Description
Essay Assignment One
Analyzing Fiction In a 4-5-page typed essay (the works cited page will be page 5 or 6), for an audience already familiar with the literature, analyze anyone work of short fiction discussed in class. Your analysis should address only ONE of the following:
Character Analysis: Analyze the psychological make-up of one or more of the characters. Consider the following:
What are the characters’ motivations? Why do they behave the way they do?
How do the characters develop or change in the story, and why? If relevant, consider how certain characters act as literary foils to others. Is the narrator a character in the story?
If so, how does the character influence the story through his or her narration?
How would the story be affected if told by another character in the story?
Symbolism: Analyze possible meanings of the symbols within the story. Consider the following:
How is the story’s plot archetypal or allegorical?
How are its characters archetypal or symbolic?
How are other elements of the story symbolic?
Themes: Analyze one or more of the story’s themes and how they are established. What theme(s) emerge and how?
How is/are the theme(s) produced or influenced?
You may need to analyze the characters and/or the symbolism of a story in order to establish its theme(s), but keep your focus on the theme(s) of the story.
Secondary Sources: You must draw from at least TWO secondary sources, both of which should be found from the Yuba College Library and/or its databases. In other words, including the work of fiction itself, you must cite at least three sources. The Works Cited page will be page 5 or 6 of your essay.
SparkNotes and other such online equivalents to CliffsNotes can be a good place to begin, but they are not acceptable as required secondary sources for your literary analysis. Neither is Wikipedia.
Format: Essays must be TYPED and double-spaced with one-inch margins on all sides. Please do NOT justify the right margin. Please do NOT include a cover page, but place your name, the course title, and the date at the top of the first page. All essays must have titles and numbered pages and be stapled together at the top left-hand corner. Use nothing larger than a 12-pt. font size in Times New Roman or a similar font. MLA Format is required. You must include a Works Cited Page