Literary Analysis about anything from the book A Small Place.
Essay 1:For both Close Reading Essay #1 and Close Reading Essay #2, you will analyze a book, short story or poem we’ve read for class. Your essay needs to have a thesis statement at the end of your first paragraph. Your thesis statement should be an argument about both form and content in the text. Your essay should not simply be a summary of the text, i.e., a book report. Rather, it should make an argument about something significant in the text. This argument could analyze the use of certain images, metaphors, symbolism, word choice, structural elements, etc. You need to back up or prove your thesis in the body of your essay by analyzing direct quotations from the text. In writing your essay, consider taking the following approach: 1. Pick a book, short story or poem we’ve read for class. 2. Think about what you want to analyze about the text. What questions do you have about the text and how might you answer those questions? Look at specific passages in the book that deal with these questions you’re interested in exploring. 3. Make a list of different passages from the text that have to do with the idea you’re interested in writing about for your essay. 4. Draft an argumentative thesis statement. Your thesis statement should answer the ‘so what’ question and make an argument. Do not summarize the text in your thesis. Example of a good thesis: The repeated use of masks, including the princess mask, in How to Survive a Summer symbolizes Will’s fractured identity; in contrast, the tiara symbolizes a kind of drag that allows Will to connect with himself, his family and his friends. 5. Make an outline. Decide which direct quotations you’ll use in your essay and analyze to prove your thesis statement. 6. Pick one quotation to analyze and start taking it apart. Write down ideas about how this quotation works in connection to your thesis statement. 7. Pick another quotation to analyze—and so on…..
Literary Analysis about anything from the book A Small Place