Mrs. Cavolt’s Guide to Writing a Literary Analysis Essay.

Literary Analysis EssayMrs. Cavolt’s Guide to Writing a Literary Analysis Essay

Table of contents in your writing journal

Literary Analysis 1

Thesis Statements 2

Topic Sentences 3

Evidence 4

Literary Analysis Purpose

The goal of a Literary Analysis Essay is to discuss your interpretation of a piece of literature using a specific literary focus (like motifs, themes, humor, characterization, or, in our case, moral ambiguity…)

TO KEEP IN MIND AS YOU WRITE

Never use “I”, “you”, “we”, “our” (even though this is your interpretation, you may not provide opinions)

Always talk about literature in present tense

Do not retell the story in your essay (this is not a book report)

CONTINUED

Paper set-up

Intro with thesis

1st Body Paragraph- Elaborates on one morally ambiguous quality

2nd Body Paragraph- Elaborates on another morally ambiguous quality

3rd Body Paragraph- Elaborates on yet another morally ambiguous quality

Conclusion

All of your Paragraphs must directly connect to your thesis!!!

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

What is a literary analysis essay? What does it do?

What tense does your essay need to be in?

What are some words you may not use in your essay (unless in your quotes)?

How is this literary analysis essay set up?

THESIS STATEMENTS

Thesis statements make an argument that you work to prove throughout your essay.

It is NOT your TITLE (although your TITLE should certainly relate to your THESIS)

It is NOT a statement of fact or opinion (i.e., “Frankenstein is a novel with morally ambiguous characters in it.”)

CONTINUED

Thesis Throughout Frankenstein, [insert character] is shown

to exhibit both good and evil qualities. Mary Shelley’s portrayal of [insert character] as a morally ambiguous character uncovers the significance to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Example: Throughout Frankenstein, the monster is shown to exhibit

both good and evil qualities. Mary Shelley’s portrayal of the monster as a morally ambiguous character uncovers the significance to the meaning of the work as a whole.

I am arguing that the monster is a morally ambiguous character and that Shelley’s portrayal of the monster in this way is significant to the novel.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

What are thesis statements supposed to do/not do in a literary analysis essay?

TOPIC SENTENCES

Topic sentences must directly connect to your thesis statement and work as the reasons that prove your thesis.

What that means is that you must use the same wording in each of your topic sentences as you use in your thesis.

EXAMPLES

Thesis: Throughout Frankenstein, the monster is shown to exhibit both good and

evil qualities. Mary Shelley’s portrayal of the monster as a morally ambiguous character uncovers the significance to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Topic Sentences: BP #1- The monster is morally ambiguous because he commits violent,

evil murders throughout the novel, yet only murders because of the knowledge he has gained through watching society’s behaviors.

BP #2- The monster is also neither good nor evil because he has a good heart and only wishes to be accepted by society, yet he realizes that he will never be accepted and yearns for revenge.

BP#3- Furthermore, the monster is morally ambiguous to the reader because he ends up inadvertently killing Victor by taking him on a “hunt” for him, yet does this simply because he is lonely.

Notice, your topic sentence must show one reason why the character is morally ambiguous.

Therefore, you have to show one trait (good or evil) and another that opposes that trait. This is what makes the character morally ambiguous!

What are some morally ambiguous traits you can think of? He steals food, yet he only does this because he is

hungry. She likes to gossip, yet she only does this because she

is insecure about her self.▪ Can you think of any others? Pair share.

Topic Sentences

Notice, your topic sentence must show one reason why the character is morally ambiguous.

Therefore, you have to show one trait (good or evil) and another that opposes that trait. This is what makes the character morally ambiguous!

BP #1- The monster is morally ambiguous because he commits violent, evil murders throughout the novel, yet only murders because of the knowledge he has gained through watching society’s behaviors.

BP #2- The monster is also neither good nor evil because he has a good heart and only wishes to be accepted by society, yet he realizes that he will never be accepted and yearns for revenge.

BP#3- Furthermore, the monster is morally ambiguous to the reader because he ends up inadvertently killing Victor by taking him on a “hunt” for him, yet does this simply because he is lonely.

Challenge! (5 min)

Come up with one topic sentence for your essay.

Raise your hand when you are done so I can come over and check it.

Evidence

Evidence must…

directly support your topic sentence and thesis statement (after choosing it, check if it proves your thesis and topic sentence)

prove your argument

be a quote taken directly from the novel (for each paragraph!!!)

Example

T.S. #2- The monster is also neither good nor evil because he has a good heart and only wishes to be accepted by society, yet he realizes that he will never be accepted and yearns for revenge.

Evidence: “I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of the wound which shattered the flesh and bone […] I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143).

Does this evidence support my topic sentence, thesis, and prove my argument?

Continued

Always set your evidence up by providing context for your quote.

Answer the who, what, where, when, and how

After the monster suffered yet another violent encounter from society, he stumbles on a human drowning and after saving her he is shot by another human. He clearly understands that although “[He] had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense [he] now writhed under the miserable pain of the wound which shattered the flesh and bone […] [he] vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143).

What to do with long quotes? If you have a longer quote and you do not need to

include everything OR you are taking a section of a quote OR you need to insert a word, use brackets and ellipses.

“I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of the wound which shattered the flesh and bone […] I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143).

“[…] writhed under the miserable pain of the wound which shattered flesh and bone” (Shelley 143).

“I now writhed under the miserable pain [from the gunshot] which shattered flesh and bone” (Shelley 143).

Check for Understanding

What is evidence?

What does the evidence do?

What are the three ways to use brackets?

Table of Contents

Literary Analysis 1

Thesis Statements 2

Topic Sentences 3

Evidence 4

Parenthetical Citations 5

Analysis 6

Effective Intros and Conclusions 7

Parenthetical Citations

Why use parenthetical citations? Parenthetical citations tell the reader

exactly where you found your evidence so the reader could technically find your quote if he/she wishes to do more research or confirm where you found your info.

It is absolutely necessary that you follow the correct format (it is part of the MLA guidelines)

Example

Format for novels only:

“Quote” (Author’s Last Name page number).

“Quote” (Shelley 36).

period goes after the citation

no punctuation here! Quotation marks follow the quote. no punctuation inside

the parenthesis

Continued

When you set a quote into the middle of a sentence, you always cite at the end of the sentence not the end of the quote.

Example:Victor exclaimed, “Beautiful- Great God” when he first looked upon the monster he had created(Shelley 58).

Analysis

Can not be a summary of the play or a recap of your evidence.

The goal of analysis is to prove your thesis and topic sentence and show the significance of your evidence.

You need to “dig-deeper” to reveal something new to your audience.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR ESSAY- IT SHOULD BE AT LEAST 3-5 SENTECNES AND IT MUST BE WELL THOUGHT OUT!!!!!

Frankenstein Analysis

To discuss for this essay:

▪ Explain how this [evidence] is an example of moral ambiguity (what makes this character neither good nor evil?)

▪ Explain why this [evidence] is significant to the novel (why is it important that Shelley made this character morally ambiguous?). Make sure this directly connects to your evidence, topic sentence and thesis.

Continued…

You want to use/mention as many literary devices as possible to help with your interpretation: Romantic/Gothic characteristics Character types Foil And/or allusions

Example

The monster is also neither good nor evil because he has a good heart and only wishes to be accepted by society, yet he realizes that he will never be accepted and yearns for revenge. After the monster suffered yet another violent encounter from society, he stumbles on a human drowning and after saving her he is shot by another human. He clearly understands that although “[He] had saved a human being from destruction, [...] as a recompense [he] now writhed under the miserable pain of the wound which shattered the flesh and bone […] [he] vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143). The monster is a dynamic being with a good heart, yet over and over again he is hurt and this time he vows revenge. It is clear that the monster resorts to take out his violent revenge on society only after he has determined once and for all that he will never fit in with other humans because of his hideous appearance. The monster’s moral ambiguity is significant to the novel because the readers sympathize with the monster even after he commits violent murders because the readers know he tried everything in his power to interact kindly with them. Even though he is a monster, Shelley forces the readers to see his good heart in hopes that they will be left to decide who the “real” monster is in the end.

Effective Introductions and Conclusions

Staple handout into your notebook