creating literary analysis

Creating Literary Analysis v 1.0 This is the book Creating Literary Analysis (v 1.0) This book is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/ 3.0/) license See the license for more details, but that basically means you can share this book as long as you credit the author (but see below), don't make money from it, and make it available to everyone else under the same terms This book was accessible as of December 29, 2012, and it was downloaded then by Andy Schmitz (http://lardbucket.org) in an effort to preserve the availability of this book Normally, the author and publisher would be credited here However, the publisher has asked for the customary Creative Commons attribution to the original publisher, authors, title, and book URI to be removed Additionally, per the publisher's request, their name has been removed in some passages More information is available on this project's attribution page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/attribution.html?utm_source=header) For more information on the source of this book, or why it is available for free, please see the project's home page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/) You can browse or download additional books there ii Table of Contents About the Authors Acknowledgments Dedications Preface Chapter 1: Introduction: What Is Literary Theory and Why Should I Care? Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland What Is Literary Theory? 12 Why Study Literary Theory? 14 What Is the Writing Process? 15 Why Commit to the Writing Process? 19 What Is Academic Argument? 20 Introducing an Academic Argument 24 Student Writer at Work: Monica Platten’s “‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’: An Allegory for a Young America” 29 Understanding the Body of Monica’s Argument 37 Conclusion to the Introduction 42 End-of-Chapter Assessment 43 Chapter 2: Writing about Form: Developing the Foundations of Close Reading 46 Literary Snapshot: Through the Looking-Glass 47 The Foundations of New Criticism: An Overview 54 Close Reading Strategies: A Process Approach 61 Student Writer at Work: Kelly Ann Wolslegel’s Close Reading of Edna St Vincent Millay’s “Love Is Not All” 63 Student Sample Papers: Todd Goodwin’s “Poe’s ‘Usher’: A Mirror of the Fall of the House of Humanity” and Amy Chisnell’s “Don’t Listen to the Egg!: A Close Reading of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’” 71 End-of-Chapter Assessment 80 Suggestions for Further Reading 84 iii Chapter 3: Writing about Character and Motivation: Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism 85 Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass .86 Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism: An Overview 90 Focus on Sigmund Freud (1856–1939): Unconscious Repressed Desire 94 Focus on Jacques Lacan (1901–81): Repressed Desire and the Limits of Language 101 Focus on Carl Jung (1875–1961): The Archetypal Collective Unconsciousness 107 Reading Keats’s “Urn” through the Psychoanalytic Lens 112 Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism: A Process Approach 117 Student Writers at Work: Jenn Nemec’s Jungian Psychoanalytic Reading of “The Birthmark,” Susan Moore’s Freudian Reading of “The Birthmark,” and Sarah David’s Lacanian Reading of “The Birthmark” 118 Student Sample Paper: Susan Moore’s “The Desire for Perfection in Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark’” 127 Student Sample Paper: Sarah David’s “A Lacanian Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark’” 132 End-of-Chapter Assessment 136 Suggestions for Further Reading 139 Chapter 4: Writing about Gender and Sexuality: Applying Feminist and Gender Criticism 141 Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 142 Feminist Theory: An Overview 149 Gender Criticism and Queer Theory 156 Gender Criticism: Masculinity Studies 161 Feminist and Gender Criticism: A Process Approach 163 Student Writer at Work: Gretchen Panzer’s Feminist Response to F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby 164 Student Sample Paper: Carrie Obry’s “Homoerotic Impulses in Willa Cather’s ‘Paul’s Case’” 176 Student Sample Paper: Duncan Raunio’s “The Tragedy of Performing Gender in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening” 184 End-of-Chapter Assessment 190 Suggestions for Further Reading 201 iv Chapter 5: Writing about Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Identity 204 Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 205 Postcolonial, Racial, and Ethnic Theory: An Overview 213 Writing about Race, Ethnic, and Cultural Identity: A Process Approach 224 Student Writer at Work: Ashley Eckhardt’s Postcolonial Paper in Action 226 Student Writer at Work: Stefanie Jochman’s African American Studies Paper in Action 239 Student Writer at Work: Hannah Schmitt’s Ethnic Studies Paper in Action 251 Student Sample Student Paper: Alyce Hockers’s “The Slavery Metaphor of Moby-Dick” .260 Strategies for Starting Your Cultural Identity Paper 268 End-of-Chapter Assessment 270 Suggestions for Further Reading 275 Chapter 6: Writing about Readers: Applying Reader-Response Theory 277 Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 278 Reader-Response Theory: An Overview 284 Focus on Reader-Response Strategies 291 Reader Response: A Process Approach 305 Student Writer at Work: Amy Ferdinandt’s Reader Response to James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” 306 Student Sample Paper: Hannah Schmitt’s “The Death of Intellectualism in Grahame-Smith and Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” 315 Student Sample Paper: Erin Huebner Gloege’s “Identity Themes in Dickinson: Four Students Reading” 322 End-of-Chapter Assessment 332 Suggestions for Further Reading 339 v Chapter 7: Writing about History and Culture from a New Historical Perspective 343 Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 344 New Historical Criticism: An Overview 347 Finding a Historical Topic: Paige Caulum’s Melville’s “Benito Cereno” 352 Finding Historical Evidence: Melville’s “Benito Cereno” 355 Testing and Refining Your Historical Claim 359 Student Sample Paper: Paige Caulum’s “Herman Melville’s ‘Benito Cereno’: A Political Commentary on Manifest Destiny” 361 Writing about History and Culture: A Process Approach 371 Student Sample Paper: Stefanie Jochman’s “’Words of Lead’: Emily Dickinson’s Poetry and the Grief of the Civil War” 373 Strategies for Starting Your New Historical Paper 393 End-of-Chapter Assessment 395 Suggestions for Further Reading 399 Chapter 8: Writing about the Natural World 400 Literary Snapshot: Through the Looking-Glass 401 Ecocriticism: An Overview 411 Focus on Ecocritical Approaches: Ecofeminism and Darwinian Literary Criticism 423 Writing about the Natural World: A Process Approach 428 Student Writer at Work: Jens Paasen’s Ecocritical Paper in Development 430 Student Sample Paper: Jens Paasen’s “If You Want to Belong, You Have to Buy: Disney’s Pocahontas and Consumerism in a Natural Disguise” 447 Student Sample Paper: Allison Shakelton’s “Separation from Nature in ’The Light Princess’” .453 End-of-Chapter Assessment 461 Suggestions for Further Reading 465 Chapter 9: Reading and Writing in the Digital Age 471 Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 472 Digital Literary Studies: An Overview 474 Writing for the Web: A Process Approach 476 Creating a Thematic Research Collection 479 Creating a Digital Timeline 481 Mapping a Text 482 Student Sample Paper: Maria Slusarek’s “’Mapping Melville’ Reflection” 486 Student Sample Digital Project: Maria Dzurik’s St Augustine’s Confessions 490 End-of-Chapter Assessment 491 Suggestions for Further Reading 498 vi Chapter 10: Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets 500 Chapter 2: Close Reading 501 Chapter 3: Psychoanalysis 505 Chapter 4: Feminist and Gender 509 Chapter 5: Race and Ethnicity 513 Chapter 6: Reader Response 517 Chapter 7: New Historical 521 Chapter 8: Ecocritical 525 Chapter 9: Digital Project 529 vii About the Authors Ryan Cordell Ryan Cordell is an assistant professor of English and the director of the Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program at St Norbert College He is a core contributor to the ProfHacker blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education He is currently building a comparative digital edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Celestial Railroad” at http://celestialrailroad.org He is also the web editor for the Harriet Beecher Stowe Society and has published on Stowe, Hawthorne, James Fenimore Cooper, and technology in higher education Cordell’s full CV can be found on his website at http://ryan.cordells.us/cv John Pennington John Pennington is a professor of English at St Norbert College He is the coeditor of the Broadview Press critical edition textbook of George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind (with Roderick McGillis; 2011) and the essay collection Behind the Back of the North Wind: Critical Essay on the George MacDonald Children’s Classic (with Roderick McGillis; Winged Lion Press, 2011) He is also the editor of the international journal North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies and has created a digital archive of back issues of the journal, which can be accessed at http://www.snc.edu/english/ nwarchive.html He is currently creating a digital archive of print-cultural materials as a supplement to the Broadview Press critical edition He has published on Lewis Carroll, John Ruskin, Charles Dickens, J M Barrie, Richard Adams, Ursula K LeGuin, Philip Pullman, and J K Rowling Pennington’s full CV can be downloaded at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/492930/Pennington_vita_2010-11.docx Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the following colleagues who provided feedback on each chapter Their suggestions have made Writing about Literature through Theory a much improved book: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Debbie Brown, Plymouth State University Howard Cox, Angelina College Warren Dittmar, Miami Dade College Jennifer Duncan, Georgia Perimeter College P Gregory Gibson, Henderson State University Beth Hammett, College of the Mainland Charles Henderson, Ozarks Technical Community College Michelle Holt, University of Montana, Helena College of Technology Rowan Johnson, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Susan Johnson, Sierra College Timothy Jones, University of Oklahoma James Kosmicki, Central Community College, Grand Island Walter Lowe, Green River Community College Scott McLean, Arizona Western College Angie Mellor, East Carolina University Tiffany Morin, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Deborah Miller-Zournas, Stark State College Susan Nash, Florida State College, Jacksonville Louis Riggs, Hannibal-LaGrange University Macario Romero, Tarrant County College, Trinity River Campus Vicki Sapp, Tarrant County College Bonnie Spears, Chaffey College In addition, the authors would like to thank the myriad of students who contributed to this book by providing essay examples and testing out various chapters in classes Specifically, we owe much gratitude to the following St Norbert College students for allowing us to publish their essays: • • • • • • Paige Caulum Amy Chisnell Sarah David Maria Dzurik Ashley Eckhardt Amy Ferdinandt Acknowledgments • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Todd Goodwin Alyce Hockers Erin Huebner Gloege Stefanie Jochman Susan Moore Jenn Nemec Carrie Obry Jens Paasen Gretchen Panzer Monica Platten Duncan Raunio Kelly Ann Wolslegel Hannah Schmitt Allison Shakelton Maria Slusarek In addition, we would like to thank Emily Bryant-Mundschau from St Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, for allowing us to reprint her e-mails about Harry Potter We began this project by drafting Chapter "Writing about History and Culture from a New Historical Perspective"—the success of this chapter is owed to Paige Caulum and Stefanie Jochman who allowed us to use their essays as examples and who helped us craft descriptions of their writing processes We also need to express thanks to Michelle Poncelet, the English assistant at St Norbert, who did a wonderful final copyediting of the text Finally, we need to extend special gratitude to Gretchen Panzer: she was our editorial assistant throughout the project and provided keen critical eyes to make each chapter stronger Gretchen also created drafts of the bibliographies for each chapter and wrote the section on ecofeminism for Chapter "Writing about the Natural World" Gretchen is currently working on her PhD in women’s and gender studies at Indiana University Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets 10.5 Chapter 6: Reader Response 517 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets Organization Feedback: Outline of a Reader-Response Paper Paper Writer’s Name: _ Peer Reviewer’s Name: If you are still unsure of the paper’s direction (or feel the paper isn’t well organized), you may want your classmates to use organization feedback to give you some structural/organizational ideas using reader-response theory The key to such peer review centers on the paper having clear organization and support: (1) the writer must present a clear thesis that makes a thematic claim about the literary work, and (2) the paper must then provide support for that thesis by demonstrating how the work artistically achieves that theme In other words, the writer must show how the literary work under examination is an artistic and thematic well-wrought urn Guidelines Read the paper carefully to gain a general impression Reread the paper, concentrating on the overall structure/organization Create an outline or “skeleton” of the paper by doing the following: Thesis Restate the writer’s thesis: Evaluate the thesis: Describe the reader-response approach the writer uses: Support Outline the points made to support the thesis by restating the main idea of each paragraph, listing the examples the writer uses in each paragraph, and describing how each paragraph relates to the thesis (i.e., supports the thesis) 10.5 Chapter 6: Reader Response 518 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support (from Chapter "Introduction: What Is Literary Theory and Why Should I Care?"): • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: _ • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: • Main Idea: 10.5 Chapter 6: Reader Response 519 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: General Comments 10.5 Chapter 6: Reader Response 520 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets 10.6 Chapter 7: New Historical 521 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets Organization Feedback: Outline of a New Historical or Cultural Paper Paper Writer’s Name: _ Peer Reviewer’s Name: If you are still unsure of the paper’s direction (or feel the paper isn’t well organized), you may want your classmates to use organization feedback to give you some structural/organizational ideas By using organization feedback, the peer reviewer looks for the general overall structure of your paper The key to such peer review centers on the paper having clear organization and support: (1) the writer must present a clear thesis that makes a thematic claim about the literary work, and (2) the paper must then provide support for that thesis by demonstrating how the work artistically achieves that theme using historical or cultural theory Guidelines Read the paper carefully to gain a general impression Reread the paper, concentrating on the overall structure/organization Create an outline or “skeleton” of the paper by doing the following: Thesis Restate the writer’s thesis: Evaluate the thesis: Describe the historical or cultural approach the writer uses: Support Outline the points made to support the thesis by restating the main idea of each paragraph, listing the examples the writer uses in each paragraph, and describing how each paragraph relates to the thesis (i.e., supports the thesis) 10.6 Chapter 7: New Historical 522 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support (from Chapter "Introduction: What Is Literary Theory and Why Should I Care?"): • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: _ • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: _ • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: • Main Idea: 10.6 Chapter 7: New Historical 523 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: General Comments 10.6 Chapter 7: New Historical 524 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets 10.7 Chapter 8: Ecocritical 525 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets Organization Feedback: Outline of an Ecocritical Paper Paper Writer’s Name: _ Peer Reviewer’s Name: If you are still unsure of the paper’s direction (or feel the paper isn’t well organized), you may want your classmates to use organization feedback to give you some structural/organizational ideas By using organization feedback, the peer reviewer looks for the general overall structure of your paper The key to such peer review centers on the paper having clear organization and support: (1) the writer must present a clear thesis that makes a thematic claim about the literary work, and (2) the paper must then provide support for that thesis by demonstrating how the work artistically achieves that theme using ecocritical theory Guidelines Read the paper carefully to gain a general impression Reread the paper, concentrating on the overall structure/organization Create an outline or “skeleton” of the paper by doing the following: Thesis Restate the writer’s thesis: Evaluate the thesis: Describe the ecocritical approach the writer uses: Support Outline the points made to support the thesis by restating the main idea of each paragraph, listing the examples the writer uses in each paragraph, and describing how each paragraph relates to the thesis (i.e., supports the thesis) 10.7 Chapter 8: Ecocritical 526 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support (from Chapter "Introduction: What Is Literary Theory and Why Should I Care?"): • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: _ • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: _ • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: • Main Idea: ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: • Main Idea: 10.7 Chapter 8: Ecocritical 527 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets ◦ Examples: ◦ Support for thesis: ◦ Warrant for support: General Comments 10.7 Chapter 8: Ecocritical 528 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets 10.8 Chapter 9: Digital Project 529 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets Organization Feedback: Outline of a Digital Project Paper Writer’s Name: _ Peer Reviewer’s Name: Digital projects can take on a variety of forms, so peer review will be somewhat different for this unit since you will be providing feedback on a website, for example, and not a traditional paper Guidelines View the digital project to gain a general impression Now view the project again, concentrating on the overall structure/organization Create an outline or “skeleton” of the digital project by doing the following: Project’s Purpose Describe the digital project (i.e., website, research collection/archive, digital timeline, mapping of text [geospatial], other): Describe the purpose of the digital project: Evaluate the clarity of purpose in the project itself: Project’s Structure List the sections of the digital project: • Section 1: ◦ Examples: ◦ Warrant for section’s purpose in project: 10.8 Chapter 9: Digital Project 530 Chapter 10 Appendix A: Peer Review Sheets • Section 2: ◦ Examples: ◦ Warrant for section’s purpose in project: • Section 3: ◦ Examples: ◦ Warrant for section’s purpose in project: • Section 4: ◦ Examples: ◦ Warrant for section’s purpose in project: • Section 5: ◦ Examples: ◦ Warrant for section’s purpose in project: General Comments 10.8 Chapter 9: Digital Project 531 ... Introduction: What Is Literary Theory and Why Should I Care? Literary Snapshot: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland What Is Literary Theory? 12 Why Study Literary Theory? ... particular story, poem, play, or other literary work 1.2 What Is Literary Theory? 13 Chapter Introduction: What Is Literary Theory and Why Should I Care? 1.3 Why Study Literary Theory? In his essay “Disliking... aspects of a given literary text that interest you and seek out a deeper understanding of those aspects Literary researchers read not only literary texts but also the work of other literary scholars