A literary analysis essay discusses a particular aspect of a work of literature. Developing a clear, concise thesis for a literary analysis essay is highly important in guiding the reader through the essay and expressing your interpretation of the work. Make sure that you understand the plot, who the characters are and what makes the work of literature special. Do any symbols or themes stand out? how important is the setting? critical thinking about the work at this stage will help you choose a topic and form an interpretation. It should advance knowledge in some way and not simply express a summary of the work. In developing a topic, answer this question to help you decide if your topic is acceptable: what can you tell people about the work that they can't get from simply reading it? write one sentence that expresses the aspect of the literary analysis that you are discussing and your interpretation of it. The reader should read this one statement and know exactly what the essay will discuss.

Birth Order And Personality Essay

This is an example of a good, argumentative thesis: the narrator's description of the family's old house, their dream house and the house on mango street conveys the family's struggle with expectations and reality. The following thesis is not a good one because it does not attempt to advance knowledge and it simply states a fact: emily killed homer and kept his body for years. From reading william faulkner's a rose for emily, we know that this is a summation of the story's ending. If you want to write about symbolism in a work, you can't possibly write about all of the symbols. For example, do not write: this essay will discuss symbolism in 'a rose for emily.' this page is brought to you by the owl at purdue .

This covers prewriting, close reading, thesis development, drafting, and common pitfalls to avoid. contributors: purdue owl staff once you've read the story or novel closely, look back over your notes for patterns of questions or ideas that interest you. Have most of your questions been about the characters, how they develop or change? if you are reading conrad's the secret agent. Do you seem to be most interested in what the author has to say about society? choose a pattern of ideas and express it in the form of a question and an answer such as the following: question: what does conrad seem to be suggesting about early twentieth century london society in his novel the secret agent ? choosing an idea without any support.

Once you have some general points to focus on, write your possible ideas and answer the questions that they suggest. question: how does conrad develop the idea that all classes of society are corrupt? when developing a thesis for a literary analysis paper, it's important to gather all the research you need first because it will be difficult to come up with a workable thesis if you rely mainly on knowledge you already have about the author and the text you plan to analyze. Also, write an outline of the themes you plan to cover in the analysis so that you can come up with a clear thesis that will be the groundwork for the rest of the paper. For example, if you're analyzing alice walker's the color purple and you want to argue that this text has elements of genealogy, feminism and african themes, read the works of scholars who hold to this opinion as well as those who disagree.

Your thesis statement should be specific and arise out of the research you've done. Instead of writing william faulkner's work was an example of traditional southern writing , you can write william faulkner's writings reflect the political and social tensions of the south during the early 20th century. This helps you get an idea of what you want to do with the paper after looking over the research you gathered. He can help you come up with a clear thesis that will guide the rest of the paper.

Scott fitzegerald's the great gatsby, ask your professor about possible ways to approach the book. In order to begin drafting your paper, you will need to form a working thesis statement. The thesis statement is the backbone of the analysis, and the rest of the essay should work to back up this statement.

A great thesis needs to make an arguable statement about the text, so this is where you can draw from your notes, questions, and new interpretations. Your thesis will likely be closely related to the theme you developed while inventing, but it is more specific to the work. The thesis statement for a literary analysis essay is also more specialized than a generic thesis. It includes the author rsquo s name, the title of the work, the theme, and a method of development. If we were to use glaspell rsquo s ldquo a jury of her peers rsquo for example, you wouldn rsquo t want to say, ldquo susan glaspell rsquo s ldquo a jury of her peers rdquo deals with sexism.

For instance, ldquo susan glaspell rsquo s ldquo a jury of her peers rdquo illustrates how women rsquo s confinement to the home sphere creates a shared female experience that men cannot understand. It rsquo s important to remember that your thesis may change over the course of developing your essay. My thesis went through many changes during the drafting process, from vague statements of my initial ideas to a conscise thesis dependent on theory. Susan glaspell rsquo s ldquo a jury of her peers rdquo illustrates how women may be swayed by patriarchal views if they are trusted by men, but that women rsquo s confinement to the home sphere creates a shared female experience that ultimately wins out because men cannot understand it.

Susan glaspell rsquo s ldquo a jury of her peers rdquo illustrates how women rsquo s moral judgement is influenced by the authority of men and how a shared female experience gives insight that is ultimately more important to women rsquo s moral judgement. It also better shows how the ideas are connected but they still seem a little unrelated. It also needs an introduction to give it more context so that i can specify and expound my thesis. my first introduction and third thesis attempt it is easy to see the sexist discrimination in susan glaspell rsquo s 1927 short story ldquo a jury of her peers rdquo. The men overtly belittled and laughed at the women, who are clearly uncomfortable in their presence.

But how does this obvious gender dynamic play into the women rsquo s ultimate decision to cover up evidence and become co conspirators in a murder? the answer lies in feminist justice theory, and the idea that women are more concerned with the care when it comes to moral decisions. Peters rsquo wavering decision to convict minnie foster illustrates the influence of male authority on women rsquo s judgement and how care is ultimately more important to women rsquo s morals. the new introduction gives the thesis more context, but the transition is still a little abrupt. Now that i had a better idea of what i intended to focus on, i felt freer to expound my thesis into multiple sentences. I rsquo m also trying to be very specific, which doesn rsquo t make too much sense without a previous introduction of the characters. It is easy to see the sexism in susan glaspell rsquo s ldquo a jury of her peers rdquo.

In this 1927 short story, inspired by a true case of a woman who ax murdered her husband, the men overtly belittle and laugh at the women, mrs. When the two women accompany the men to the scene of the crime, they are deemed incapable of helping to solve the case: ldquo mr. Hale rubbed his face after the fashion of a showman getting ready for a pleasantry.

Lsquo but would the women know a clue if they did come upon it? rdquo rsquo 8 however, it is the women who, through attention to small details and an understanding of women rsquo s experience, discover evidence that would prove minnie foster guilty of her husband rsquo s murder. So how does the obvious gender dynamic play into the women rsquo s complicity in manslaughter? the answer lies in feminist justice theory, and the idea that women have a different orientation than men when it comes to moral dilemmas. Author of ldquo a different voice rdquo carol gilligan advances one feminist justice theory that explains the women rsquo s decision. According to gilligan, women have a care orientation when it comes to moral issues as opposed to a justice orientation. This means that, unlike men, women view relationships as more important to making ethical decisions.