Literary Analysis Paper: Montresor as an Unreliable Narrator

Instructions and Assignment Directions

Part 1

Instructions: Imagine that you are writing a literary analysis paper about “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe. You have already written your thesis statement for the paper.

Thesis Statement: Montresor, though an unreliable narrator, is an effective villain because of his study of human nature.

You have also planned out your body paragraphs. You already have body paragraphs one and two fleshed out, but you need to incorporate David S. Reynolds’ “On ‘The Cask of Amontillado’” as an outside source in body paragraph three.

Complete the following body paragraph by selecting a quotation from David S. Reynold’s criticism and incorporating it into the body paragraph using the Quote Sandwich Method.

Please write a one-paragraph response (five-to-seven sentences) using complete sentences and correct grammar and punctuation to answer the following question(s). Use evidence (quotations, paraphrases, and/or summaries) from the texts you read in the module to support your response. Remember to include MLA in-text citations wherever needed.

Is Montresor a trustworthy narrator? Why or why not? Use evidence (quotations, paraphrases, and/or summaries) from the literature to support your answer. Remember to include in-text citations.

Part 2 :

Assignment Directions

Please submit your thesis statement for Essay #2 here. You can submit your thesis statement by clicking on the bold assignment title above, and then click the "Write Submission" box. Type your thesis into the submission box and click "Submit" when you are finished.

Refer to the attached instructions and rubric documents for guidance on how to write your thesis.

Essay #2: Literary Analysis is like Essay #1: Literary Analysis but with two major differences:

• It is longer than Essay #1.
• You must now use two scholarly sources in your essay.
Your assignment for Essay #2 is to write a 400 word literary analysis about ONE of the following texts we have read in class. DO NOT choose the same work you wrote about in
• Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”
• Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”
• Langston Hughes, “Harlem”
• Stacey Waite, “The Kind of Man I Am at the DMV”
• Alice Walker, “Everyday Use”
• William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”
• Susan Glaspell, Trifles
• Sandra Cisneros, “Woman Hollering Creek”
What is a literary analysis?
In Essay #1, you wrote a literary analysis using the New Criticist lens. A literary analysis breaks an element of a piece of literature down into small pieces in order to help the reader understand the text better. In other words, your goal is the same in Essay #1 and Essay #2: to suggest a possible interpretation of the literary work. Some common topics of literary analyses include:
• Speaker/Narrator
• Setting
• Plot
• Characters
• Theme
• Tone
• Symbolism
• Irony
• Literary Figures (i.e. Imagery, Onomatopoeia, Simile/Metaphor, etc.)

Once you have chosen your text and your element of Formalist criticism, you must write an argumentative thesis statement on your chosen text and element. Remember, an argumentative thesis statement must meet two criteria:

• Someone can disagree with you.
• You can back up what you are saying with summaries, paraphrases, and quotations from the text.
Often, the best argumentative thesis statements answer the question, “So what? Why

Part 3 :

Planning Worksheet Fill in your thesis statement, your topic sentences, and the specific evidence you plan to use – both from the literature and your single scholarly source – in the essay Planning Worksheet form provided above.

Submit your completed Planning Worksheet to this submission link by the due date listed in the Schedule of Activities. The Essay Planning Worksheet and a rubric are provided. Full instructions on how to complete and submit the worksheet can be found

Part 4:

Choose one literary work you read in this module and discuss how the work addresses one or more feminist issues (e.g. gender equality, women working outside the home, domestic abuse). Use evidence (quotations, paraphrases, and/or summaries) from the text to support your answer. Remember to include in-text citations.

Part 5:

Please submit Essay #2 here in .docx (Microsoft Word) format. Underline your thesis statement, your topic sentences, and where you use your required scholarly source in your essay. Remember that you MUST use one scholarly source from IRSC Library Databases in your essay to receive full credit. Using a source in your essay means that you must quote, paraphrase, or summarize the source according to the Quote Sandwich Method AND include both an in-text citation and Works Cited Entry. Only putting the source on your Works Cited page DOES NOT count as using the source. Refer to the attached instructions and rubric documents for guidance.