paper of this type should accomplish the following: Attract the reader’s attention; Define and explain any keywords; Introduce your topic; Establish why the reader should care about your topic; State your thesis. Please try to do these things in your introduction. For more help writing your introduction, click here: 3. The last sentence of your introduction paragraph should state your thesis. A thesis conveys your position on a topic and provides focus for your essay—basically, it is what you are hoping to accomplish or prove in this paper. A simple equation for a thesis statement might look something like this: Specific topic + your opinion or the claim + your reasons = Thesis. You can structure your thesis like this: Topic is [opinion] because of X, Y, and Z, or Because of X, Y, and Z, Topic is/can be seen as/should/should not [opinion]. Try adding a thesis like this to the end of your introduction. For help writing a thesis, click here: The introduction of an essay is important. It provides context by acquainting the audience with the concepts they will need in order to understand the essay and its significance. The last sentence of the introduction is the thesis, which states what the essay is intended to prove and outlines the supporting points that prove it, presenting the defining argument of the essay. That argument should directly answer the prompt, which asks that your essay "Discuss the character’s motivations and decisions in terms you can support with clear evidence from a critical reading of the text." Any words, ideas, or information from a source other than your own original thoughts, whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, should come with an in-text citation. The outlined supporting points of the thesis provide a framework for the body of the essay, with a paragraph dedicated to each of the points. This ensures that the thesis and the body are mutually supportive, unifying them in their direction and goals. You might consider whether these two sentiments are in agreement. Watch out for redundancies in your language. Consider whether having both of these words lends any additional meaning to the sentence. Sector or departments A quote is not usually left as a standalone sentence. Context informs how a quote is understood. Alone, how a quote is explained and interpreted is left in the audience's hands. Further, the citation of a quote should include the have sequential pages, the paragraph number is used instead. Keep the prompt in mind at all times while writing. It asks about Jackson's motivations and decisions. Remember that the focus is not on what Jackson does and thinks but why he does and thinks those things. Each entry in the reference page should have a hanging indent. List of Writing Prompts For students: There are three prompts below each with four texts. For your literary analysis essay, choose ONE prompt and text pairing that interests you. Then, take a look at the guiding questions for the text you choose. You don’t necessarily need to answer all of these questions in your paper. The questions are there to help get you thinking in a direction that will be more likely to lead you to a successful literary analysis. PROMPT 1. Write an analysis of a key character in a literary work. Focus on two or three key actions of that character. Discuss the character’s motivations and decisions in terms you can support with clear evidence from a critical reading of the text. Consider whether this character’s actions fit together or contradict each other. You may also want to consider whether or not any other characters in the story are aware of this conflict, and if so, how they influence the character you are writing about. Literary Works (choose one): “Interpreter of Maladies” (Jhumpa Lahiri, 1999) Guiding Questions: 1. How does a new outsider community member like Mrs. Das influence Mr. Kapasi, who seems to have become bored with his life and his role in the community? 2. How does Mr. Kapasi’s desire for Mrs. Das make him unable to understand Mrs. Das’ desires, leading to his failure to fulfill his role as the Interpreter of Maladies? 3. How do the Das family’s actions surrounding their children show that their desires or interests do not accord with their obligations? “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” (Sherman Alexie, 2003) Guiding Questions: 1. How does the grandmother’s property at the pawn shop help to define the narrator’s desires and feeling of obligation to recover it? Why is it so important? 2. How does the character accomplish his objective, and how is this surprising considering all of the unfortunate events and bad decisions he makes along the way? 3. How do the other characters--the Aleuts, the pawn shop owner, the waitress, the police officer, the other Indians at the bar--each play an important role in showing how the narrator is committed to an important mission he is worthy of completing? “We Came All the Way from Cuba so You Could Dress Like This?” (Achy Obejas, 1994) Guiding questions: 1. To what conflicts does the title allude (social? Political? Cultural? others?)? 2. The first-person narrator switches tenses (from present to future). How does this create tension in the story? 3. How is the narrator’s internal conflict (“man v. self”) merely an internalization of political, familial, and social conflict? “The Things They Carried” (Tim O’Brien, 1990) Guiding Questions: 1. The second paragraph of the story begins, “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity” (O’Brien, 1990). Were the soldiers truly able to carry everything they needed? What needs were left unfulfilled by these items, and what in the story suggests this? 2. The narrator also lists specific items that each man carried. How do these items symbolize the emotions that they carried with them, and how does this understanding enrich our understanding of the characters? 3. Often a comparative analysis can help us to notice elements of a story that we might not otherwise notice. Choose two or three characters and compare the things they carried. How does this comparison help qualities of each come to the surface? PROMPT 2. In some stories, characters come into conflict with the culture in which they live. Often, a character feels alienated in his/her community or society due to race, gender, class or ethnic background. The texts below all contain a character who is ‘outcast’ or otherwise disconnected from society in some way, reflecting important ideas about both the character and the surrounding society’s assumptions, morality, and values. Choose a text and consider the questions below as you critically read the text. Then, craft a working thesis that suggests how this alienation is expressed in the text and why it is significant. Literary Works (choose one): “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” (Sherman Alexie, 2003) Guiding Questions: 1. What beliefs and values from Native American culture does the narrator consider important, based on ideas and actions in the story? 2. What kinds of experience and values do characters share across cultural differences like Native Americans and whites, or even between different native groups in the story? 3. How do the bisexual character, the narrator, and the homeless characters in the story all demonstrate and resolve different “outsider” identities? “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (Gabriel García Márquez, 1955) Guiding Questions: 1. How is the supernatural made familiar and the familiar defamiliarized in the story? Is the angel made more human? Are humans made supernatural or less humane? 2. How is the tension between supernatural and human resolved (or not) in the story? 3. What does the community’s treatment of this ‘outsider’ reveal about its culture, values, and beliefs? “A Hunger Artist” (Franz Kafka, 1924) – 7.5 in Journey into Literature Guiding Questions: 1. What is the “hunger artist’s” art, and how does it challenge the understanding of the men who look after the artist as well as the audience that ignores him? 2. Why does the artist have to explain so much about his “art” throughout the story-- is he explaining it for others to understand or as part of his own self-definition? 3. How does the young panther capture the audience’s attention so easily yet they ignore the artist-- what does this say about “appreciating” what others value? “Everyday Use” (Alice Walker, 1973) Guiding Questions: 1. How do we know that the protagonist is impoverished? Is she content with her class? Why or why not? 2. How do we know that she is African-American? How does her alienation due to her race also connect with her education? 3. The protagonist’s daughter, Dee, who has embraced her African roots, accuses her mother of not understanding her heritage. Why? What is the situational irony at the end of the story? PROMPT 3. Consider the role of setting, or context, in one of the works. For example, a story that takes place in a wild and natural setting might include characters struggling against nature to survive. A story set in a city might include themes of alienation and anonymity because of the impersonal crowds and busy city life. Cultural contexts can combine with both urban and rural elements to produce further meaning, as well. Consider the following questions as you critically read one of the texts below: Does the protagonist conflict with the setting or have particular interactions with it? Does the protagonist’s relationship with the setting connect with his/her development as a character? Does the setting reveal other themes and conflicts? Literary Works (choose one from any of the lists below): “The Man of the Crowd” (Edgar Allan Poe, 1845) Guiding Questions: 1. How does the city setting—busy streets, buildings with specific purposes, dark backstreets—produce a disorienting and confining experience for people in the story? 2. How do all of the different occupations and “types” of workers in the city combine to communicate that no one is an individual person and no one really knows each other? 3. What sorts of problems do the narrator and some of the other characters have as a result of this alienating city life? (Think of the narrator’s obsession with the man.) “The Things They Carried” (O’Brien, 1990) Guiding Questions: 1. How does the story communicate the uncertain and frightening setting these soldier-characters experience? (Consider repeated phrases or other devices.) 2. What sorts of emotions, such as stress or fear, does the Vietnam context cause the characters to experience? Consider how these emotions might be “told” to us in multiple ways. 3. How do the soldiers in the story cope with their setting/context, whether through imagined escapes or other means, and are they successful? “A Worn Path” (Eudora Welty, 1941) Guiding Questions: 1. Clugston suggests that “[t]he setting in this story is in a particular season—the Christmas season.” Why is this significant considering the plot? 2. Clugston (2011) further writes: “The physical setting changes during Phoenix Jackson’s journey. How does each environment she encounters reflect her character?” 3. Phoenix Jackson encounters many obstacles on her journey. To what non-physical challenges do they allude? “Sonny’s Blues” (James Baldwin, 1957) Guiding Questions: 1. How do the characters’ interactions with the multi-faceted “local color” and communities of Harlem articulate the differences between those characters? 2. What does the story suggest about a neighborhood’s cultural identity and the diverse life experiences possible, even when people seem to come from the same place? 3. What aspects of the setting (the neighborhood, the school, etc.) could be characterized as liberating or oppressive, and how is this reflected in the characters? List of Literary Techniques

Technique Description

Allusion A reference to a recognized literary work, person, historic event, artistic achievement, etc., that enhances the meaning of a detail in a literary work.

Climax The crisis or high point of tension that becomes the story’s turning point—the point at which the outcome of the conflict is determined.

Conflict The struggle that shapes the plot in a story.

Dramatic irony When the reader or audience knows more about the action than the character involved.

Epiphany A profound and sudden personal discovery.

Exposition Setting and essential background information presented at the beginning of a story or play.

Falling action A reduction in intensity following the climax, allowing the various complications to be worked out.

Fate An outside source that determines human events.

Figurative language Language used in a non-literal way to convey images and ideas.

Figures of speech The main tools of figurative language; include similes and metaphors.

First-person point of view Occurs when the narrator is a character in the story and tells the story from his or her perspective.

Flashback The description of an event that occurred prior to the action in the story.

Foreshadowing A technique a writer uses to hint or suggest what the outcome of an important conflict or situation in a narrative

Paper For Above instruction

In analyzing the motivations and decisions of Jackson in literature, it is crucial to focus on the deeper psychological and contextual factors that drive his actions. The goal of a literary analysis is to go beyond surface-level descriptions and provide insightful explanations that reveal why characters behave in particular ways, especially in relation to their motives, influences, and internal conflicts. This paper will examine Jackson’s actions within the framework of his motives and the factors influencing those motives, supported by critical reading and textual evidence.

To begin, a strong introduction should attract the reader’s attention, define relevant keywords, introduce the main topic, explain its significance, and clearly state the thesis. For example, when analyzing Jackson’s character, the thesis should articulate a specific perspective on his actions, such as: "Jackson’s decisions are shaped by his internal conflicts and societal influences, which manifest through his behaviors and interactions." This thesis guides the subsequent analysis, with each body paragraph dedicated to a supporting point that collectively substantiates the main argument.

Evaluating Jackson’s motives requires examining his actions critically and asking why he behaves as he does. For instance, his decisions might be influenced by personal longing, societal pressure, or internal struggles with morality. It is essential to reference specific scenes or actions, explaining how these moments reveal underlying motives. For example, when discussing his decision to act in a particular way, mention supporting evidence from the text, such as dialogue, inner thoughts, or contextual descriptions.

Understanding the character’s internal conflicts and external influences helps in constructing a comprehensive analysis. For instance, Jackson may be torn between societal expectations and personal desires, which could result in actions that appear contradictory or complex. Similarly, historical or cultural context can shed light on his motivations, such as societal norms during the period or cultural values that shape his decisions.

Additionally, the analysis should explore how Jackson’s decisions impact the narrative and other characters. Do his motives align with his actions, or are they hidden beneath surface behaviors? Do other characters perceive his motives? How do these perceptions influence the story’s development? Such questions deepen the understanding of Jackson’s character and enhance the analysis’ insightfulness.

In conclusion, a thorough literary analysis of Jackson’s motivations and decisions demands examining both internal psychological factors and external societal influences. Evidence from the text must be used to explore the reasons behind his actions, helping to articulate a clear and supported thesis. This approach ensures a nuanced understanding of how character motives drive narrative development and thematic expression in literature.

References

• O’Brien, Tim. (1990). The Things They Carried. Houghton Mifflin.
• Lahiri, Jhumpa. (1999). Interpreter of Maladies. Houghton Mifflin.
• Alexie, Sherman. (2003). What You Pawn, I Will Redeem. Little, Brown.
• García Marquez, Gabriel. (1955). A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Editorial Sudamericana.
• Kafka, Franz. (1924). A Hunger Artist. Verlag Die Schmiede.
• Walker, Alice. (1973). Everyday Use. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Poe, Edgar Allan. (1845). The Man of the Crowd. Graham’s Magazine.
• Baldwin, James. (1957). Sonny’s Blues. Partisan Review.
• Welty, Eudora. (1941). A Worn Path. The Atlantic Monthly.
• García Márquez, Gabriel. (1955). A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Editorial Sudamericana.