 Essay 2: Thematic Analysis 
¨ Choose one of the prompts from the next page and pick two readings (by two different authors) from any
module to explore the theme in the prompt.
¨ Avoid plot summary. Instead, focus on the theme and how the texts elucidate that theme.
¨ Do not consult information on the internet or any literary criticism. Do not include any outside sources.
Instead, focus on developing your own interpretation of the theme in the texts.
¨ Each text that you discuss must be introduced with a full signal phrase. Below are some sample full signal
phrase patterns that you are welcome to use or adapt. Remember, there are other poems by Hughes and
McCall that you are welcome to use. Refer to the Essay 1 instructions (in Module 2) for sample signal
phrases from the other readings.
 Denise Levertov’s poem, “In Mind,” explores the archetypes of…
 Langston Hughes’s poem, “Let America Be America Again,” explores themes of…
 Zora Neale Hurston’s story, “Sweat,” describes the lives of…
 James Baldwin, author of “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the Hundredth Anniversary
of the Emancipation,” writes about…
 In William Faulkner’s story, “Barn Burning,” the main character…
 In “To Whom It May Concern,” poet Sipho Sepamla employs the language of…
 Jason McCall’s poem, “Spook,” alludes to several instances…
 The narrator of Alice Walker’s story, “Everyday Use,” describes…
 “Noche Buena” by Jennine Capó Crucet immerses readers in…
 The short story “In the South” by Salman Rushdie describes the lives of two old men who…
 Jorge Luis Borges, in “The Aleph,” comments on the idea that…
 “The Poor Man’s Life” by Claude Innocent is a poem about…
 In “La United Fruit Co.,” Pablo Neruda decries…
 Ursula K. LeGuin, in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” confronts readers with…
 Naima Penniman’s poem, “Being Human,” describes…
 “The Snow Man” by Wallace Stevens is a poem about…
 Wendell Berry’s “Manifesto: Mad Farmer Liberation Front” asks readers to…
¨ Your last sentence of your first paragraph should be your thesis statement—a one-sentence summary of
your paper’s main point. For this essay, your thesis should explain how both texts comment on the theme.
¨ Use evidence from the text to support your answers; quote and cite that evidence using signal phrases,
quotation marks, and page numbers if the work contains page numbers. Here are some sample signal
phrases, quotations, and parenthetical page numbers:
 Although the second woman “knows strange songs,” Levertov cautions, “she is not kind.”
 Hughes writes, “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart.”
 The narrator explains that Delia then has “A period of introspection, a space of retrospection, then a
mixture of both. Out of this an awful calm” (Hurston 8).
 Sarty wonders, “Maybe it will even change him now from what maybe he couldn’t help but be”
(Faulkner 5).
 Baldwin challenges his nephew, “The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them”
(1255).
 Dee says, “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (Walker 6).
 McCall warns the reader that, for this kind of state-sponsored violence, “we will all have to answer.”
 Tía Yola claims, “Even in the Bible, it says that a man will leave his family and join with the
woman. He is supposed to come here” (Capó Crucet 79).
 In his grief, the narrator declares, “The universe may change but not me” (Borges).
 Penniman wonders “if rocks are self-conscious of their weight.”
 Essay 2: Thematic Analysis 
¨ Write a total of 5 to 8 paragraphs. An academic paragraph contains at least five sentences. You do not need
a Works Cited page.
¨ Use your original discussion forum posts to help you get started, but be sure to revise and expand them to
meet these essay requirements. Also, revise to omit any first- or second-person pronouns (no “I” or “you”).
¨ Follow MLA-style document design rules (see the guide in Module 2). Proofread carefully. Submit your final
essay to the Turnitin drop box in Module 4. Be sure to click “Upload,” then “Confirm,” then “Go to
assignment inbox.” Review your Similarity Report (REQUIRED), fix any problems, and resubmit if necessary.
1. Heritage – Several of the readings from this class explore racial and cultural heritage, traditions, history, and
identity of individuals, groups, and humanity as a whole. Pick two readings that comment on this theme and
explain how the authors and/or characters understand or work to complicate understandings of heritage.
2. Race and Class – Several of the readings from this class explore the connections between race and class.
Pick two readings that comment on this theme and explain how the authors and/or characters understand
or work to complicate understandings of the connections between race and class.
3. Race as a Power Construct – Several of the readings from this class explore the concept of race as a power
construct (an idea that is human-made out of self-interest which then becomes a social reality that is
accepted as natural or inevitable). Pick two readings that comment on this theme and explain how the
authors and/or characters understand or work to complicate understandings of race as a power construct.
4. Representation – Several of the readings from this class explore the importance of representation—the idea
that people need to see people who look (or think or act) like them represented in cultural products (like
books, film, art) and in other areas of life (like positions of power in business or politics). Pick two readings
that comment on this theme and explain how the authors and/or characters understand or work to
complicate understandings of the importance of representation.
5. Gender – Many of the texts from this course discuss themes related to gender. Pick two readings that
discuss this theme. How do the readings comment on gender identity, representation, experience, and/or
gender relations? How do the pieces you selected help readers develop an understanding of the universal
human experience and/or the particular experiences of women or men?
6. Protest – Several of the readings from this course can be considered protest literature. Pick two readings
where you think the author or a character is taking a stand against something. What is being protested in
each one? How does each reading achieve or articulate its resistance? What values does the protest affirm?
What values does it reject?
7. Cycles of Trauma – Several of the readings from this course explore cycles of trauma (or pain, abuse,
addiction, violence). Pick two readings that comment on this theme and explain how the authors and/or
characters work to create, maintain, escape, or break cycles of trauma.
Notes: You may wish to mention a third (or fourth) reading that comments on the theme, but be sure to focus
your analysis on two main readings by two different authors. If you need help selecting the readings, please
contact me. If you have an idea for a theme not listed here, please email me about it.