Class #10: Wednesday. October 7, 2015

Formal Essay #4: Literary Analysis (STEP ONE)

“Discuss the role of women OR femininity OR sexual identity OR gender difference OR "the predator" as it appears in Heels and The Rhett Butlers.”

All of the examples above serve as first steps to the larger world of literary theory and criticism. Writing prompts like this ask you to examine a work from a particular perspective. You may not be comfortable with this new perspective. 

1. Categorize the individual characters in the piece. How does their gender or identity come through in the most general, stereotypical way? How are the characters the same? How are they different?
2. How are these differences manifest in the story?
3. Examine the ways in which the characters you’ve categorized fit or don’t fit into the boxes you’ve assigned them. Do they support or undermine the categories, and what do others (including the author) say about them and their place in the world?
4. Mine your own personal ideas about these roles. What do you know to be true of concepts such as femininity/sexual identity/gender roles. Then do some preliminary research on the topic. Don't be afraid to marry your preliminary research to the ideas you are exploring

Consider the following to help you develop the evidence for your paper: 

      A. What can you infer about the narrators? What evidence from the story makes these inferences viable? What do they reveal about their character?

      B. What final conclusion(s) are drawn by the authors? Don't think of this only in terms of "what happened;" think of it in terms of what that means for the narrators. Consider your "horizon of expectation."

      C. Consider the "truths" of the stories. What is the truth revealed by the actions of the story. They are greater than the basic struggle and tragedy unfolding, right? Why? How? Who is to blame for what takes place...think further than the heinous, threatening men. 

      D. Consider the exemplary moment of either work. Identify it and expound upon it. How do the moments reveal a greater purpose in the writing?

READ: Read through the Parallelism section of Hacker for a coming quiz.

Next week, class will be in D18: Please bring: an electronic copy of your narrative and an electronic copy of Formal #4.