For this second essay, you are asked to incorporate literary critical theory into your explication of one of the following texts. Read the link to Purdue’s Intro to Literary Theory and apply the questions to the text you choose. Once you begin your draft, then you can begin to look for sources from our library (both books and database journals—no websites) for backing.
To begin, choose one of the following texts to work with:
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
“The Birth-Mark”
“Bartleby, The Scrivener”
“The Fall of The House of Usher”
“The Wound Dresser”
“The American Scholar”
Then choose a critical approach:
Feminist
Marxist
New Historical
Psychoanalytical
You need 4 peer-review, library sources in addition to the primary text(s) to back up your assertions.
Things not to do: google; plot summary; biography; Wikipedia; masterplots/spark notes, askyahoo; plagiarize.
So for instance, I might want to prove that Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” is a Feminist text as gender focus of the story is both overt and didactic; more, the fact that Georgianna, whose name includes both masculine and feminine traits (George and Anna), is perfection embodied becomes destroyed in her husband’s search for the idealized female beauty, in his search for science ridding humanity of any imperfection. He is the typical Romantic intellect winning out over the need for balance between the head and the heard. He feels nothing as he destroys his wife. As gender imbalance goes, this couple shows us what happens when one gives over wholly to the other’s whims, when one person gets lost in the other’s world view.
The essay needs to adhere to the academic form: intro, thesis, body, conclusion, with textual support from the readings and at least 4 outside, academic, peer-review sources to back your claims. Explicate the texts you choose as fully as you can, showing your understanding of how to read closely a literary text. MLA format for the essay, including intext citations and Works Cited page.
The essay will adhere to academic guidelines for thesis and paragraphing, You need 5 full pages of text to prove your primary assertion. The Works Cited page will be in MLA 8 and include the primary text you are analyzing and the 4 secondary library sources.
As you build and revise the essay, remember that you have access to the ILC and REAL Centers. And remember to create and arguable thesis that posits your position. All evidence should work to prove your claims as you build the essay. Because this is the 2nd essay in a 200-level course, we should not have any grammatical concerns.
Grading:
60% content: the ability to create and create your position and defend it
20% structure: application of the academic essay form
20% mechanics: soundness of ideas presented in logically grammatical sentences, varied patterns, with attention to the audience’s need
