Junior Composition
Final Paper Prompt
Literary (Theme) Analysis
Texts we have read:
Short Stories (most found in Anthology—others are packets online)
John Updike’s “The A&P”
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
Hemmingway’s “Hill’s Like White Elephants”
Charlotte Gillman Perkins “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things they Carried”
Edgar Allen Poe’s: “Tell-Tale Heart,”“The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Cask of Amontillado”
“Prometheus Bound” by Aeschylus
Ovid’s “Pyramus and Thisbe”
Hans Christian Anderson “The Little Mermaid”
Brothers Grimm “Little Red Cap”
Charles Perrault “Little Red Riding Hood”
Unknown “The Story of Grandmother”
Roald Dahl “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”
Charles Perrault “Donkeyskin”
Brothers Grimm “Cinderella”
Novels/Plays/Epic Poems
*All Poetry found in your anthology may be used
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Milton’s “Paradise Lost” (online)
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie
Mitch Albom’s Tuesday’s with Morrie (Must use)
Prompt:
This essay is a synthesis style, literary analysis essay focusing on theme. You will be using Tuesday’s with Morrie, along with TWO other texts of your choice to show how a theme is connected by all authors. You are focusing on how these authors approached the same theme.
You can choose any theme you feel is prevalent within the three texts you choose; you must show how the author uses the theme within the text. Questions to consider while writing this paper would be: What is the major idea or theme of the works? How does the author relay this theme? Is there a greater meaning to the details given? How do the characters’ moods affect the theme? What allusions are made throughout the work? Are there repeating patterns or symbols?
You do not need to answer all of these questions, but depending on what format you choose to write your paper in you will need to stay consistent in what texts, and what literary devices you choose to write about/what order they appear within the paragraph.
Lastly, this essay does require textual support and works cited page. Please use MLA style for this essay for your citations. If you need help with this please refer to my template or the Purdue Owl for assistance.