Short Story Literature Analysis Paper

Name:______Date:______Pd:___

Short Story Literature Analysis Paper

Procedure:

1. Read "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, and complete a thorough talking to the text (see Mrs. Small’s example). Read the story again and add to your talking to the text.

2. Read literary criticism and analysis on the story (also in Mrs. Small’s outbox and website).

3. Review your talking to the text and formulate a brief sentence or two on how mood and conflict are related in the story.

Prompt:

Your essay on "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell will analyze the relationship between mood and conflict throughout the story. Show how the author uses these elements to develop or reveal the big idea of the story. Use the story, the literary criticism, and your notes from talking to the text to support your ideas.

Essay Structure:

***The essay should be strictly analysis – no summary of the story***

I. Introduction

1. Attention grabber
2. Introduce the story and provide background on the story and author
3. Thesis statement

II. An analysis of the two following literary elements. These elements are connected to each other. As with any written claims about literature, please use textual evidence to support your claim:

·  Conflict – What is the central conflict? How do you know? Who is involved? Is it external or internal? What is "man" facing?

·  Mood – What is the mood of the story? How is it developed? How does it relate to the conflict?

III. Conclusion

1. Restated thesis

2. Summary of main points

3. Final thought

This is due: ______

Name: Date PD: ___

Literary Analysis Essay Rubric- "Most Dangerous Game"

An “A” Paper – Brilliant/Excellent

Title is unexpectedly delightful and fully grabs reader’s attention

Thesis fully answers essay prompt with unique, bold, and arguable insight

Each body paragraph’s topic sentence sets a clear, powerful path in developing the thesis

Concrete details are insightful, unexpected choices and smoothly embedded into the body paragraph

Commentary shows depth of thought and presents unique, interesting insight

Powerful vocabulary with no repetition of key words or phrases; always fresh and interesting

Excellent sentence flow and variety of sentence structures

Skillful use of transitions to help create a unified, cohesive piece of writing

M.L.A. citations are correctly formatted and skillfully embedded so the resource information is seamless

A lively, interesting writer’s voice comes through to the audience

A “B” Paper – Good/Above Average

Title is appropriate to the topic, but lacks great inspiration

Thesis fully answers essay prompt, but lacks the power of the “A” level thesis

Each body paragraph’s topic sentence logically supports the thesis, but doesn’t add more power

Concrete details are appropriate, but rather obvious choices; they are appropriately placed in the body paragraph

Commentary is generally good analysis, but a bit obvious at times; sometimes, you don’t dig deep enough

Good vocabulary that clearly, but not always powerfully, expresses your ideas; you don’t repeat words or phrases

Smooth sentence flow and occasionally effective sentence variety

Correct use of transitions for unity and cohesiveness

M.L.A. citations are correctly formatted and embedded

The writer’s voice comes through to the audience, but the passion falls flat at times

A “C” Paper – Okay/Average

Title is flat or predictable

Thesis answers essay prompt, but is tired, clichéd, or too safe/bland

Each body paragraph’s topic sentence supports the thesis, but construction is mechanical

Concrete details are present, but blatantly obvious choices; you need to more smoothly embed the material

Commentary is too obvious, superficial, simplistic, or repetitive; you don’t take your ideas very far

Average, simple vocabulary or overly flowery language that blocks meaning at times

Sentence flow is choppy at times; limited sentence variety

Limited use of transitions; at times, an inappropriate transition is used or is missing altogether

M.L.A. citations are correctly formatted for the most part, but embedding is clunky/not always handled well

The writer’s voice is flat, too formal, or rigid. Where’s the passion in your voice?

A “D” Paper – Demonstrates Problems/Below Average

Title is just a restatement of the title of the work being discussed or just a label

Thesis does not fully answer the essay prompt; you seem to be struggling with your thoughts

Each body paragraph’s topic sentence doesn’t clearly connect to the thesis and/or includes too much plot summary

Concrete details are inaccurate or not connected to the topic sentence; embedding of material is clunky

Commentary is weak, veers off-topic, or relies too heavily on plot summary

Flat, below grade-level vocabulary and/or inappropriate diction

Flow is mostly choppy and erratic; little or no sentence variety

Little or no use of transitions

M.L.A. citations are not correctly formatted or embedded

No writer’s voice is present. The words are lifeless or robotic.

A “F” Paper – Far Below Average

Is incomplete, incoherent, undeveloped, or does not meet the requirements of the assignment

Content: ______Grammar: ______

out of 50 possible pts. out of 50 possible pts.

Short Story Analysis Example Using “The Lottery”

QUOTE / NOTE / THOUGHT
“It is also significant that a woman is chosen as the story’s victim. Some critics maintain that Jackson’s depiction of a ‘normal’ town that victimizes a woman fits logically with the traditional patriarchal type of society in which men have power and authority over women that has been accepted as ‘normal’ in much of the world” (“The Lottery” 143). / Bearing in mind that American society has long followed a sexist belief that men are authorities over women and considering this belief is still held throughout much of the world, literary critics agree that it is significant that the victim of the lottery is a female (“The Lottery” 143). / This is an important quote because it demonstrates that our society is very similar to the society of the story – men are the authorities. This connects to my points that characterization of males and females in the story relate to the theme of women need to stand up for themselves and take control of their lives.
“The lottery may be symbolic of any of the number of social ills that mankind blindly perpetuates” (“The Lottery” 147). / The lottery can represent many of the problems that society refuses to acknowledge (“The Lottery” 147). / One of the “social ills that mankind blindly perpetuates” is men having dominance over women.
“The nature of the process by which the victim is selected gives each woman a very clear incentive to produce the largest possible family” (“The Lottery” 143). / Of course, in the society of “The Lottery” women would want to have as many children as possible in order to up their chances of survival (“The Lottery” 143). / This shows that the only power women have in “The Lottery” is the power to have children and lower their chance of being chosen.
“When Tessie dares to question the method of drawing, her husband tells her to shut up” (“The Lottery” 143). / The second Tessie speaks up and questions how her family was chosen, her husband shuts her down (“The Lottery” 143) / Women do not have a voice!
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Related to the theme!
“The United States during the late 1940’s and the 1950’s was largely patriarchal society, one in which women were expected to stay home and raise the children. Recent critics have interpreted ‘The Lottery’ from a feminist perspective, suggesting that Jackson was commenting on the role of women in American society at the time the story was written” (“The Lottery” 145). / Shirley Jackson was certainly commenting on the fact that in 1940’s America, women were considered to be below men, especially since they were discouraged to work and instead stay home and take care of the children (“The Lottery” 145). / This is shown in the story many times. The women talk about gossip while the men talk about more important things like taxes and work. Tessie is doing the dishes when she is late. The children listen to their fathers more than their mothers. This all reinforces that society holds men and their opinions in higher regard.

QUOTE – NOTE – THOUGHT

QUOTE w/citation / NOTE w/citation / THOUGHT

Formal Conventions of Writing

Ø  Do not use contractions

Ø  Do not use "I" or "you" or "we" or any other pro-nouns. Refer to people formally so anyone can understand exactly who you are writing about. (i.e. "The author writes" or "Connell posits" instead of "He writes/she writes/they write" etc.)

Ø  The author never "says" anything. The author "writes."

Ø  Furthermore, it is boring if all the author ever does is "write" something. Instead of always using, "The author writes," use some other words:

added, argued, agreed, disagreed, explained, concluded, described, theorized, asserts, states

Ø  ALWAYS properly cite. For this paper, it is "blah blah blah" (Connell).

Ø  This is a "short story." It is not a book, a novel, or any other medium.

Ø  Literary present tense: Always write about literature in the present tense, i.e. "The author writes..." "This character runs through the jungle..." "When this character finally dies..."

Ø  Your paper is not a critique. Do not add opinionated statements like, "The author's fantastic story..." "This story is extraordinary..." "Though the writing style is terrible, the plot is okay..."

Ø  It is also not a summary. Assume your reader knows the text. You may give context, and you must certainly be specific, but do not summarize.

Ø  Word choice: four points

·  Stop using the same words over and over. No matter how wonderful it is that you chose the word "superfluous" to use in your paper, if you use it twenty times, I'm no longer impressed. Use it once and get over it.

·  Stop using boring words. You are not making a quality point if the point you make includes these words: good, bad, really, very, happy, sad, etc.

·  Stop using a thesaurus incorrectly. Just because you know how to use a thesaurus to change a word you use repeatedly, doesn't mean you know how to use it well. For example: "It was weird that I got a bad grade on that test. I usually do well." The thesaurus also suggests you use "creepy." Was it really creepy that you got a bad grade on the test? No, not at all. It was "out of the ordinary" "odd" and "strange." It was NOT "eerie" or "creepy." All these words, however, were suggested by the thesaurus as substitutes for "weird."

·  Stop being pretentious. If your paper doesn't sound like you at all because every other word is one you had to look up in the dictionary, it doesn't really reflect your own thoughts. Use exactly what word you mean, not what word sounds fancy.

Ø  Quote within a quote: "And then Doodle said, 'Don't leave me Brother'" (Hurst). Notice how quotes within quotes use 'these' marks. If the quote lines up with "these" marks, yes, you must include "'three'" marks. Just put 'these' inside of "these" to get "'this'"

Ø  Quote integration: always introduce, always cite, always explain.

THESIS STATEMENTS IN LITERARY ANALYSIS PAPERS

The thesis statement is one of the (if not the) most important parts of your paper—think of it as the foundation of a house—if your foundation is weak and poorly constructed what do you think happens to the house? / The thesis statement is the announcement of your analytical argument that you intend to make and prove in the duration of your paper. It is a road map for the paper—it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
Successful thesis statements provoke thought and should read beautifully.

*Your thesis statement should include two parts: WHAT and WHY.

·  WHAT: What claim are you making about the text?

·  WHY: Why should we care? Why is your claim important? Your thesis should answer the “so what?” question.

*A thesis statement is usually, but can be more than, one sentence long.

Examples

BAD: Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” has an interesting setting.

*What’s wrong with this thesis statement?

L  It’s an opinion about the book, not an argument.

OKAY: In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson develops a contrast between the setting and the ritual of the lottery.

*Better? How so? What is still missing?

L  Doesn’t answer the “so what?” question. What is the point of the contrast? What does the contrast signify?

GOOD: In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson develops a contrast between the serene, rural setting and the ritual of the lottery, suggesting a theme that readers should question their surroundings and, even more so, their traditions and beliefs.

*Even better?

J  It presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of it content and answers the “so what” question.

BETTER: “Through contrasting the serene and welcoming rural setting and the strict adherence to rules during the ritual of the lottery, Shirley Jackon’s “The Lottery,” advocates that readers should question their surroundings and, even more so, their traditions and beliefs. BAD