California State Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Task–Literature Analysis Essay Write a 4- to 6-page essay that analyzes one or more

California State Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Task–Literature Analysis Essay

Write a 4- to 6-page essay that analyzes one or more of the works discussed during the entire semester. These works include the following:

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Your “Course Documents” in the “Writing Literature Essays” folder in your Blackboard course shell contains much information about how to write a literary analysis essay.

For this assignment, you must write about a piece of literature you’ve been assigned to read for your course. Your essay must be an argument that provides your interpretation/analysis of the work and supports that claim with appropriate and sufficient details (evidence) from the work. Your interpretation must come from your own reading and thinking about the work—not from critical or literary analyses you have read about it (including CliffsNotes and SparkNotes).

Here’s a step-by-step process for tackling this significant assignment (20% of your final grade):

INVENTION

oExplore Your Topic

§Examine what you already think about the text. Reread your Reading Journals and reread the Threaded Discussions about the work(s) you would like to write about.

§Consider what PERSPECTIVE you’d like to use to examine the work(s). Look up perspectives and their explanations in the Course Glossary. Some examples include the following:

üCultural Perspective

üHistorical Perspective

üPsychological Perspective

üMarxist Perspective

üBiographical Perspective

üFeminist Perspective

üFormalist Perspective

§Or, consider a SPECIFIC LITERARY TOOL that the author used that you’d like to explore more deeply. Some examples include the following:

üCharacterization

üLanguage

üSymbolism

PLANNING

oDevelop a Claim

§You must develop a central, controlling claim—the main argument you plan to support in your essay. Without a clear claim, the essay goes nowhere—it rambles, making points that seem unrelated.

DRAFTING

oWrite a draft of your literary analysis.

§Sandwiching Information: One technique for developing paragraphs in a literary analysis paper is to link your mini-claim to solid textual evidence. You must be sure to connect your evidence in your own words to the point that you are making. You cannot assume that your reader will see the connection between the evidence you cite and the claim you are making. To sandwich the body of your essay, state a mini-claim (supporting the major claim), then explain it and support it with information either quoted directly or paraphrased from the text. Next, explain the paraphrase or quote, and bring in more evidence. This explanation of material tells the reader what the paraphrase or quote means to your overall argument.

REVISING

oSet aside your first draft for a while, then come back to it asking these questions:

§What do you think is the strongest part of your literary analysis?

§What do you think is the weakest part?

§Think about your main claim:

üIs it reasonable and logical?

üAre you making a point you believe in or are you just trying to fulfill the assignment?

üAre you making the argument you want to make?

üIf not, how can you revise your claim to reflect this new idea?

EDITING

oAfter the content of your essay is complete, then work on the less important editing issues: capitalization, commas, etc. The process of writing an essay will vary from writer to writer and from assignment to
assignment. No one can provide a foolproof recipe for essay writing, but here are a number of
possible approaches and exercises which you may test and refine.
Getting Started
The first step in writing an essay involves scrutinizing the assignment. Make sure that you fully
understand what you are being asked to do (or not do) in your essay.
Consider which elements of the essay are prescribed for you by the assignment and which
choices are left to you as the writer.
If you let your initial impressions, or “gut reactions,” guide you when choosing a text to write
about, you will likely benefit from the engagement you feel with the work. On the other hand,
you might find that you are too close or too invested in the text to be critical or to find something
new to say.
Some of the best essays are the result of the analysis of literary works that initially puzzle or
frustrate the reader.
Some general topics can be adapted to an essay on almost any literary text. You should
approach these general topics as starting points and remember that you will need to adapt and
refine them to your purposes.
A common type of literary essay explores the significance of a seemingly insignificant aspect or
element of a work.
Other common types of literary essays focus on characters. These might explore a character’s
worldview and its consequences, the development of a character, or a conflict between two
characters.
You might generate topics by analyzing your initial response to a literary text, asking yourself
why or how the work affirmed or challenged your expectations, assumptions, or convictions.
You might generate topics by analyzing the tone, speaker, situation, or any other element of the
text.
You might generate topics by considering motives your reader might have for reading your
essay.
Consider which elements of a text a casual reader might misinterpret.
Think about interesting paradoxes, contradictions, or tensions you can explicate in the text.
Consider seemingly insignificant aspects of the texts that might in fact have major significance.
It is a good idea to come up with as many topics as you can and then test them out to determine
which will yield the best essay.
When moving from a topic to a thesis, it helps to formulate a specific question about the topic
and develop a specific answer. The answer will serve as your thesis.
Planning
In general, it works best to begin the planning process by first deciding how to structure your
argument, ordering your claims and sub-ideas in an outline. After you have constructed an
outline, you will have a sense of what kinds of evidence you need to support your claims.
Create a sentence outline by writing down your thesis and the listing each claim.
Create a topic outline by listing each of the topics to be covered.
After constructing an outline, reread the text to gather evidence to support each claim. Be sure
to pay attention to evidence that challenges or complicates your argument. You may need to
readjust or refine your claims as you take such evidence into account.
On occasion, you might find it useful to gather evidence from the text first and then formulate
and order your claims after.
There are a variety of strategies for singling out evidence for a thesis. All of them involve
rereading the literary text in a strategic way, searching for everything relevant to your argument.
You might take notes in your book, use different colored highlighters, keep notes on notecards,
or take notes on a computer.
After gathering evidence, you might find it helpful to develop a more elaborate outline,
incorporating evidence from the text and including topic sentences for each paragraph.
Drafting
Treat your first draft as a “rough draft” and focus on sketching out the steps of your argument
rather than on polishing your prose.
Try to write the body of the essay in one sitting. You can draft the introduction and conclusion
later.
If you become stuck, try taking a break, explaining your argument to another person, or
freewriting to get your ideas flowing.
Revising
The revision process demands that you take a step back from your draft and try to look at it as
objectively as possible. You might also consider asking a friend of classmate to help critique
your draft.
Learn to take full advantage of all the capabilities of your computer’s word-processing programs,
but also recognize their limitations.
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of all of the essay’s elements, including its thesis,
structure, evidence, and tone. The Norton Introduction to Literature provides a helpful checklist
for this process (pp. 2260–2261).
Be on the lookout for the following common problems: a mismatch between the thesis and the
argument, a structure that resembles a list more than a logically connected argument, or
missing sub-ideas.
Consider ways to make your argument more thorough and complex by acknowledging and
exploring alternative claims or interpretations.
The final stage of proofreading involves polishing your prose by focusing on your specific words
and sentences. The Norton Introduction to Literature provides a checklist for this process (p.
2263).
Crafting a Title
A good title should inform readers what work(s) your essay will analyze and something about
your topic.
An effective title will also interest readers by using a vivid word, quoting a short phrase from the
literary text, deploying puns or wordplay, or some combination of any of these techniques.
An essay is a relatively short written composition that articulates, supports, and develops an
idea or claim. Some essays are more effective than others because of the success of the four
elements that all essays must incorporate: tone, thesis, structure, and evidence.
Tone
The tone of an essay is shaped by its audience, situation, and purpose.
Essays about literature should be geared toward an audience of educated people with some
experience in reading literature, but who have read the work at hand only once and have not yet
closely analyzed it.
Thesis
A thesis is an essay’s governing idea, proposition, claim, or point.
A thesis must be debatable; that is, it must be a proposition that is not obviously true or factual,
but that must be proven with evidence from the text.
A thesis should clearly stake out a claim, but it should not be one-sided or narrow. A good thesis
will admit complexity.
Interpretive claims focus on how a text works: what it says and how it should be understood.
Evaluative claims involve passing aesthetic or ethical judgment on a text.
The thesis of an essay about literature should generally be an interpretive—rather than an
evaluative—claim.
Structure
An essay’s structure should consist of a beginning (or introduction), a middle (or body), and an
end (or conclusion).
An essay’s introduction should articulate its thesis, provide basic background information, and
create interest in—or a motive for reading—its argument.
Common motives for an essay and its readers include: revealing a truth that is not immediately
obvious, identifying an interesting wrinkle in the text, or showing why a seemingly insignificant
detail is actually important.
The body of an essay should support and develop the thesis by presenting and analyzing
evidence.
Each body paragraph should develop one specific claim, stated in a topic sentence, in support
of the essay’s thesis.
Body paragraphs should be ordered in a logical sequence that is clearly signaled to the reader.
The conclusion should show readers why and how the essay was worth reading by exploring
implications, offering an evaluation, or identifying areas of remaining ambiguity or unresolved
questions.
Evidence
Each of the points or ideas in the body of an essay should be supported and developed with
ample, appropriate evidence.
Presenting evidence involves selecting specific facts from the literary text and actively
interpreting them to show why they matter.
Quotations should be used as evidence when their wording is significant. Otherwise, simply
paraphrase, describe, or summarize your evidence.
Conventions
Essays about literature use present tense to refer to actions that occur within, or that are
performed by, the text.
Underline or italicize the titles of all books or works published independently, such as novels,
plays, or long poems.
Use quotation marks for works that have been published as part of longer works, such as short
stories, poems, or periodical articles.
When first referring to an author, use his/her full name; thereafter, use the last name only.
When referring to characters within a literary text, use the same conventions the text uses.
Your essay’s clarity and persuasiveness will depend on how responsibly and accurately you
integrate quotations from the literary work and/or quotations from secondary sources into your
prose. This handout provides detailed instructions and suggestions about how to quote, cite,
and document texts and sources.
Effective Quotation
Generally speaking, you should reproduce a quotation exactly as it appears in the original
source.
When necessary to the grammar or focus of your own prose, you may make minor grammatical
changes or omissions as long as you do not distort the sense of the quotation and as long as
you clearly acknowledge any alterations you make.
Try to make the connections between quotations and your analysis of them as seamless as
possible.
When possible, introduce or follow a quotation (as well as a paraphrase or summary) with a
signal phrase that includes the source author’s name.
Preface a long quotation with some indication of its significance to your argument as well as any
necessary background information the reader might need in order to make sense of the
quotation.
When you use a block quotation (four or more lines of prose or three of poetry, indented and
presented without quotation marks), follow it with one sentence or more of analysis.
Use block quotations sparingly.
Avoid monotony by varying the lengths of the quotations you use as well as the way you present
them.
Citation and Documentation
You must clearly indicate to your readers where your quotations and sources can be found.
Different disciplines, publications, and even instructors prefer different systems for documenting
and citing sources. In literary studies, the preferred system is that developed by the Modern
Language Association (MLA).
In the MLA system, parenthetical citations in an essay are keyed to an alphabetical list of works
cited that appears at the essay’s end.
The exact content and form of each citation will depend on various factors particular to different
sources and situations.
A list of works cited should appear at the end of your essay and must include all, and only, the
texts and sources cited in your essay.
The list of works cited must be organized alphabetically and must provide full publication
information for each entry.
The exact content and style of each entry in the list of works cited will depend on the type of
source it is.
There are three modes of writing about literature: paraphrase, summary, and description. These
modes of writing cannot on their own constitute an essay, but they can be useful for prewriting
or as a component of an essay.
Paraphrase
A paraphrase is a restatement of a text or part of a text in your own words.
A paraphrase is usually at least as long as its original text.
Paraphrase is useful for showing that you truly understand what you have read, and for directing
your attention to significant details, nuances of tone, and ambiguous terms.
Summary
A summary is a succinct restatement of a larger text or part of a text.
Summaries can vary in length, but should be significantly shorter than their original texts.
Summary always entails selection and emphasis and thus always reflects its writer?s point of
view and understanding of the text that is summarized.
Description
A description of a literary text focuses on one or more formal element of that text.
Strategies for Writing Literature Essays
Writing Literature Essays
You, as student critics of literature, must make judgments—and judgments are arguments—
about the transaction between the reader and writer. Focus not on just what happens in the
story or poem but on how the literary work affects the reader. See it as a work with rhetorical
intent; i.e., a work consciously made by an author to elicit certain emotional and intellectual
responses from the reader.
In the course, each essay you write will analyze one or more of the works we have read in this
course. In each essay, you will develop a thesis concerning a theme, a genre, a problem, an
author, or an approach to literature.
Theme
Explore one of the main ideas that have animated literature from the ancients to today—
Childhood, Growth, Initiation, Sibling Rivalry, the Hero, Womanhood, Manhood. These ideas
and others of your own would serve well as a theme essay. The goal of such an essay would
be to examine the definitions and example of these ideas in one or more of the texts.
Problem
Literature is a problem, a character, and a setting. In the problem essay, you should choose
one of the key problems developed in the text(s). This problem can be one of tension between
two value systems—loyalty to self as opposed to loyalty to one’s social group, or family values
and sense of self. This is a rich vein of interest.
Author
Obviously, this essay is about a writer whom you find particularly interesting. Pick an author
from our required texts and read at least one additional unassigned work from his or her other
works. Then, describe and analyze the key features of the works: for example, what are the
characteristics of style and theme in the works.
Figurative Language
You can also examine how a work uses language: imagery, metaphor, and symbolism.
Opening Chapter, Lines. or Scene Analysis
Study carefully the opening paragraphs of a novel. Analyze the information the paragraphs give
the reader in terms of time, place, tone, point of view, character, irony, and theme. Show line by
line how the opening tells the reader how to read the rest of the story and how it foreshadows
events. Link sentences, words, phrases to the rest of the story. Show how the opening
resonates throughout the story.
Examining Cultural Perspectives in a Work
You may wish to examine the ways in which a work reveals cultural values (abstract, general
ideas) and norms (guidelines for behavior from which values may be inferred). In the U.S., for
example, we value individuality (a cultural value), and this is expressed through a variety of
norms, including personal dress, tastes in music, the cars we drive, the variety of best-selling
self-help books available in bookstores, and high divorce rates. Additionally, you may wish to
examine how your own cultural values and norms shape and influence your readings of and
reactions to a particular text.
Tracing a Topic through a Work
Choose a frequently repeated topic in the chosen text(s) and trace its course through the work.
For example, look for references to one topic such as work, love, religion, politics, art, sex,
male/female relations, or moral conduct. Note when and where each reference appears in the
text (note page numbers). Copy down one or two significant passages on the topic and try to
explain its context, associations and role in the story. Finally, show how the presentation of the
topic helps illuminate the main conflict and resolution of the text. What observations about
theme can one make through such a topic study?
An Approach to Literature
For some of you who may be English majors, an approach essay could be a productive route.
You might want to use one of the many critical approaches used by literary and rhetorical critics
today. Apply one of the critical approaches to a work, or look at the work and a critical essay
about it. (You may find critical essays about literature in the electronic databases in the RMU
electronic library.)
The suggestions listed above are just that—suggestions. If you have another idea for an essay,
please consult your instructor first before you begin working on it.
You do not need outside sources. However, if you do use outside sources in addition to your
text, you must include at the end of the essay a list of works cited: references to works inside
the essay can be included in parentheses (MLA format). Not to document sources constitutes
plagiarism.
Clear writing, standard usage and grammar, an absence of spelling errors, and an interesting
thesis adequately developed are all requirements. Essays that do not meet the length
requirements will receive low grades.
Titles and Opening Paragraphs
Give your essay a helpful title. Don’t call it “Essay 1” (that gives no relevant information); don’t
give it the name of the work you’re writing about; and avoid sweeping titles like “Thoreau” or
“Slavery in America.” Aim for an unpretentious, descriptive title, like “Christian Themes in
Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin” or “Hemingway’s Implied Attitude toward Nick Adams.” Adjust your
title and the opening paragraph to the actual essay that you write. Write the final draft of your
title and opening last. In the opening paragraph, always identify the author and the title of your
chosen text.
The Obvious
Avoid making assertions that comment on the obvious such as the joys, wonders, or
timelessness of themes. These comments should remain understood because they are
assumed. Literary critics avoid statements like “Ever since the beginning of time, poets have
written about the joys of love!” Or “‘Come with me and be my love….’ What lover of poetry has
not been thrilled by words like these? Love has always been one of the most durable and
exciting appeals that poetry makes on its readers.”
Never summarize plot except to make a point about sequencing or structure. Rather, make
arguments and support them by citing and analyzing the text. Summary alone is worthless.
Use allusion (references to other literary works) for analogy and humor to place texts in the
context of other texts. Don’t strain to do this, but linking the work you are writing about to others
works examined in the course will help you to understand literary contexts better.
Thesis and Organization
In short essays, state your thesis right away. Have an early point of attack; get to the heart of
the matter without an meandering preamble. Don’t hem and haw around, but get to the point.
Avoid the funnel opening: The writer begins with broad, sweeping statements about life, most of
which are so obvious that they are hackneyed. In paragraph two, the writer then slowly works
his or her way up to the theme.
Instead, make a very brief opening statement of your thesis, then write several carefully unified
paragraphs in support, and finally a restatement, probably in fuller form, of the thesis.
A thesis is a sentence that makes an argument—says something that has to be proved or
backed up. Remember the Toulmin method of argumentation taught in COSK1221, Argument
& Research. When you read or hear a good thesis statement, your reaction will be “Really?” or
“How do you figure that?” or “Oh yeah? Prove it!” or “That sounds interesting—tell me more.” In
short, a thesis will set up the essay and prepare the reader to consider the evidence.
Make your thesis arouse interest. Contrast the deadening flat effect of beginning with a mere
factual statement. Which of the following makes you more willing to read on?
Ernest Hemingway wrote many short stories, some of which are as famous as his novels.
Hemingway’s short stories achieve through compression and understatement emotional effects
as powerful as any he achieved in his novels.
Work Cited
Colomb, Greg. Disciplinary ‘Secrets’ and the Apprentice Writer: The Lessons for Critical
Thinking. Upper Montclair, NJ: Montclair Stat…
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