While your last essay asked you to focus on didacticism, or what the story teaches, this essay asks you to show readers what the story reveals through the text itself. Your assignment is to uncover some theme of the human condition within Bartleby the Scrivener or Convenience Store Woman using detailed character analysis, supporting your claim with evidence from both the primary and secondary sources.
Your analysis should reveal something to your readers regarding the qualities of the novel’s protagonist that is indicative of the human condition, and helps the character stand alone, outside of when and where they were written/published. For example, you might examine Bartleby though direct and indirection characterization to reveal the novella’s theme of acquiescence as a means to an end.
In addition to gathering evidence from the primary source, you must support your analysis with credible secondary sources. Synthesize into your argument the ideas of others: think critically about them, analyze their value, then use these ideas to support your own thesis. If you have questions about what constitutes an academic/professional or popular source, please don’t hesitate to bring them to me.
A minimum of three (3) quality secondary sourcesin addition to the primary textare required, including:
At least one (1) academic or professional journal source (print or online)
At least one (1) popular source (print or online)
This analytic essay should:
open with an introduction that catches the readers attention, provides context for understanding the essay, and culminates in the thesis statement
include a paragraph briefly summarizing the story
expound on the thesis using multiple body paragraphs to provide details that help the reader understand your position
conclude satisfactorily, with what might be a lesson learned, or concluding argument, but is never a summation of the whole essay
mention the title and author(s) or creator(s) of any referenced work (including MLA documentation–8th ed.)
adhere to the Written Assignment Formatting Guidelines (pdf via Drive)
Avoid:
Long or block quotes
First- and second-person pronouns
Over-reliance on plot summary
Over-reliance on web material, reviews, and/or the encyclopedia or dictionary
Analysis focused on The Source or The Receiver
Ask yourself the following questions:
What are the protagonist’s distinctive features? Do they have identifiable physical/psychological traits? What is their personality?
Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How does their understanding of the protagonist shape the story?
With whom does the protagonist interact? What are the character’s key relationships?
Who are the major and minor characters, what do they represent, and how do they relate to one another?
What are their motivations? What is important to the protagonist? What do they desire?
What conflict(s) does the protagonist face? How are they resolved?
Does the protagonist learn anything? Do they change over the course of the story?
What kind of language does the story employ to describe, explain, or otherwise create the world of the protagonist inhabits? More specifically, what images, similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the work? What is their function regarding the character?
What does the character reveal about human nature over the course of the story?
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