Lone Star College
Lone StarCollege
English 1302
Spring 2013
Literary Analysis Essay #1
Due Dates:
February 8th–Topic Proposal Due. Sample proposal on reverse side of assignment. You need to type the proposal on a Word document and bring to class on February 8th. I will write comments on the proposal and give it back to you in class.
February 13th –Bring typed draft to class for peer edit
February 15th– Submit literary analysis paper to and bring final copy and peer edited rough draft to class.
Instructions:
Write a 2 ½ -3 page analysis over one of the following works:
Andre Dubus - “Killings”
Tim O’Brien – “How to Tell a War Story”
Joyce Carol Oates – “Three Girls”
William Faulkner - “A Rose for Emily”
Fay Weldon – “IND AFF or Out of Love in Sarajevo”
Anton Chekhov – “The Lady with the Pet Dog”
Oates - “The Lady with the Pet Dog”
Ralph Ellison – “Battle Royal”
Susan Minot – “Lust”
Directions:
Your paper must reach the third page of analysis to fulfill the minimum requirements, and end on the third page to not exceed the maximum.
Your analysis should focus on how point of view, character, setting, symbolism, tone, irony, figurative language etc. function to create the theme of your chosen story.
This is not a research assignment. You are being asked to analyze a given work through your observations of what an author is using to make his or her point.
What you should do is quote or paraphrase details from your chosen story and comment on how they create an effect in the reader.
Literary Analysis
Paper Proposal
After reading “The Story of an Hour,” I was hit with a powerful irony that ran through the story. We as readers appeared to be being led by the author in the way she revealed and withheld information. It was interesting to observe how the different characters reacted to the news of Brently Mallard’s death, and how we the reader knew what they did not. I also appreciated the symbols the author employed to suggest the sense of freedom Mrs. Mallard feels in the story before the return of her husband and her sudden death.
Tentative thesis: In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” the author’s narrative point of view, use of archetypal symbolism, and overall sense of irony reveal the author’s intentions of showing how an individual can be imprisoned in society.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Rpt. In The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Ed. Allison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 607-08. Print.