Literary Analysis Essay

Reminders

 Never use “I”, “you”, “we”, “our” (even though this is your interpretation, you may not provide opinions)  Always talk about literature in present tense  Do not retell the story in your essay (this is not a book report)  Incorporate a discussion of as many literary techniques as possible (if applicable)  Embed your quotes into your sentence  After Haroun realizes that his mother has indeed left his father, the mood of the story changes and the outside “air [becomes] too weepy for words” (Rushdie 24).

Developing Your Thesis Statement

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Step 1: Look back over the themes we went through at the beginning of this unit.

        Stories are vital and important. A life without them is meaningless Stories are constantly interwoven and reborn Stories can be cheapened and polluted through the absence of imagination and the insistence that they serve some type of purpose The mess of democracy is preferable to the “darkness” of dictatorship In the end, the world needs both light and darkness The world is filled with opposites which in the end must be reconciled Sticking up for what you believe in defines a person The relation between the imaginary world and the real world is complex and important

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Step 2: Look back through Rushdie’s life and history.

 The background hand-out I gave you at the beginning of this unit

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Step 3: Skim back over your annotations throughout the novel

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Do you see any scenes, lines, or parts of the novel that connect to any greater themes?

What does Rushdie use (literary devices) to reveal a bigger theme?

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What are the most important lines in the novel? Why are they important in your understanding of the entire novel?

Do you see any scenes that allegorize (represent) Rushdie’s life?

What does Rushdie use (literary devices, descriptions or character interactions) to reveal to the readers aspects of what he was going through when writing this novel?

Do you see any warnings Rushdie is trying to give to us?

How does he use magic realism to convey these warnings?

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Step 4: Decide what you want to focus on based off of what you discovered throughout the novel

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Step 5: Create your unique thesis statement (remember, a good thesis is made up of three parts)

 Part 1: A specific element in the text (an event, an image, a description, a scene, a literary device, etc.)   Part 2: An active verb (that links Part 1 and Part 3) Part 3: The story’s larger theme (the author’s purpose in writing the story; the story’s meaning)

Example

   Part 1: A specific element in the text (an event, an image, a description, a scene, a literary device, etc.) Part 2: An active verb (that links Part 1 and Part 3) Part 3: The story’s larger theme (the author’s purpose in writing the story; the story’s meaning) Rushdie utilizes dichotomies uncover the idea that there to be balance .

throughout the text to opposites must exist in order for The Land of Chup accurately parallels control over freedom of speech leader, Ayatollah Khomeini.

the oppressive imposed by the Iranian

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Topic Sentences

Topic sentences must directly connect to your thesis statement and work as the reasons that prove your thesis.

 You must incorporate words from your thesis statement in each topic

sentence.

 Example:  Rushdie utilizes dichotomies throughout the text to uncover opposites must exist in order for there to be balance .

 the idea that For my topic sentences I would choose three instances of dichotomies and tell what each one reveals.

 Land of the Gup and Chup, light and dark, good and evil, speech and no speech, story, anti-story, dull and lively, fantasy and reality…  T.S.- The existence of the shadow warrior captures the dichotomy Gups and the Chups while also revealing amongst them.

the beauty of a possible between the balance

Evidence

 Without evidence to support your argument (thesis) and argument points (topic sentences), you have no argument.

 Think about a trial. The thesis of the defense is “he/she is not guilty”. The topic sentences are reasons proving why he/she is not guilty. The evidence is DNA samples, testimonies, forensics which all support the reasons, which ultimately supports the thesis of “not guilty”.

 Your evidence must directly support your topic sentence and thesis statement (after choosing it, check if it proves your thesis and topic sentence)

  Example: Thesis: Rushdie utilizes dichotomies throughout the text to uncover the idea that opposites must exist in order for there to be balance .

 T.S.: The existence of the shadow warrior captures the dichotomy between the Gups and the Chups while also revealing the beauty of a possible balance amongst them.

 Evidence: As Haroun observes the shadow warrior from the land of Chup he has an epiphany that “the dance of the shadow warrior had its own grace and beauty (just as speech could be graceless and ugly); and that Action could be as noble as Words” (Rushdie 125).

“Chalk Talk”

Analysis

 Can not be a summary of the play or a recap of your evidence.

 The goal of analysis is to prove your thesis and topic sentence and show the significance of your evidence.  You need to “dig-deeper” to reveal something new to your audience and show how the specific helps reveal the larger theme. (Think thesis equation)  THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR ESSAY- IT SHOULD BE AT LEAST 3-5 SENTECNES AND IT MUST BE WELL THOUGHT OUT!!!!!

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In an in-class essay format, make sure you have outlined (in your mind) the points you want to make about each topic sentence.

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While thinking and writing, as yourself the question “so what”?

 Why is what I am writing important? How does it help reveal something significant? Why is it interesting? Why is it important for readers to understand this?

Example Paragraph

The existence of the shadow warrior captures the dichotomy between the Gups and the Chups while also revealing the beauty of a possible balance amongst them. As Haroun observes the shadow warrior from the land of Chup he has an epiphany that “the dance of the shadow warrior had its own grace and beauty (just as speech could be graceless and ugly); and that Action could be as noble as Words” (Rushdie 125). Before this moment, Haroun has understood the world in terms of opposites and dichotomies; either one or the other must exist, but never both at the same time. This is the first moment Haroun realizes that the balance created because of these opposites is not only appealing, but necessary in order for each to exist. Harmony between the Gups and the Chups will only manifest when each group learns to embrace their differences. Similarly, harmony cannot exist in Haroun’s world until he realizes that having an equal balance of fantasy and reality is essential to living a happy and fulfilled life.