How to Write a Literary Analysis Mini-Essay

ENGL 1100 Reading and Writing about Literature

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Task

Essay – Dr. Marc Acherman

This mini-essay is an opportunity for you to begin developing your ideas about one of the three assigned stories in relation to the literary theory from its corresponding week.

Successful mini-essays will not only provide a persuasive literary analysis of this story but will also show that you understand and can apply the approaches of a literary theory.

Step 1: Study the Options

Option 1: Feminism

Parker, “Feminism” (151-63; 173-82) + Aimee Bender’s “Off” (107-18)
Keyword Options: “misogyny,” “patriarchy,” “male gaze,” “female agency,” “gender (performance),” “visual pleasure,” “masculinization of spectators”
Due Date: Monday 19 October at 1 pm

Option 2: Queer Studies

Parker, “Queer Studies” (191-9; 203-20) + Jennifer Egan’s “Out of Body” (186-207)
Keyword Options: “compulsory heterosexuality,” “polymorphous desire,”“closeting,” “homosociality,” “homosexual panic,” “heteronormativity,” “binaries”
Due Date: Monday 26 October at 1 pm

Option 3: Postcolonialism

Parker, “Postcolonialism” (298-324) + Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies” (484-503)
Keyword Options: “other(ness),” “Orientalism,” “hybridity,” “internalized racism,” “mimicry,” “diaspora,” “strategic essentialism”
Due Date: Monday 2 November at 1 pm

Step 2: Choose an Option

Choose one of the three options. There are only eight spots available for each option, so choose a back-up too. Post your preference as a new thread to the assigned discussion topic. Slots will be filled in order of posting.

Step 3: Analyze the Story

Read the story in detail and develop an interpretation of it based on your analysis of its ideas and the language through which those ideas are expressed. Do not forget the tools of New Criticism when you do so. You need to have your own ideas before introducing theory.

Step 4: Choose a Keyword (Theoretical Concept)

Read the chapter of How to Interpret Literature that corresponds to your story. As you do, you must select one keyword from the list beneath your option (Each keyword represents a key theoretical concept from the chapter of Parker). For instance, you might write about “Off” and “patriarchy” or “Out of Body” and “heteronormativity,” or “Interpreter of Maladies” and “mimicry.”

Step 5: Write your Mini-Essay

Your mini-essay will consist of Two paragraphs: an introduction and a body paragraph. Please follow exactly the structure listed below:

Structure

Paragraph 1: Introduction

a) Topic: Open by identifying the full title of the text, full name of the author, and the topic keyword(s) for your essay (T.C. Boyle’s “Greasy Lake” is about masculinity.) Your topic keyword/phrase should be the theoretical concept you have taken from Parker’s chapter on that week’s theory. Narrow this keyword to your specific argument (use adjectives, as one strategy).

b) Definition: Properly quote, paraphrase and cite Parker to show your understanding of the theoretical concept.

c) Problem: In a few sentences, identify and briefly explain, without quoting, a “problem” in the story relevant to your chosen concept. This problem must be explained through reference to the story and must reflect the concerns of an interpreter using the theory you have chosen. What for instance, would interest a feminist theorist about “Off,” or a Queer Studies theorist about “Out of Body”?

d) Thesis: Write a one to two sentence thesis related to the problem you explain above (“Greasy Lake” suggests…) that reflects the concerns of the theory. It should show what comment the story makes on the theoretical concept (topic) from above.

Paragraph 2: Analytical Body Paragraph

a) Topic Sentence: Include a single sentence consisting of a category of evidence, analytical verb, and an argumentative claim that previews the paragraph’s content.

b) Evidence: Properly quote, paraphrase and cite evidence taken directly from the story that fits into your category of evidence and proves your argumentative claim.

c) Analysis: Refer back to your evidence and explain how it supports your claim. Use vocabulary from your theory where appropriate or helpful.

d) [Repeat with new Evidence/Analysis, as needed]

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