Academic Analysis Of Literature Theme Character Or Point Of

Project 1: Academic Analysis of Literature (15% of course grade)
The objective for this assignment is for you to develop your skills in presenting and interpreting textual evidence with a convincing argument or explanation by focusing on one part of Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit From the Goon Squad.

Rough draft and Final draft (4-5 pp.)

Assignment: Take one of Egan’s chapters and analyze how it develops a specific theme, character, OR point of view.
Always explain the connections between evidence and interpretation. Do not use any of the following words (unless, of course, they’re in a direct quote): best, worst, great, terrible, awful, good, bad, should. These are all broad terms, and the point of this essay is to help you develop your skills in analysis.

Developing a Thesis: A classic formula to start with is “seems to be X, but is really Y.” Ex.: “Egan seems not to blame Sasha in “Found Objects,” but the repetitive insistance of Sasha’s thoughts reveals the degree to which Sasha blames herself.” (After writing my first draft, my revision of the thesis would include more specificity about the kind of blame and responsibility I ended up analyzing.) A version of this formula that allows a more complex relationship between X and Y is “although…nevertheless….” Another basic form is a description of method plus a statement of purpose. Ex.: “Egan uses [technique / method, possibly including a plot element] in order to [do something].” All of these statements can be revised by adding a little context and making the parts of the claim more precise.

Expectations: Include an introduction and conclusion, a thesis that takes a specific position on the whole question, a thorough discussion of specific details and a sense of the rationale for selecting them (using both brief direct quotations and textual references, correctly cited), and a strong focus that connects your thesis and all the details you choose to analyze. Avoid plot summary. Revise and proofread carefully, using MLA style.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License