Literary Analysis
2400 words

In this essay, you will put together an argument about how the texts “Incidents in a life of a slave girl” by Harriet Jacobs that we have read this semester engage with, challenge, or otherwise deal with a theme, idea, issue, concern, or concept that is related to our discussions this semester.

In an introduction of about 300 words, you will first set up your argument, describing the interpretation, idea, issue, concern or concept you will be discussing and the argument you will make in the essay. This introduction should include a clear articulation of your argumentative thesis.

Then, in about 600 words, you will need to describe the conversation that 3 scholarly, peer-reviewed sources are having about the literary text or concept you have selected. Your sources should be essays from an academic journal or academic essay collection, and they could be literary criticism, historical research, or scholarship from another related field. Here, I want you mainly to focus on how your argument relates to or interacts with the arguments that the authors present in these sources. How are you contributing to the conversation these sources represent? While describing that contribution, you might also discuss how the authors’ arguments and ideas interact with each other, where they agree or disagree with each other, where they converge or diverge from each other, where their claims, interpretations, assumptions, or mistakes overlap with each other. Be attentive to the complexities of literary argumentation when writing this section. In the end, you will want to arrive at a way to characterize the conversation (“Critics tend to argue that….”) that also directs our attention to your essay’s particular focus (“and here is what I have to add to their conversation…”).

Once you articulate your argumentative thesis, the bulk of your essay (about 1500 words) will be dedicated to analyzing how the author(s) design the text(s) to arrive at a specific understanding of that theme, idea, concern, or issue. You should pay attention to the details of the plot, the development of character, the use of dialogue, the point of view of the narrator(s), the structure (or organization) of the story or narrative, important symbols or imagery, the author’s writing style, word choice (diction), the arrangement of words (syntax), and any other details that seem to you to be significant (the use of dialect, for example). The bulk of your analysis should be devoted to explaining how the author uses these elements to construct that specific understanding of the theme, idea, concern, or issue you are discussing and how they demonstrate that you are right in stating your thesis.

You should include specific details (paraphrase, summary, and direct quotation) from the text or texts as evidence for your claims. Use in-text citations when you do, and include a works cited page at the end of your essay. In-text citations and the works cited page should be in MLA format.

Your clear argumentative thesis should be stated in a concise introductory paragraph, and you should ensure that each body paragraph that clearly relates to and works to develop the claim you make in that thesis. Ideally, the conclusion should not simply repeat your thesis. Please use a standard font, 12-point script, and 1″ margins. Include your name, the course name, number, and section number somewhere at the top of the first page. Do not include a separate title page. Please number your pages.